Acting (Stage and Screen) BA (Hons)

 

Course Code

UCAS Code: W411
International Code: AHU056

Location

Coventry University (Coventry)

 

Study mode

Full-time
Sandwich

Duration

3 years full-time
4 years full-time (study abroad or work placement)

Start date

September 2022

How to apply
Book an Open Day
Download a prospectus
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Course overview

Study level: Undergraduate

The course enhances your personal, professional and vocational skills. It fosters creativity, critical reflection and an understanding of the processes and performances of diverse acting practices.

Additional key points:
You will apply key skills in voice, movement and character development to work on stage and on screen. You will also have the opportunity to engage with acting in, for example, drama and documentary film production, television, radio, corporate video and video art, live theatre, and immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality.

This is a collaborative, creative and industry-facing course in which you have the opportunity to develop your skills in presentation and critically-creative academic enquiry. You will work closely with other students in media and performing arts, and in the faculty, developing a portfolio of work across a range of media that will enhance their prospects for employability upon graduation.

The course is at the cutting edge of technological innovation in performer training with the Immersive in Telepresence project conducted in conjunction with Tampere University in Finland, having been the recipient of several international awards.

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Global Ready

An international outlook, with global opportunities
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Teaching excellence

Taught by lecturers who are experts in their field
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Employability

Career ready graduates, with the skills to succeed

Why you should study this course

You will have the opportunity to learn from our experienced creative practitioners, some who have worked as theatre directors, movement directors, educational programme developers, freelance actors, designers, mask-makers and applied theatre specialists for organisations ranging from Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), The Globe, Théâtre Sans Frontières, Trestle, Spike Theatre, Tinderbox Theatre, The Lion’s Part and The Fabularium. The teaching staff have significant experience in major project events, such as Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008 programme, international touring with the British Council, co-productions with the National Theatre and performances at the Sydney Opera House. A number of staff members are also founders and directors of organisations that have been within the Arts Council of England National Portfolio.

The teaching team has a vast array of international research expertise with exciting collaborations including examples, such as a site-specific project on the use of Pico pocket projectors during field trips with Das Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, as well as long-form improvisation research with alumni of Chicago’s Second City and teachers from The Hothouse Los Angeles.

You may have the opportunity to participate in the Telepresence in Theatre initiative which is an ongoing project between Coventry and the actor training degree at the Tampere University, Finland. Using repurposed technologies such as videoconferencing, rear projection, directional sound, Adobe Connect and Facebook an immersive rehearsal space is created in both locations to enable students to rehearse and explore a variety of classic plays. The project, which has now received multiple international awards (Gold in Arts and Humanities Reimagine education 2016, Gold in Arts and Humanities and Hybrid Learning Reimagine Education 2018 and Highly Commended at the Times Higher Education Awards 2018) is now in its fifth year and is continuing to develop new ways of teaching and learning at a distance. The project has conducted performances in Hong Kong, Finland and Miami and in 2019 collaborated with Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan and Purdue University in the US.

The degree combines devising, scripted and experimental work with opportunities for live and mediated performances emphasising the development of acting as an art form. Teaching and learning methods selected for this course are designed to facilitate your ability to develop and reflect on your own skills and understanding, and to foster links between this, the practice of others, and theoretical knowledge and concepts.

The course is predominantly practice-based with workshops and classes exploring a wide range of different styles and forms from character building methodologies, chorus and ensemble work, and approaches to intermediality (the integration of digital elements within the live performance space), voice and movement studies and working within a technological framework such as film or voiceover.

What you'll study

In year one you will begin to develop skills in voice, movement and characterisation coupled with an exploration of contemporary acting styles and practices underpinned with knowledge and theory to help develop your practice. Key practitioners and styles of acting are explored as well as the fundamentals of acting in live, digitised and mediatised settings.

Modules

  • The module aims to introduce students to a range of acting skills needed to work across a range of live and digitised media. Students will focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance and coursework

  • Students will examine and evaluate, through practical exercises and classes, some of the processes and techniques used by performers in the telling of stories in a variety of settings. With the basic resources of an empty space (physical or digital) , their own bodies and voices, students will create performance pieces from a given story source. Students will explore the acting process and the mixture and balance of roles needed to create an effective performance.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • You will further develop a range of acting skills needed to work across a range of live and digitised media. Yoiwill focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories. Skills sessions will be linked to a series of workshops that challenge notions of the ‘theatrical’, audience communion and psycho-physical performance.

    Compulsory

  • Students will further develop a range of acting skills needed to work across a range of live and digitised media. Students will focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories. Skills sessions will be linked to a series of workshops that challenge notions of the ‘theatrical’, audience communion and psycho-physical performance.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • In this module students will study the place of the actor within the wider creative industries and will look at how they contribute to the creative economy of a region. The development of arts policies since the Second World War and the rise of the ‘creative economy’ will be introduced. Students will explore how the cultural industry has evolved nationally and regionally within this period and how this has been linked to social, economic and political policy.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Coursework

Year two takes skills developed in year one and applies them to a series of contexts from the digital to the live. From classical to experimental performance styles, you will undertake a series of activities that will continue to develop and hone your performance skills through a series of live and mediated performance tasks.

Modules

  • Students will continue to develop a range of acting skills needed to work across a range of live and digitised media. Students will focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories. Skills sessions will be linked to a series of workshops on performance with screen and interactive media. Continuing the work in the Level 4 'Actor's Toolkit' modules this module will examine how an actor applies these skills in a digital context.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Assessment: Portfolio/performance, coursework

  • Students will perform in a chosen play (or plays) through practical work and relevant research. These plays will be selected by a tutor/director from a culturally and globally diverse range of materials from the ancient to the modern and will form part of the School's annual production programme. Students will use rehearsal exercises to identify relevant performance techniques for the effective realisation of the text, in a style appropriate to the demands of the text and to the cultural/historical/sociological and stylistic context they determine.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • Students will undertake practical study of relevant techniques for the devising and realisation of contemporary performance in unconventional spaces and scenarios. Students will explore the nature of immersive performance and work that utilises the various technologies available in the digital age. This module will explore some of the cultural and theoretical background to new performance practice and will be supported by lectures and seminars focusing on some of the key developments in the 20th and 21st centuries.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • Students will continue to develop a range of acting skills needed to work across a range of live and digitised media. Students will focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories. Skills sessions will be linked to a series of workshops on specific acting challenges presented by the texts of Shakespeare and his contemporaries and facilitates, through practice, an in-depth examination of proven analytical and practical approaches to these challenges.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

Students successfully completing Level 5 of the course may choose to undertake a Professional Placement or Study Abroad Year. This route allows students to spend a year abroad or a year on professional placement between Level 5 and Level 6 of the course.

Students opting to take this route may undertake one of the following: a study placement under the Erasmus exchange scheme; a study placement under another study abroad scheme for placements outside the EU; a work placement under the Erasmus work placement scheme or a work placement organised on their own initiative outside the EU. Alternatively, they may choose to combine a period of study with a period on placement.

Modules

  • Optional

  • Optional

In the final year you will continue to develop your performance skills through a series of workshops and projects that prepare you for entry into the industry, examining how you apply skills in voice, body and character creation to a series of performance opportunities, leading to a final industry showcase event.

Modules

  • Students will focus on the development of voice, movement and character through the exploration of a range of techniques, practices and theories. Skills sessions will be linked to a series of workshops that develop vocal dexterity and the application of vocal technique in performance. In order to fully appreciate the complex relationship between the actor and the actor’s voice, this module will also require students to further investigate the interaction of the speech organs and apply their knowledge of how an actor’s whole body influences the quality of voice produced.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • This module is designed to give students the direct experience of working within a professional environment. Students will work with professional film/theatre practitioner(s), a member of current lecturing staff or colleagues within BA Film Production, as appropriate, to create live/filmed/digital/performance work together that will reflect the practitioner’s own style. This experience will develop the students’ understanding of the need for a professional attitude and working ethos in the production of high-quality professional work.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Coursework

  • This module is designed to encourage the student to develop an appreciation of the nature of professionalism in the context of acting, the performing arts and new media industries and related fields, and to recognise the relationship between professional arts practice, critical reflection and personal planning. Students will be introduced to key issues to address when beginning a career in acting.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio

  • This module will provide the student with the opportunity to collaborate in the creation and presentation of a substantial piece of creative work in collaboration with a director(s). This work shall be staged or screened in a final 'showcase' festival of work and students will be exposed to a variety of material, directors, rehearsal styles, and production concepts to meet the demands of differing audiences both live and mediated. This work will engage with intercultural issues and will encourage engagement with digital practices.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

  • Building on work in the previous Actor's Toolkit modules, this module will examine in depth the physical and psychophysical processes and apparatus underpinning the actor's work. Students will be encouraged to explore the relationships between the body, movement and the representation of character and identity, and empowered to make informed choices from a range of expressive techniques according to their needs and interests.

    Compulsory

    Assessment: Portfolio/performance

How you'll learn

The course normally lasts three years when studied full-time and four to six years part-time. Students successfully completing the first two years of the course can apply to take a Professional Placement or Study Abroad module, spending a year out between the second and third years on placement or study abroad. Past students have spent a year studying at Valencia in Spain, Berlin, Nicosia in Cyprus, and Long Beach, California. Your personal tutor will review and discuss your progress with you and will be available for advice.

As well as having the option of a year-long work placement following second year, in your final year, you will have the chance to form a company and create an applied theatre project as part of the performing arts degree show festival. Teaching methods include: practical classes and workshops with associated lectures and seminars.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include practical or project work, coursework and essays.

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.

Job ready

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  • Understand diverse practices of acting within historical and contemporary global contexts
  • Evidence theoretical and contextual knowledge and understanding of acting and performance across a range of live and mediated platforms
  • Engage with the work of local, national and international communities of practice to evaluate, challenge and influence current and future industry trends
  • Demonstrate a diverse range of acting and performance skills in a variety of independent and collaborative contexts
  • Critically reflect on the development of skills in the production a highly creative portfolio of work as an emerging independent and collaborative practitioner
  • Accurately deploy established techniques in acting across a range of live and mediated at various stages of performance and production.

International experience opportunities

The teaching team has a vast array of international research expertise with exciting collaborations such as a site-specific project on the use of Pico pocket projectors during field trips with Das Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, as well as long-form improvisation research with alumni of Chicago’s Second City and teachers from The Hothouse Los Angeles.

Students successfully completing Level 5 of the course may choose to undertake a Professional Placement or Study Abroad Year. This route allows students to spend a year abroad or a year on professional placement between Level 5 and Level 6 of the course.

I love the idea of play- that we play in a safe environment and solve problems, so when we go outside into the industry, you have a toolkit of ideas and values that you’re confident in. The notion of going to university and being able to play, grow and develop as actors and creatives is our mission at Coventry.

Kollette Super, Associate Dean, 2021
Students in a dark lit performance theatre acting with chairs as props

Entry requirements

Typical offer for 2022 entry.

Requirement What we're looking for
A level BBC
GCSE Minimum 5 GCSE's graded 9-4 including English
BTEC DMM
IB Diploma 29 points

We recognise a breadth of qualifications, speak to one of our advisers today to find out how we can help you.

Chat with UK admissions

You may be required to attend a portfolio showcase, activity session or audition or submit a portfolio via email (as is appropriate to your course), either virtually or face to face, as is practical to arrange. Invites for these sessions will be sent directly to your contact email.

Each application will be considered on its merits.

Select your region to find detailed information about entry requirements:

Europe

Americas

Middle East

South Asia

South East Asia

East Asia

Africa

Russia and Central Asia

You can view our full list of country specific entry requirements on our Entry requirements page.

If you do not have the typical entry requirements, you may want to consider studying this course with an international foundation year. Upon successful completion our International Foundation Year - Art, Design and Media will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to progress onto this undergraduate degree.

Alternatively, visit our International hub for further advice and guidance on finding in-country agents and representatives, joining our in-country events and how to apply.

You will be required to submit a portfolio via email or alternatively attend a showcase activity session or audition (as is appropriate for your course) which can be virtual or face to face, as is practical to arrange. Invites to send in your portfolio or attend these sessions will be sent directly to your contact email.

Each application will be considered on its merits.

English language requirements

  • IELTS: 6.0 overall, with no component lower than 5.5.

If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course. 

For more information on our approved English language tests visit our English language requirements page.

Chat with International admissions

Fees and funding

2022/23 Tuition fees

Student Full time Part time
UK £9,250 per year Not available
International £18,050 per year Not available

For advice and guidance on tuition fees and student loans visit our Undergraduate Finance page and see The University’s Tuition Fee and Refund Terms and Conditions.

We offer a range of International scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our International Scholarships page.

Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessments, facilities and support services. There may be additional costs not covered by this fee such as accommodation and living costs, recommended reading books, stationery, printing and re-assessments should you need them. Find out what's included in your tuition costs.

Facilities

Access to facilities, including: a dance performance space with lighting/sound control rooms and comprehensive and up-to-date technical equipment, two dance studios, theatre workshop space, wardrobe facilities and storage with around 3,500 costume items and 1,500 accessories, dressing rooms and box office facilities. Booking may be required for some facilities.

Student playing trumpet on stage accompanied by a pianist.

Music seminar room

A great space for our budding musicians, our specialist music seminar room comes with a grand piano, PA, amps, drum kit and 5.1 surround sound, all directly linked to a control room for recording.
 

Students acting out a classroom scene on stage

Performance spaces

Our Ellen Terry Building has a dance performance space, two dance studios and a theatre workshop. It also has dressing rooms and storage with around 3,500 costume items and 1,500 accessories.
 

Student using computer equipment on a recording studio desk.

Recording studios

With some of our courses, you can have access to five recording studios, instrument storage, and an iMac music tech suite. We also have state-of-the-art recording studios running Pro Tools, Logic, Live, Max and Sibelius on Apple macs.

Careers and opportunities

There is a strong emphasis within the course on your future career path, aimed not only to help you to explore what your chosen career path might be, but also to help build a professional level of business skills and knowledge.

The ‘Business Matters’ module in particular is designed to encourage you to develop an appreciation of the nature of professionalism in the context of the performing arts industry and to recognise the relationship between professional arts practice, critical reflection and personal planning. You will have the opportunity to consider career structures relevant for your field, including companies, free-lance, small businesses and sole trader, and the commercial structures within which you may eventually work. We will also look at the possible market places for different skills and creations, which includes areas such as self-promotion, marketing and publicity.

Where our graduates work

Our graduates have gone on to further training, both in UK and abroad and have worked in a variety of roles in the theatre and film industry from acting for Amazon Prime, BBC and Netflix, touring with both large and small scale independent theatre companies and freelance performers.

Recent graduates have secured work in the education departments of theatres including The Belgrade Theatre, The Birmingham Rep, Old Vic Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, The Roundhouse in London. Others have found roles with a range of organisations, such as supporting national community cohesion at The Challenge, managing TEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) programmes with Dramatic English in Hong Kong, working alongside schools at specialist SEN agencies or with Live and Local promoting arts in rural Warwickshire.

The university's Talent Team is also on hand to offer tailored career and enterprise advice to support if you wish to gain employment or take advantage of professional practice opportunities within course specific industries. Our dedicated Enterprise Officers also offer valuable assistance on how to begin as a freelancer/entrepreneur.

Kollette Super, Associate Dean, 2021
A student acting in a play wearing a white gown and a green spotlight shinning on her

How to apply

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Your next steps

Student life
Accommodation
Fees and funding

  • Student Contract

    By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2021/22 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.

    Tuition fees

    The tuition fee for the course that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EU students should be aware that there may be a change to UK laws following the UK’s exit, this may change their student status, their eligibility to study part time, and/or their eligibility for student finance. We will act in accordance with the UK’s laws in force in relation to student tuition fees and finance from time to time.

    For International students the tuition fee that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For international students, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.

    Accreditations

    The majority of our courses have been formally recognised by professional bodies, which means the courses have been reviewed and tested to ensure they reach a set standard. In some instances, studying on an accredited course can give you additional benefits such as exemptions from professional exams (subject to availability, fees may apply). Accreditations, partnerships, exemptions and memberships shall be renewed in accordance with the relevant bodies’ standard review process and subject to the university maintaining the same high standards of course delivery. 

    Facilities

    Facilities mentioned on this page may not be relevant for every course. Due to the ongoing restrictions relating to COVID-19, some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) and some non-academic offerings (particularly in relation to international experiences), may vary from those advertised and may have reduced availability or restrictions on their use.

    Placements and study abroad opportunities

    Please note that we are unable to guarantee any placement or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be subject to additional costs (e.g. travel, visas and accommodation etc.), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the requirements in this regard, please contact the International Office for further details if you are an EU or International student.

    Additional costs

    This course may incur additional costs associated with any field trips, placements or work experience, study abroad opportunities or any other opportunity (whether required or optional), which could include (but is not limited to), equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas).