Have you ever wanted to work backstage at The Old Vic?
OV Backstage will offer paid placements on an Old Vic main house production to six 18–30-year-olds from underrepresented backgrounds in the arts.
Participants will shadow industry professionals across 15 paid sessions and get hands-on experience in one of the following disciplines:
The programme starts with induction sessions and culminates with a networking session to help participants take the next steps in their careers.
Each participant will receive a fee for taking part in the programme. Additional support for travel costs is available if required.
Who is this programme for?
OV Backstage has been set up to specifically work with people who are currently underrepresented in backstage roles. This includes people from the global majority, women, those from working class backgrounds, care experienced people, neurodiverse people and disabled people. They are particularly keen to hear from people who have had limited or no access to arts opportunities in the past and are committed to identifying and resolving barriers which may ordinarily exclude young people from accessing theatre.
This programme is for those at the start or early on in their careers who can demonstrate a passion for theatre and their chosen discipline. You must have some transferable skills or prior experience. This could be gained from school, a short course, volunteering or your own self led learning. They will not accept applications from anyone with an established theatre career or who has undertaken paid work in their discipline.
Do you want to turn your creative ideas into real projects and learn how culture, events and creative initiatives are actually developed and delivered?
Royalties London is a development programme for young people who want to work seriously with creativity, culture and project development.
The programme is designed for emerging creatives, cultural practitioners, and project-minded individuals who want to move from inspiration to practical experience and gain insight into how creative ideas become real initiatives.
Royalties London offers practical insight into how cultural and creative projects are developed, organised and brought to life. The programme combines inspiration with practical experience.
Participants will work together to develop concepts and translate them into projects that can be realised in practice.
During the programme you will:
The programme runs over approximately six months with one full-day workshop each month, followed by a final event. All sessions take place will take place from 9am to 5pm on Thursdays. Dates are subject to change.
The final event will be conceptualised, produced, and delivered by participants in collaboration with London Heritage Quarter.
This fast track degree, taught by current industry professionals, provides a two year route into the theatre production industry whether in stage management, lighting, sound or AV across theatre, festivals and events. In association with Tobacco Factory Theatres and Bristol Old Vic Theatre, you experience two working theatres and learn technical theatre crafts from experienced professionals in a way that’s more similar to an apprenticeship.
The course is limited to just 12 students to re-create a professional working environment and culture from day one. There is a national shortage of skilled technical staff in the theatre and live events industries and Technical Theatre Arts graduates are in high demand. BSA’s strong industry networks help open doors to a rewarding career.
Designed as an accelerated pathway, this two-year degree packs 40 weeks of teaching into each year, matching the total teaching time of traditional three-year degrees. This means you enter the workforce sooner whilst saving more than £10,000 in tuition fees and living costs combined.
WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?
This intensive Foundation Course in Acting is designed to prepare you for rigorous degree-level training. Tailored for passionate emerging artists aged 18 and above, this course builds the essential tools of the actor: voice, movement, imagination, and presence.
The course fosters creativity, discipline, and collaboration, ensuring you are fully equipped to meet the demands of professional training and beyond.
The Foundation Course in Acting at OSD has been running for over 25 years, with the majority of graduates are now pursuing successful careers on the stage and screen.
The course lasts two terms. Entry is by audition only.
A CPD opportunity for teachers to embed drama and creativity into their teaching, through working with a Bristol-based theatre company, Travelling Light.
Want to shake up your physics lesson but need some inspiration? Join Travelling Light on an exploration of how to incorporate more Drama into your classroom. Find out how a team of artists and teachers used arts-based learning to refresh their existing curriculum, whilst supporting pupil oracy, emotional literacy and wellbeing.
Key aims of the session:
Slots available in Bristol (8th Dec), Weston-Super-Mare (9th Dec) or Bath (11th Dec).
Please note, this is for teachers only.
This exciting and dynamic full-time 2 year course has an emphasis on learning skills current to the performing arts industry with the aim of increasing your employability. It is a production-based course for students who wish to develop skills in the performing arts. The course is highly practical, but it also demands academic ability. We use Project Based Learning (PBL) approaches which give you industry relevant experiential learning.
This course will provide you with a stimulating and challenging programme of study that will be both engaging and memorable, delivering the essential subject knowledge that you will need to progress successfully into further study or the world of work. You will undertake a substantial core of learning in the Higher National Certificate in year one, and can build on this in the Higher National Diploma in year two with optional units linked to your specialist area of study.
Content is continually refreshed so that it is closely aligned with professional body, employer and higher education needs. We provide a varied approach to assessment that supports progression and we offer assessment relevant to the local economy, thereby accommodating and enhancing different learning styles. We deliver a qualification designed to meet the needs and expectations of students aspiring to work in an international performing arts environment.
Explore contemporary performance to develop your creativity, critical thinking and practical skills for a career in creative industries and beyond.
Drama in the School of Arts and Humanities provides an exciting and challenging programme with an emphasis on contemporary performance practices. Our approach to teaching and learning integrates theories and practices of performance in order to extend our understanding of Drama as an art form in its social, political and cultural contexts.
Our expert lecturing staff are internationally-recognised researchers with a range of industry-related experience. Students are able to take advantage of our nationally-acknowledged teaching expertise and will have opportunities to extend their experience of contemporary performance practices through contact with part-time staff and key visiting lecturers. The Drama programmes benefit from extensive links with theatre practitioners and key Irish theatre companies, who use our spaces for performances and delivering practice-based workshops.
Drama allows students to learn in a rigorous and stimulating environment where they are encouraged to develop essential skills as thinking creative practitioners.
Drama at Queen’s combines history, theory and practice in an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, to discover why and how theatre works. Performance workshops and productions enable students to draw upon their reading of literary, cultural, historical and sociological studies to inform their practical understanding of performance. Students are also required to attend professional performances, and benefit from our exceptional links with the theatre sector in Northern Ireland and beyond. Visiting professionals lead workshops in specialist areas.
Student Experience
Extracurricular performance opportunities are offered by the Tyrone Guthrie Society and the student Drama Society, which have taken productions to student festivals in Ireland and the UK. Productions have also been taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and to festivals in Belgium and Italy.
Drama at Queen’s has unparalleled links with the professional theatre sector and collaborates extensively with leading arts organisations and theatre companies, such as the Lyric Theatre, Prime Cut Productions, Kabosh, Tinderbox and Bruiser, as well as with the Belfast Festival and the Linen Hall Library. Students also have the opportunity to undertake a work-based learning module in Year 3.
Students can access a range of international opportunities during their degree programme – both as year-long international exchanges and shorter learning opportunities and visits.
Lots of teaching happens in the Brian Friel Theatre, which is one of the best-equipped theatres in Belfast with a 120-seat studio theatre, rehearsal room, dressing rooms, green room and workshop all housed in the Drama and Film Centre which also includes the Queen’s Film Theatre.
Our staff expertise encompasses both professional and scholarly aspects of drama and theatre practice, with many of our team acknowledged internationally as experts in their fields. You will learn from experts in Irish and British theatre, Shakespearean and Restoration theatre, applied theatre practices, global and intercultural theatre, dance and movement, writing and directing.
Further study, including Master’s programmes, is also an option; see the School website for further information.
