BA (Hons) Acting and Performance provides the perfect blend between screen and stage, preparing you with the techniques, knowledge and experience to launch a fantastic performance career after graduation.
You will be immersed in a balanced and stimulating programme of study of acting and performance, integrating theoretical and critical analysis and receiving up-to-date contemporary actors’ training alongside building essential skills, such as audition and interview techniques – ready to step up to the challenges of the industry. Optional modules also enable you to specialise in areas such as directing, teaching or applied theatre, broadening career pathways further.
The course also offers opportunities to get involved in a wide range of recorded screen performance projects alongside live performance practice, enabling you to develop your acting skills in a friendly and nurturing environment.
Thanks to the course teams close links with industry, you’ll have the chance to gain practical experience through working with local professional institutions; working on live briefs, auditions and work experience opportunities. These close links include The Mayflower Theatre, The Point Theatre Eastleigh and the Nuffield Theatre. In addition, you will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of student and professionally directed film projects to expand and develop your screen acting skills and produce a varied showreel.
During your final year of study you will have the opportunity to participate in a showcase to help launch your introduction to the industry and establish networks to support your career development.
As an acting and performance student you will have access to a wide range of resources to support your learning including professional HD cameras, radio suites, multi-camera studios, and professional theatre venues. You’ll also have the chance to work alongside our film and TV production students on live performance work, providing you with the unique opportunity to develop equally in screen and stage performance, helping to support your employability.
Why choose this course?
Course features
Specialist facilities
This course has access to specialist facilities
Study abroad
You have the opportunity to study abroad in one of our partner universities for a semester on this course
Top-up option
If you have an appropriate Level 5 qualification, you can top it up to a degree in just a year
Further studies
After successfully completing your studies, there's an opportunity to continue your studies at Solent
Who is this course for?
Solent’s acting and performance degree is ideally suited to students who want to develop a career in acting and performing arts, be it to develop your own company, or work with production companies on screen or stage. Applicants ideally will have some previous experience and/or qualifications in drama and will be required to present an audition.
What does this course lead to?
The broad nature of this degree prepares students for a career as an actor/performer for stage, screen or radio.
Meet the team
Course tutors are academic and/or industry professionals whose knowledge and contacts provide you with an invaluable resource for understanding contemporary trends and opportunities in the performing arts. In addition, visiting lecturers provide further insight into current workplace practice. Our focus on employability ensures that you leave us with the skills and confidence to realise your career ambitions.
The University cannot guarantee any particular members of staff will teach specific aspects of the course in the future, but will endeavour to ensure the teaching team maintains their balance of experience and qualifications.
Facilities
Students have full access to a variety of rehearsal spaces including rehearsal rooms and a dance studio with sprung floor, as well as an additional 200-seat flexi-form space on campus, which can be used for live performances.
Final productions take place in a professional theatre venue. Performance students can also use the University's three multi-camera television studios with green-screen technology, additional television studio space and radio recording studios. The University is also in negotiations to further expand resources for the performance degrees by offering a high-quality professional space in the city. Students will be able to use the University's extensive collection of musical equipment, including a piano, electronic keyboards and portable stereo systems, as well as technical equipment including Panasonic 151 HD cameras, rifle mikes, tripods and monitors, radio microphones, a mixing desk, and dictaphones for interviews and research. Edit suites equipped with Final Cut Pro are also available for use. On-site library facilities include a range of industry specific books, articles, journals, DVDs and audio-visual resources to support research.
Come to an open day
Fancy a sneak peek? Take a look around!
Core modules
Performance Practitioners and Techniques
This theoretical module explores the historical development of acting techniques and practitioners, contextualising their impact on the performing arts, and exploring in detail their differences and similarities.
The Actor’s Body and Voice
This module focuses on different techniques and practitioners that will enable you to free, release and develop your physical and vocal apparatus.
Discovering Acting
This module begins the process of honing your acting skills to a professional level. It’s your opportunity to focus on advanced acting techniques using a range of popular and contemporary practitioners.
Performance Histories
This module helps you to understand where acting and theatre have come from. Focussing specifically on the Western tradition, it explores the history of live performance from early ritual through to the 21st century, considering how audiences, performers, theatre spaces and play-texts have changed and developed over time.
Directed Production
This module takes the acting skills and techniques that you have learnt during your First Year and puts them to work through a production process which involves you working with a director and other actors.
Screen Practice and Performance
This module introduces you to a range of screen acting genres and styles whilst developing your awareness and application of the technical challenges associated with working on camera.
How you will learn and be assessed
You will learn by:
You may be assessed by a combination of:
Individual performances
Group performances
Portfolios
Workshops
Quizzes
Group presentations
Devising
Assignments
Individual presentations
Solent’s curriculum framework builds on our unique, creative and applied approach to teaching. The transformation of students’ lives is at the heart of our mission as a university, and our curriculum – informed by the latest theory – reflects this shared educational vision.
Find out moreStudy support
The student achievement team are on hand to help you succeed during your studies at Solent. They aim to contact you at key times during your time here with personalised information, advice and guidance, by email or phone.
Access Solent provides information, advice and guidance for disabled students.
All students can access Succeed@Solent, Solent's online guide to getting better grades. It offers extensive, practical information and advice on topics such as academic writing, research and presentations.
Why choose the industry?
UK creative industries generate more than £100bn a year to the UK economy. It is considered one of the fastest growing industries and continues to outperform the wider UK economy.
Based on the Arts Council England report commissioned from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), the arts and culture industry in 2016 was responsible for:
- £21.2bn in direct turnover
- £10.8bn in Gross Value Added (GVA), with £8.6bn of this generated by the market segment of the industry and the remaining £2.2bn contributed by the non-market organisations
- 137,250 jobs
- £6.1bn in employee compensation
The growth in mixed-media and multi-media is presenting new exciting opportunities and challenges for the sector.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2022/23 academic year are:
- UK, EU (settled status) and Channel Island full-time fees: £9,250 per year
- International full-time fees: £14,250 per year
For further information, please visit our tuition fees page.
Extra course costs
While most course costs are covered by your tuition fees, some essential resources and optional extras may need to be paid for separately. These additional costs are listed below. For advice on budgeting and managing your money, please contact student.funding@solent.ac.uk.
The 2022/23 other costs are not yet available. For guidance, previous other costs have been:
Compulsory costs:
Trip to London – Surviving Actors Conference - £50
Movement clothing - £40
Bursaries, scholarships and financial support
Solent University offers a range of bursaries and scholarships that provide financial assistance or waive fees for tuition or accommodation. Each bursary or scholarship has specific eligibility criteria. Check out our bursaries and scholarships pages to find out more.
Graduation costs
There is no charge to attend graduation, but you will be required to pay for the rental of your academic gown (approximately £45 per graduate, depending on your award). You may also wish to purchase official photography packages, which range in price from £15 to £200+. Graduation is not compulsory, so if you prefer to have your award sent to you, there is no cost. Extra guest tickets will go on sale after results publication and will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. The cost per ticket is currently £15. Please note, we do not guarantee there will be any extra tickets available to purchase.
Financial information videos
Student finance in under three minutes Student funding - the essentials
Entry requirements
Please select an option below:
Key entry requirements
96 - 112 UCAS tariff points from A-levels or equivalent
- A minimum of two completed A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma at MMM or BTEC Diploma at DD, T-Level Pass or equivalent qualification, or a combination of qualifications which comply with the minimum entry requirement of 96 UCAS points.
- Direct entry into year two or three may be considered for this course.
- UK applicants are required to attend an audition, live or recorded, two monologues.
- Applicants over the age of 21 may be considered based on relevant experience, without having the required tariff points.
- For further information about UK qualifications, please refer to our course entry requirement statement.
Key entry requirements
As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
Applicants from outside the UK will be required to send electronic auditions.
If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
For further information about UK, EU and international qualifications, please refer to our course entry requirement statement.
Key entry requirements
As a general guide, we look for qualifications that are equivalent to the British high school A-levels.
Applicants from outside the UK will be required to send electronic auditions.
If you are applying from outside the UK, find information about entry requirements, visas and agents for your country here.
Note to all international students requiring a visa:
All international applicants need to be aware that the English language requirements to attend Solent University, and the English language requirements to obtain a visa from the Home Office, may be different. This means that if you meet the Solent University language requirement to gain a place on the course, you may still have to meet additional requirements to be granted with a visa by the Home Office.
We strongly advise all applicants to visit the Home Office website which outlines all the requirements for a successful visa application and to take a look at this PDF document which outlines both Solent University and Home Office requirements for a number of language tests.
Any questions?
Contact our admissions team!Call: 023 8201 5066Email: admissions@solent.ac.uk
How to apply
Any student applying for the first year of a full-time/sandwich undergraduate course must apply through UCAS (University and Colleges Admissions Service). This includes mature, overseas and EU students.
Nearly all schools and colleges offer their students the facility of applying electronically through the UCAS website using 'Apply'; it may also be used by those applying independently in the UK and overseas. This facility and all course information can be found on the UCAS website: www.ucas.com.
Your application should reach UCAS by 26 January if you hope to enter a course the following autumn. Early application is advised for the most popular subject areas. Late applications may be made until the end of June. The UCAS Code for the University is S30, code name SOLNT.
Alternative entry options
Top-up route:
We welcome applications from students currently studying a Foundation Degree, DipHE, HNC, HND or modules of an undergraduate degree course at another university, who wish to enter directly into Years 2 or 3 of one of our undergraduate degree courses. Please contact our admissions team for more information: contact us
Language requirements
Applicants who do not have English as their first language will be required to demonstrate an approved level of proficiency in the use of the English language. The agreed minimum requirements for this course are:
- IELTS minimum 6.0 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each individual component
- TOEFL IBT minimum 80 with a minimum of 20 in each individual component
- Duolingo English Language Test - 110 overall with minimum of 90 in each component
or equivalent.
Qualifications are checked before enrolment, and international students must bring their original certificates or certified copies when coming to study at the University.
Pre-Sessional English programme
The University also offers a pre-sessional English programme for international students who wish to improve their level of English before starting a degree course.
We will prepare you for your future
Solent’s acting and performance degree will prepare you for a career in the performing arts. Suitable roles for graduates include:
- Stage and/or screen actor
- Voice/radio actor
- Physical theatre practitioner
- Devising and creating your own work
- Theatre/arts administration
- Cruise ship entertainer
- Drama teacher
- Model
- Theatre in education
- Drama intern
- Theatre marketing
We will help you start your career
The Solent Futures team is committed to getting students into great careers.
While you are studying, the team can help you with finding work experience or placements, link you with a mentor, check your CV, or offer one-to-one guidance.
If you're in your final year, we also have graduate job opportunities just for Solent graduates.
Find out moreSupport at Solent
All students at Solent University have access to a range of specialist support services. Whether you are having financial difficulty, need additional help with academic skills or want advice on setting up your own business you'll find that help is always on hand.
Most of our specialist support services are based around the Student Hub, a central space where you can access all the information and support you may need during your time at University. The Student Hub is the first point of contact if you have any queries relating to your course, including questions about your timetable, options, and assessments and extenuating circumstances.
We work in partnership with the University to build a sense of pride and confidence in your Union, University and student experience.
Find out moreFurther study
Thinking about studying further than an undergraduate degree? Alumni can get up to 50% off their postgraduate study.
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