
Acting - MA / PgDip
Currently viewing course to start in 2024/25 Entry.
Transform your career with our postgraduate qualification in acting. Designed to advance your practical and professional progress, our MA Acting course provides intense training from staff with rich industry experience. Previous graduates of this course have gone on to succeed as established performers, including roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company....
- Level Postgraduate Taught
- Study mode Full Time
- Location Bournville
- Award MA / PgDip
- Start date September 2024
- Fees View course fees
- School Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
- Faculty Faculty of Arts, Design and Media
This course is:
Open to International Students
Overview
Transform your career with our postgraduate qualification in acting. Designed to advance your practical and professional progress, our MA Acting course provides intense training from staff with rich industry experience.
Previous graduates of this course have gone on to succeed as established performers, including roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Main deadline date for our Acting courses is 31 January 2024, 18:00 (UK time) – please note that applications submitted after the main deadline date will still be considered for the 2024 intake
What's covered in this course?
You will be taught to maintain a high standard of skill and knowledge and how to transform into an independently-minded performer and practitioner. We will enhance your ability to reflect and analyse, through a range of concepts and ideas. You will enhance your technical skills through practice-based study, learning and developing flexibility to confront issues that you may experience within your profession.
Your classes will mainly be practical studio-based sessions, focusing on the practical application of acting, voice, movement and singing. You will also have time assigned for self-directed study, where you will further develop your work from practical classes. For some modules you will have timetabled rehearsal time, where you will work in groups to produce material.
Your studies will help to influence and shape your career. Previous graduates have been commended by industry for their innovative, challenging project work. Danielle Pinnock‘s final project, a 40 minute piece entitled BODY/COURAGE, won her the Best Actress award at the Strawberry Theatre Festival, and has since been performed internationally.
Patricia Duarte
With two Acting degrees already under her belt and on the road to gaining another in Psychology, Patricia left everything behind, took the plunge and moved from Portugal to England to continue pursuing her childhood dream by studying at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Read in fullWhy Choose Us?
- Royal Birmingham Conservatoire staff have vast experience, both within the UK and internationally. Staff have worked with well-known individuals, projects and companies such as the BBC, the RSC, the NHS, British repertory and festival theatres, and much more.
- To ensure high quality tuition, we normally have a maximum of 16 students enrolled onto the course each year.
- By joining Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, you will also be part of Birmingham City University, meaning you’ll have access to all the University’s state-of-the-art facilities, including TV and radio studios and a green screen, all of which you’ll have the opportunity to experience.
- Our graduates include Nicola Coughlan, who have gone on to perform in prestigious shows such as Bridgerton and Derry Girls.
- One of the most unique things about our programme is the solo performance project, performed as part of our yearly MA FEST.
The MA Acting course is the first anywhere to use the University’s new £62m TV production facilities at Parkside, Birmingham, of which Birmingham Conservatoire is a part. Recorded Media training will prepare you for work in film, television, radio drama and audiobooks.
Open Day
Join us on campus where you'll be able to explore our facilities and accommodation in person, and chat to staff and students from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Next Open Day: Thursday 7 December 2023
Entry Requirements
Essential Requirements
Essential |
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Admission is by audition, but we would normally require an undergraduate degree in Acting or a related subject, or a professional acting CV detailing your experience. |
The course is also suitable for professional actors seeking a refresher course. |
The MA option is designed for those with suitable academic abilities. |
We ask that applicants only apply for one RBC postgraduate acting course in an application cycle. |
For full details and advice about auditions and interviews, please visit the Acting Auditions and Interviews section of the Conservatoire website. |
English language requirements
- IELTS overall score 7.0 (6.5 in all components) or equivalent is required.
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: MA
Starting: Sep 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 1 year
- £14,175 in 2024/25
- Apply via UCAS
Award: PgDip
Starting: Sep 2024
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 9 months
- £9,450 in 2024/25
- Apply via UCAS
International students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
UCAS main deadline date 25 January 2023, 18:00 (UK time) – please note that applications submitted after the main deadline date will still be considered for the 2023 intake
How to apply
Please note when applying: you should only submit one application for either the MA or the PgDip Acting course, as you will only be considered for one of these courses and the audition criteria is the same for both. We ask that applicants only apply for one RBC postgraduate acting course in an application cycle, so you should not also apply for the MFA course in the same application cycle.
Please read our information on the audition process before making your application. We charge an audition fee of £46, which must be paid prior to audition and covers the entire audition process.
You can find guidance on how to prepare for an Audition by visiting the page below.
If you are applying from outside the UK/EU and are not able to attend an audition in the UK, you may wish to submit an online audition. Details of how to do this can be found here.
Completing your application
Further information on writing your personal statement can be found on the UCAS Conservatoires website.
Course in Depth
PG Dip
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
You will need a firm understanding of the basic core principles that support a successful performance and to practice those essential core technical skills of acting, voice and movement within a rehearsal and performance experience. Practising the craft of acting within the rehearsal environment allows for an understanding and practice of the theoretical elements of creating and communicating a character, as used by contemporary practitioners, whilst developing your imaginative powers,narrative and improvisational skills. You will be encouraged to take responsibility for your learning and required to begin to develop a personal working system and code of practice that will foster a professional attitude both in rehearsal and performance, with further time spent in evaluation and appraisal of their own system.
This module delivers practical class sessions in Movement, Voice, Singing and Acting in order that the student develops and embodies the highly specialized skills that form the basis of the actor’s ability to manifest interpretive and creative performance choices at an advanced level.
The work undertaken in these classes supports the intellectual, imaginative, creative and physical work taking place simultaneously in the modules Acting: Foundation; Workshop 1 and 2; and Production.
This module further develops the work undertaken in the module Acting Exercises.
To enter the profession, students need access to the relevant employment ‘gatekeepers’, such as agents, casting directors, artistic directors etc. It also allows students to develop appropriate interview/audition techniques and to prepare a portfolio of material for future auditions. The module gives students initial support in the transition into work.
For PgDip and MA students, this module enables students to prepare audition material and present it to a professional audience, normally both in Birmingham and London.
This module brings together all of the elements of the programme in two fully-staged performances. Students work to a fully professional model, as a member of an ensemble, playing as cast, in roles selected to provide them with opportunities to develop all of the requisite professional, imaginative and creative skills.
MA
In order to complete this course a student must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 180 credits):
You will need a firm understanding of the basic core principles that support a successful performance and to practice those essential core technical skills of acting, voice and movement within a rehearsal and performance experience. Practising the craft of acting within the rehearsal environment allows for an understanding and practice of the theoretical elements of creating and communicating a character, as used by contemporary practitioners, whilst developing your imaginative powers,narrative and improvisational skills. You will be encouraged to take responsibility for your learning and required to begin to develop a personal working system and code of practice that will foster a professional attitude both in rehearsal and performance, with further time spent in evaluation and appraisal of their own system.
This module delivers practical class sessions in Movement, Voice, Singing and Acting in order that the student develops and embodies the highly specialized skills that form the basis of the actor’s ability to manifest interpretive and creative performance choices at an advanced level.
The work undertaken in these classes supports the intellectual, imaginative, creative and physical work taking place simultaneously in the modules Acting: Foundation; Workshop 1 and 2; and Production.
This module further develops the work undertaken in the module Acting Exercises.
To enter the profession, students need access to the relevant employment ‘gatekeepers’, such as agents, casting directors, artistic directors etc. It also allows students to develop appropriate interview/audition techniques and to prepare a portfolio of material for future auditions. The module gives students initial support in the transition into work.
For PgDip and MA students, this module enables students to prepare audition material and present it to a professional audience, normally both in Birmingham and London.
This module will provide MA students with the opportunity to rehearse and perform to the public in a complex professional-level environment .Students will further develop high standards in synthesizing technical, research, interpretative and specialist communication skills,informed by knowledge and understanding of contemporary acting theory.
This module spans the programme and the Major Project, delivered in Term 4, represents the culmination of your journey on the course. It is the point in the course when you have the opportunity to reflect on all you have learnt thus far in order to initiate lines of enquiry and personal strategies through which to develop your own ideas as a foundation for future work in the field.
Much of the work of the Major Project is self-directed. You are encouraged to undertake research-through-practice and create a performance-based major project. You may choose to include a written component by way of evaluating their practice or you may choose to perform and be examined through a viva voce examination. There are a range of options for submission, laid out below and in the module brief.
The MA in Acting operates as a one-year, full-time course. As a Master’s student, you will be expected to take a proactive attitude toward study with timetabled classes as well as time for self-directed study.
Throughout the course, you will be taught through a series of modules covering a different aspect of the acting field, teaching you a diverse, yet specialised combination of knowledge and skill. You will formulate a strong understanding of the importance of context to your work, maintaining an awareness of developments within the acting field.
Towards the end of your Master’s you will be expected to devise and present a research project. This project is designed to demonstrate an accumulation of the skills and knowledge you have developed throughout the programme. You will be expected to engage in independent study, researching a specific area of your theatrical interest.
Student stories - Danielle Pinnock
"I chose Birmingham School of Acting because I have always wanted to study abroad in England for as long as I could remember. I think the acting training in England really is special, because you are learning from tutors from all over Europe. I wanted to study acting, because I graduated with a directing emphasis from my undergraduate college, Temple University. I really wanted to sharpen and challenge my acting skills and I was able to do that and more at BSA. I am now in Chicago working at The Goodman Theatre on Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s new play ‘By the Way, Meet Vera Stark’. I am understudying for the role of Lottie.
Employability
Enhancing employability skills
This MA Acting course is designed to not only develop your practical performance skills but to help you expand your intellectual knowledge of the creative industries. You will finish this course with the skills expected of the contemporary actor, by studying the theory and practice of key acting processes. You will be able to engage critically and creatively, mapping out the performance possibilities of a production text.
You will have the skill to create and perform a believable character with authentic psychological and emotional truths. With knowledge of the demands and performance needs of genres, style and text you will be able to produce content that demonstrates depth, meaning and originality.
As a MA Acting graduate you will confidently be able to analyse performance scripts, applying the principles inherent in the Stanislavski system. You will learn how to make mature and advanced interpretations of a performance text, expanding your ability to analyse and synthesise theatrical work.
You’ll learn the skills and awareness you need will enable you to look out for auditions, leaving you with the best chance of succeeding in your acting career.
International
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here.
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies.
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country.
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies.
In the past, we have welcomed students from international countries such as Norway and further afield. We encourage international students to study with us, as we feel you will benefit from experiencing a new culture and bringing your own perspective and flair to the programme.
As a University, we are one of Britain’s leading providers of creative, talented professionals. We have a range of visiting tutors, industry connections and innovative teaching. In Birmingham alone there are various performing arts programmes and venues, and with London just a train journey away, you will be surrounded by creativity and possibility.
The MA Acting course will be delivered in English, and the ability to speak and to write English with considerable fluency is a requirement for entry to the course. In most cases, a candidate whose first language is not English may be required to take a standard test in English in order to evaluate your level of comprehension, skills in conversation and writing. The result of this test will be necessary prior to being offered a place on the course.
Facilities & Staff
Our Facilities
Location
The School of Acting is based at Ruskin Hall in Bournville, although students can also benefit from a range of performance spaces around the city. As a part of the Arts, Design and Media faculty, we also have access to facilities at the Parkside Building, which boasts state-of-the-art radio and television studios, edit suites, photography studios, and much more.
Performances
Students regularly perform at professional theatres across the West Midlands, including The Birmingham Central Library Theatre; Crescent Theatre; Hippodrome Studio (Patrick Centre); The Old Rep Theatre and The Drum.
Our staff
Lise Olson
Course Director, MA in Acting
Lise is currently the Course Director of MA in Acting at Birmingham School of Acting. She relocated from Merseyside, where she trained actors for a decade at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Lise has been directing and training actors in the US and UK for 30 years.
More about LiseStephen Simms
Vice Principal - Acting, Professor of Actor Education
Stephen is the Vice Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Acting, one of the UK's leading conservatoires of acting, where he is also the Head of Acting. He is also Professor of Actor Education, the only person to hold this position in the country. He directs and teaches on the acting courses at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Recent...
More about Stephen