BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen

COURSE OVERVIEW

Programme Specifications BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen UCAS CODE W410 UCAS TARIFF 96 -112 BA (Hons) 3 YEARS

This BA (Hons) Acting degree for Stage & Screen has been designed by working industry professionals to ensure students develop the skills required when performing for stage and screen, providing students with a drama school style experience outside of London. Students on this intensive acting course will receive 30 hours contact time a week to develop core skills in voice, characterisation and physicality. These skills will be utilised in performances for stage and screen, as well as working on contemporary and innovative performance practices. We aim for our graduates to become multi-faceted artists ready to enter the industry and with the skills to shape the future of the industry. The course is vocational focusing on students developing and creating their own practice as well as performance. Our Acting degree is professionally accredited and will allow graduates to gain Spotlight membership upon graduation.

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COURSE DETAILS
Work Experience
WHAT TO EXPECT
GUEST LECTURERS
INDUSTRY LINKS
GRADUATE ACTORS
NORTHERN STUDIOS

Our exciting course focuses on a collaborative approach to acting, creating a drama school atmosphere for our degree students whom work with a range of creative programmes, including Costume, Film TV and Theatre production, Photography, Production Designand Model Making & VFX to produce brand new material created by film and theatre scriptwriters. Because of our joint approach students have the opportunity to gain valuable communication skills and to generate a dynamic and original body of work.

Performance students look at the core acting skills of voice, physicality and characterisation. Working on devised and scripted text for both stage and screen. You will be part of two full theatre productions each academic year to showcase the skills gained. This degree explores classical theatre, clowning and acting for media. Your three years of study will culminate in your final year enabling you to produce an extensive CV, professional standard show-reel, a full theatre production and a solo show at The ARC Theatre to agents and industry professionals. On this course we treat our students like actors in training, by working alongside guest lecturers and industry professionals from the theatre and film industries you will develop professional skills. As working actors we expect professional standards on all projects.

Students are encouraged and supported in securing professional opportunities throughout the acting programme. The North-East has a thriving theatre & creative scene which our professional staff continue to work in. Because of this the programme has strong industry links, offering an important network of contacts for our undergraduates.

These include:
• ARC Theatre
• Newcastle Puppetry Festival
• Northern Stage
• Janet Plater Management
• Spotlight
• North East Screen
• Stockton International Riverside Festival
• Theatre Hullabalu
• Gyre & Gimble
• Andy Berriman, Film maker
• Tangled Feet Theatre

Our school engages with a wide range of partners working across each creative sub-sector to ensure that teaching and learning are in line with the latest developments and requirements of industry, including:

David Kirkbride
David Kirkbride is an actor, known for Enola Holmes (2020), Lady Macbeth (2016), Crooked House (2017) and Sherlock (2010). Growing up in the North East of England, David started performing in theatre with various companies from a young age. He went on to train at Guildhall School of Music And Drama and since graduating has worked with the National Theatre and on the West End. He's also travelled up and down the county on stage and has worked on multiple TV & film sets all over the UK. Theatre credits include the National Theatres 'Pinocchio' by John Tiffany and 'The Play That Goes Wrong' on the West End.

Janet Plater
Janet is the founder of the eponymous Janet Plater Management Ltd - the leading professional actors agency in the North East of England. The company was established in 1997. The company offers professional representation and personal management to around 60 professional adult actors. She is also a playwright.
jpmactors.com

Tony Jayawardena
Tony is a British actor, known for his roles as Mr Bhamra in the West End musical Bend It Like Beckham the Musical and for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe and Royal National Theatre. In 2018, he began portraying the role of Rashid Hyatt in the Channel 4 drama Ackley Bridge. He has also appeared in The Crown.
www.imdb.com

Rob Icke
Robert Icke FRSL is an English writer and theatre director. He has been referred to as the "great hope of British theatre." He is an award-winning writer and director, working in theatre and on screen. He is currently the Ibsen Artist in Residence at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, supported by the Philip Loubser Foundation. His awards include two Evening Standard ‘Best Director’ Awards, the Critics’ Circle Award, the Kurt Hübner Award for his debut production in Germany, and the Olivier Award for ‘Best Director’, of which he is the youngest ever winner. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
https://roberticke.com/

Annabel Turpin
Annabel Chief Executive & Artistic Director of the award winning arts centre Arc. She has a national profile for championing of both the arts and theatre as well as community participation.
arconline.co.uk

Maria Crocker
Maria is a theatre director and teacher based in Newcastle with 10 years’ experience of working in the industry, including the West End and Broadway.
directorsprogram.youngvic.org

BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen

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Student Voices

Watch now to find out more about what it's like to study acting here at The Northern School of Art!

Graduate Actors 2024

The Northern School of Art is pleased to introduce our talented and skilled 2024 BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen graduates. Each student has gained a range of excellent experiences in many roles across film and theatre which you can read about by browsing their profiles, simply click on each headshot to discover more!

FACILITIES

This course offers students access to fantastic facilities and resources including:

A proscenium arch theatre

3 rehearsal studios with sprung floors

Double height TV studios with green and blue screen

Sound recording equipment & booth

STAFF

Jonny Bussell

Senior Lecturer - BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen Jonny studied Philosophy at Newcastle University and then went on to study MA Acting at Arts Educational Schools London. After graduating Jonny has worked as an actor and director predominately in the North East performing in productions such as ‘Revenger’s Tragedy’ and ‘The Duchess of Malfi’. Jonny recently directed ACE funded ‘Bankers’ at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle. The play looked at the links between the 2008 banking crisis and the rise of foodbank usage. As a writer Jonny’s first full length play ‘The Centre’ was produced at Arc in Stockton, his play ‘The Bag’ toured the North East and Scotland with Northumberland Theatre Company and his short plays have been performed at venues such as Live Theatre, The Cockpit Theatre and Theatre 503. He was the writer of ‘Just Checking’ and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ two plays looking at OCD in conjunction with Vivid Theatre Company and Newcastle University that were performed at Northern Stage and Arc. Jonny is currently Programme Leader at The Northern School of Art for the BA Hons Acting for Stage and Screen. His research interests are collaborative practices and working with students from under-represented groups. Qualifications: BA (Hons), MA, Jonny is currently studying for his PhD Equity, AFHEA.

Dr David Edwards

Reader David read English at King’s College London before studying Acting at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. The ensemble training he received at the latter has informed his whole career from professional work to teaching. He has worked for the BBC, ITV and various national theatre companies and in 2006 he established Vivid Theatre. Vivid has produced over twenty-seven plays ranging from classical work, contemporary plays and new writing and they have regularly received Arts Council funding. David completed his PhD in ‘Psychophysical Performance and the Representation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder on the Stage’ and his specialisms include this current research as well as contemporary performance and directing theories. He still acts and directs professionally as well as delivering workshops at both educational and corporate levels. Clients have included the Royal Shakespeare Company, Headlong and a variety of public and private professional bodies. David has presented papers and practical work at a variety of theatre conferences from the Central European Drama Conference in Slovakia, the Milan Teatro Lita Festival and UK conferences including Birkbeck’s Theatres of Contagion and St Mary’s Mental Health and Theatre multidisciplinary event. His current research questions both the approaches to theatrical interpretations of mental health as well as mental health representation within the cinematic genre of horror. Current publications surround this latter area with work forthcoming for Bloomsbury, Palgrave and WUP. In 2024 David became member of the Horror Writers Association. Qualifications: BA(Hons), MA, PhD, Equity, AFHEA

Katy Weir

Lecturer Katy Weir is a director and facilitator based in the North East of England. She trained at Bretton Hall, University of Leeds graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Dramaturgy and has been working in the industry since graduating in 2005. She has worked with companies across the country and beyond, including Northern Stage, Alphabetti Theatre, National Youth Theatre, and The Market Theatre Laboratory, Johannesburg. Freelance Directing credits include: ‘The Amazing Other’ (The Market Theatre Laboratory, Johannesburg), ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (Regional Tour), ‘When the Boat Comes In: The Hungry Years’ (The Customs House, South Shields); ‘Floorboards’ (ODDMANOUT/The Worriers); ‘Harper Regan’ (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire); ‘Anywhere’ (Darlington Hippodrome/ODDMANOUT); ‘Encountering the Other’ (The Market Theatre Laboratory, Johannesburg/ODDMANOUT ); ‘Star Chasers’ (Barnstorm Theatre, Ireland); ‘From there to you… (Northern Stage/ODDMANOUT); and ‘When the Boat Comes In’ (The Customs House, South Shields). Internationally, Katy Was recipient of the British Council 'Connect ZA' award and also selected as one of ASSITEJ's Next Generation of Theatre Makers for Theatre For Young Audiences on a World platform. Katy is also an assistant editor on Routledge’s International Theatre and Performance Journal.

Jonathan Youdale

Creative Technician Jonathan studied a BA Hons degree in Music Technology at The University of Huddersfield, before undertaking an MA in Music for the Moving Image at Leeds Beckett University. During this period, Jonathan has worked as an in-house Sound Engineer and producer at Peak Studios in Leeds – working with local artists and musicians on projects ranging from band recordings to audio books. In 2016 he began freelancing as a composer and audio producer, working with film directors and video game developers across the UK. In 2018, Jonathan collaborated on an Interactive Eco-Art sound-based project, that became installation at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. This project highlighted the detrimental impact that industry is having on nature. During his time as a freelancer he has worked on a wide range of projects such as scoring the award-winning Huddersfield documentary ‘Dispersing the Problem’, as well as Greenlit indie video game ‘Gunnhilation’ with Robo Pixel Games. Jonathan’s background in audio has brought him to The Northern School of Art in a Technician/Demonstrator role – With an aim to provide both theoretical and practical expertise in the field of sound and video. His research interests are focused towards promoting collaborative practice within the industry. Qualifications: BA (Hons), MA