Bath Spa University

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Performing Arts

This intensive, highly practical course will develop your skills in acting, directing and production management, whilst at the same time exploring performance and its place in the world. Taught by highly experienced internationally active staff, the course places a strong accent on exploration, adventure and innovation and graduates should find themselves well-equipped to carve out career paths in the performing arts or related fields.

For more information about this course please visit the School of Music and Performing Arts website.

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Course Structure and Content

All students will follow a common first and second year. At the end of Year 2, you will choose one of four routes:

• Acting;
• Performance for Live and Recorded Media;
• Directing;
• Production Management.

The course is practice based, with a strong critical/theoretical component aimed at fostering self-awareness in the wider context of artistic production. Course content (including work-placements with both established and new companies) is structured to make graduates highly market aware.

In Year 1 you will be introduced to the 'art of playing' as an overarching framework for gaining and practicing performance skills and for understanding performance. You will compose and perform, and gain experience of practical theatre-craft.

In Year 2 you will concentrate on production and performance, developing your understanding of performance through theoretical research and practical engagement, and producing more challenging and innovative work.

Year 3 is devoted to experiential training in theatre and the 'professionalisation' of the performer. Students investigate popular theatre and its connections with political and cultural movements and in doing so identify their point of entry into the industry. As part of the final modules, students experience the Master Class series involving practitioners, directors and visiting industry specialists. Year 3 culminates in a thesis production serving as a showcase for graduating students.

Modules

Year 1

• Acting 1 and 2 (weekly performances; Ancient Greek and Shakespearean);
• Performance Workshops 1 and 2 (movement /fooling/ physical theatre/body and voice/ choral voice work);
• Performance Studies 1 and 2 (lighting and sound/stage management/dramaturgy).

Year 2

• Production and Performance 1, 2, 3 and 4 (weekly performances; modern classics; comedy; physical theatre);
• Performance Studies 3 and 4 (costume and mis-en-scene design in practice, contextual studies and practical dramaturgy).

Year 3

• Production and Performance 5 and 6 (body and voice classes, ensemble re-invention and performance of Neo Classic work);
• Into Industry (Graduating thesis rehearsal and performance);
• Professional Portfolio (Master-classes, portfolio preparation, work experience);
• Performance Studies 5 and 6 (contextual studies, practical dramaturgy).

Teaching Methods and Resources

Workshops, lectures, seminars and rehearsals, in-class, studio, main-stage and other forms of performance. A new University Theatre seating 160, with additional teaching and rehearsal space, was completed in 2006.

Students' own rehearsals, theatre visits and attendance at extracurricular classes and work placements are an important part of the course.

Assessment Methods

Through coursework, including rehearsal, performance, journals and essays. No written exams.

Notes

The Student Theatre Company, Full Tilt, performs nationally, from the Minack in Cornwall ("Totally engrossing" - The Cornishman review of Full Tilt's Hamlet) to the Edinburgh Fringe. Please see www.fulltilt-theatre.com for more details.

Entry Requirements

220-260 UCAS Tariff points, including two A-levels at BB (one in Drama or Theatre Studies).

Alternative qualifications welcome.

Entry is by audition only.