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Learn the fundamentals of acting, singing, and dancing. Hone non-traditional performance skills, such as cabaret, clowning and stand-up comedy. Become more employable through developing skills in leadership and production. Consider your role in different contexts and explore in a safe space.
BA (Hons) Performing Arts will give you the performance and production skills needed to work in the industry.
We go beyond the triple threat, teaching you exciting performance skills such as clowning, circus skills, puppetry and stand-up comedy alongside the fundamentals of acting, singing and dancing. You'll also learn key skills in production, leadership, and creating work, making you a real asset to an employer.
We'll equip you with the knowledge and awareness of what you'll need to get a job in the industry. You'll learn how to: devise, compose and choreograph; write a funding bid; network with clients; respond to a creative brief; and produce exciting theatrical content for specific audiences.
Pick and mix from a wide range of experiences to find what fits you – and discover abilities you might never have known you had.
Photographer credit: Claire Bird
You'll learn the fundamentals of acting, singing and dancing, developing skills in areas including:
Acting: improvisation, projection, building character, researching a role, understanding narrative, accent work
Singing: tuning, vocal range, making vocal arrangements, ensemble work, solo work, styles, harmonies, warm-ups for personal use, and leading workshops (one-on-one sessions available)
Dancing: a range of styles, dynamics, stamina, musicality, improvisation, form, stage presence, strength, timing, choreographic practices, history, and practitioners preparation of the body
Each cohort is different, and we work hard to ensure we accommodate and celebrate this diversity. BA (Hons) Performing Arts is accessible to everyone, and you'll work with your peers to explore your skills in a safe creative environment.
As well as the fundamentals, you'll also develop additional performance skills to make you industry relevant.
In your first year, you’ll be in a pantomime creatively led by tutors. You’ll explore the tradition and then audition for character, dance, and ensemble roles. This module also provides the opportunity for your group to collaborate on the production of a variety show based around your own skills. The Cabaret module offers practical workshops addressing burlesque, skits, songwriting, drag artistry, and being an MC. In contrast you’ll explore site specific performance and also musical theatre.
You'll also consider your role in different contexts. For example, you'll perform in a contemporary production of 'A Christmas Carol', by Charles Dickens, in a historical space – open air museum, Beamish. Your performance as part of the Cabaret module will take place in a social setting – local pub, The Peacock. Musical Theatre is performed at The Fire Station Auditorium.
Photographer credit: Claire Bird
Employers are looking for graduates who can take on different roles in a production. You’ll work as a company as the dance captain, director, marketing team, social media team, costume designer and set designer, all assessed in practice.
You may choose to experience touring theatre, for example as part of Learningbods© where you'll visit local primary schools with an interactive children’s show. You'll develop skills in networking, producing, and creating work for a particular audience, as well as the logistics of touring.
You'll also get real-world work experience through sessions delivered by industry professionals. Final year module, Final Showcase, features workshops with guest lecturers, where you'll experience different methods of creating work, including: verbatim, script writing, lyric writing, staging and visuals, comedy, choreographic approaches, physical theatre and directing. You'll put these skills into practice by creating, staging, and performing your own work at the Fire Station at the end of the module.