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Acting BA (Hons)

The course offers an inclusive, comprehensive actor training, focusing on voice, movement, textual understanding and screen performance, representing a thorough preparation for the industry.

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Block teaching designed around you

You deserve a positive teaching and learning experience, where you feel part of a supportive and nurturing community. That’s why most students will enjoy an innovative approach to learning using block teaching, where you will study one module at a time. You’ll benefit from regular assessments - rather than lots of exams at the end of the year - and a simple timetable that allows you to engage with your subject and enjoy other aspects of university life such as sports, societies, meeting friends and discovering your new city. By studying with the same peers and tutor for each block, you’ll build friendships and a sense of belonging.

Read more about block teaching

Overview

This is an exciting and forward-looking actor training programme that reflects the rapidly changing nature of the acting profession and the next generation of professionals that seek to work within it. Designed to train actors who are adaptable and skilled enough to work across multiple media, the programme delivers all the fundamental skills and techniques required for acting on stage, screen, spaces beyond the studio and digital environments. We aim to create passionate, innovative and industry ready graduates who will be equally adept on stage as they are acting for microphone and for camera.

You will:

  • Learn a range of approaches to creating theatre and techniques in performing texts as solo artists and as part of a collective
  • Develop your career path through an understanding of performance-based industry practices and application/audition processes
  • Gain a wide-ranging skill set including the technical workings of productions, using cameras and microphones, creating promotional materials and developing professional portfolios

The core teaching team is made up of professional playwrights, performance makers, dancers, community practitioners, writers for radio and academic writers. Beyond this, you will engage in masterclasses, presentations and talks from visiting specialists.

Central to the course is our longstanding partnerships within the city (Leicester) and regional theatre-makers and companies, such as Bamboozle Theatre, Spark Arts for Children, Soft Touch Arts. The Little Theatre, Upstairs at the Western.

You will have regular access to rehearsal space at Curve Theatre and Curve employees contribute to the skills element of a number of modules with a particular emphasis on preparing you for graduate entry to the industry (show reels, casting, auditions, head shots).  

The course is a celebration of diversity and inclusivity, and we encourage anyone with an appetite for acting and a desire to engage with the professional industry to apply.  

Key features

  • Kick start your career with DMU’s intensive study programme that makes you eligible for a SpotlightPROFILE as well as Graduate membership with Equity.
  • Benefit from our long-standing partnerships with local theatres and performance venues, such as Curve theatre, Little Theatre, and Sue Townsend Theatre.
  • We work in partnership with the Pauline Quirke Academies and host their national Drama festival each year.
  • DMU is recognised as a Centre for Excellence in Performance Arts, with great facilities providing specialist studios and rehearsal spaces designed specifically for drama and performance learning activities.
  • Benefit from an extensive range of performance opportunities including performance festivals and professional stage productions, as well as working with world-leading practitioners in subject specific workshops.

  • Continually develop your professional portfolio through employability support sessions, professional development workshops, and extensive support in developing showreels and taking headshots. You will also have the opportunity to access a financed Equity Student Membership. 

  • Harness developments in technology, media and new pedagogy alongside more traditional forms of acting to become an adaptable performer. You will have the opportunity to gain a British Academy of Dramatic Combat Standard (Level 1) certificate.

  • Benefit from block teaching, where most students study one subject at a time. A simple timetable will allow you to really engage with your learning, receive regular feedback and assessments, get to know your course mates and enjoy a better study-life balance.

Highlights from Curve Collaboration 2023

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Banner and Curve Collaboration 2023 photography credit: Kieran Vyas

Student success:

DMU students set to take centre stage at Curve after two-year disruption

DMU sets Andrietta up for entrepreneurial future

BBC presenter uses her platform to celebrate Leicester's Black talent

DMU Students stage ‘Immaculate’

DMU student lands TV Role in Michael Sheen Drama

DMU students reveal their darkest secrets in captivating show

More courses like this:

Dance BA (Hons)

Drama and Theatre Arts BA (Hons)

  • UK
  • EU/International

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: W415

Duration: Three years full-time, four years full-time with a placement. 

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for UK students: £9,250

Find out more about tuition fees and available funding.

 

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

How to apply

Submit a study-related enquiry

Institution code: D26

UCAS course code: W415

Duration: Three years full-time, four years full-time with a placement. 

Fees and funding: 

2024/25 tuition fees for international students: £15,750

Additional costs: Here at DMU we provide excellent learning resources, including the Kimberlin Library and specialist workshops and studios. However, you should be aware that sometimes you may incur additional costs for this programme.

Contact us: For more information, call us on +44 (0)116 2 50 60 70.

How to apply

Application guidance document

Submit a study-related enquiry

Entry criteria

Typical entry requirements 

  • 112 points from at least 2 A levels or
  • BTEC Extended Diploma DMM or
  • International Baccalaureate: 26+ Points
  • T Levels Merit

Plus five GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above.

  • Pass Access with 30 Level 3 credits at Merit (or equivalent) and GCSE  English (Language or Literature) at grade 4 or above.

We will normally require students have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

  • We also accept the BTEC First Diploma plus two GCSEs including English Language or Literature at grade 4 or above
  •  We welcome applications from mature students with non-standard qualifications and recognise all other equivalent and international qualifications.

Contextual offer

To make sure you get fair and equal access to higher education, when looking at your application, we consider more than just your grades. So, if you are eligible, you may receive a contextual offer. Find out more about contextual offers.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 overall with 5.5 in each band (or equivalent) when you start the course is essential.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council-accredited Centre for English Language Learning, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

Interview and audition

Interview required: No

Audition required: Yes

Please see our practical selection day page for full details.

Structure and assessment

 

Course modules

Teaching and assessments

 Collaborative partnerships

 

First year

Block 1: The Playful body

Block 2: Actor’s Toolkit 1

Block 3: Vocal Points

Block 4: Performance Festival 1

 

Second year

Block 1: From Grave to Stage

Block 2: Acting in Digital Worlds

Block 3: Actor’s Toolkit 2

Block 4: Performance Festival 2

Third year

 Block 1: Going Solo

Block 2: Collective Encounters

Block 3 and 4: Professional Production and Showcase 


See detailed module information


Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

 

Overview

 You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, tutor and student led seminars, group work, practical workshops and self-directed study. You will be assessed through a variety of different methods to develop a range of skills including through group and individual performances, professional practice logs, oral vivas, mixed media presentations, and professional production opportunities.

The first year provides you with a range of practical skills and combines performance-based understanding of working with through the body and voice and with written texts. Culminating in a performance festival, the first year will focus on the development and use of foundational skills in acting and performance.

In your second year you will broaden your acting skill development through engagement with both historical and ground-breaking contemporary performance methodologies including heightened language and working in digital worlds. You will also focus on the development of subject specific skills, such as Stage Combat, Dance for the Stage, and Accents and Dialects to help you stand out as a unique performer. At the end of the year, students will have the opportunity to develop performance material for professional festival settings such as the Edinburgh or Brighton Fringe Festivals. 

The final year of your studies focuses on industry readiness, supporting you in developing showreels, video creative portfolios, and headshots, alongside developing skills in reflective individual practice and audience/space engaged community work. The final year concludes with two professional performance opportunities, a live, full-length production and a showcase, open to industry leading professionals and agent to kick start your career in the Creative Industries.

Our Acting teaching staff have expertise in a range of fields, including: Shakespeare in performance, Restoration Theatre, Popular Performance including Stand Up Comedy, Commedia dell’Arte, Clowning and Burlesque, Applied and Community Drama, Directing, Language and Performance, Digital Performance, Performer Training including body, voice and text. Performance and documentation, performance and the body, gender and performance, live art and contemporary performance practice. Your learning will also be supported by visiting lecturers, actors, practitioners, directors and theatre companies further enhance your skills development.

Contact hours

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, workshops, studios, group work and self-directed study. You will normally attend around 16 hours of timetabled taught sessions (workshops, technical training, warmups and tutorials) each week and an additional 4 hours of self-directed rehearsal, and we expect you to undertake at least 30 further hours of independent study to complete project work and research.

 

Curve theatre

DMU and Curve theatre have a cultural partnership which gives you the opportunity to be involved in professional practice in a variety of ways.

The Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts

DMU is proud to host the annual PQA Drama Festival in June every year, with over 200 PQA academy students attending workshops on campus and presenting a showcase of their own work.

DMU+PQA-PartnershipLogo

Facilities and features

Performance facilities

Recognised nationally as a centre for excellence in performance arts, DMU has outstanding courses, teaching and facilities. Our Performing Arts Centre for Excellence (PACE) building provides sector-leading spacious studios, rehearsal rooms and fully equipped performance spaces. There are further fully equipped performance spaces in our Campus Centre and the Venue@DMU, a purpose-built space created to host events, performances and celebrations.

All of our spaces can be transformed to turn your ideas into a reality. Your creative work is supported by expert technicians and you can book rehearsal space and equipment such as digital video cameras, sound recording equipment and editing suites.

Take a look at our stunning showcase of the PACE building and facilities at dmu.ac.uk/perform

More flexible ways to learn

We offer an equitable and inclusive approach to learning and teaching for all our students. Known as the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), our teaching approach has been recognised as sector leading. UDL means we offer a wide variety of support, facilities and technology to all students, including those with disabilities and specific learning differences.

Just one of the ways we do this is by using ‘DMU Replay’ – a technology providing all students with anytime access to audio and/or visual material of lectures. This means students can revise taught material in a way that suits them best, whether it's replaying a recording of a class or adapting written material shared in class using specialist software.

Campus Centre

The home of  De Montfort Students' Union, (DSU) our Campus Centre offers a welcoming and lively hub for student life. Conveniently located at the heart of campus, it includes a convenience store, a Subway and a Starbucks. Here you can find the DSU-owned charitable accommodation service Sulets and DSU’s shop, SUpplies, selling art supplies, stationery and clothing, and printing and binding services. The building is also home to the DSU officer team. 

Opportunities and careers

Find the people who will open doors for you

DMU's award-winning careers service provides guaranteed work experience opportunities DMU Careers Team
Drama student placements

Placements

During this course you will have the opportunity to take an enterprise year, a 12-month placement opportunity to start or develop a business idea with some financial support and mentoring from DMU. No prior business knowledge is needed – you just need an idea! 

 

You’ll spend 12-months with the Enterprise team between your second and third year developing your idea and learning new business and entrepreneurial skills. The enterprise year is as much about personal development as it is running your own business, so we encourage students with ambition to take their business idea forward. Following the enterprise year, you’ll return to the course for your final year.  

  

Our Careers Team can help to hone your professional skills with mock interviews and practice aptitude tests, and an assigned personal tutor will support you throughout your placement.  

Drama students participate in the #DMUglobal Berlin trip 2017

DMU Global

Our innovative international experience programme DMU Global aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons, helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world. Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK-based activities, overseas study, internships, faculty-led field trips and volunteering, as well as Erasmus+ and international exchanges.

Students on this course have previously undertaken DMU Global trips to New York, Liege, Berlin and Montreal.

Drama degree careers

Graduate careers

 

Employability skills are embedded in the curriculum to prepare you for a range of careers both related to Creative and in wider industries. Our graduates have gone on to forge successful careers in various professions, such as Actors, Directors, Stage Combat Instructors, Voice Over Specialists, and running their own theatre companies. 

 

Take your next steps

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