Experimental Arts and Performance is a course for exploring and creating new forms of performance and spaces for culture.
As a student on the Experimental Arts and Performance course, you will:
- Develop your creative work by exploring a wide range of experimental performance from across art forms and cultures
- Develop performance-making and critical skills to investigate, theorise and develop new theatre and performance
- Use performance to critically reflect on the world
- Develop knowledge and skills to change how culture is made, and who gets access to culture
- Develop producing and cultural leadership skills that foster social change and sustainability
- Undertake projects with national and international arts organisations and leading artists
- Explore the futures of performance in a range of cultures and communities
- Become part of an international community of artists, cultural leaders, facilitators and activists, through workshops with guest artists, talks, professional collaborations and our growing alumnae community
Experimental Arts and Performance is for everyone who wants to shape the future of performance.
This course is for creative people interested in making, developing and supporting innovative contemporary performance. The course brings together aspiring artists, producers, thinkers, activists and cultural leaders committed to exploring the futures, forms and politics of experimental performance.
On the Writing for Performance course, you can:
- Develop skills for writing for performance practices
- Create new performance work and explore innovative forms of writing for solo performance, verbatim theatre and devised theatre
- Work with award-winning playwrights, arts practitioners and directors
- Position yourself as a writer within the performance process
- Explore a broad curriculum that is centred around socially engaged performance practices and the dramaturgical skills of writing
- Develop your writing skills in different community contexts in the UK and abroad
- Study alongside students on the BA DATE and BA Performance Arts programmes, offering a vibrant meshing of writing and live performance art at undergraduate level at Central.
You will work with a variety of high profile writers, arts practitioners and directors, encountering a diverse range of innovative performance practices that use writing for performance in different ways.
On the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (DATE) course, you can:
Perform in, direct and devise theatre, explore performance that takes place outside traditional theatre environments. Make theatre to change lives and inspire change in communities . Build industry contacts worldwide through placements and outreach projects. Develop skills in areas such as facilitating, devising, directing, performing, playwriting and filmmaking.
Applied Theatre at Central is highly regarded internationally and the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (DATE) is a world leading course that will train you as a highly adaptable theatre maker. You will focus on performance making in diverse settings such as community centres, parks, prisons, pupil referral units, refugee camps, hospitals, playgrounds, schools and nursing homes, in the UK and abroad. Such innovative work aims to bring about change in communities and participants from all walks of life.
We believe that excellent professional applied drama theatre makers are skilled practically, intellectually and come from a diverse set of backgrounds themselves. We work with you to help you meet the challenge of developing your practice and intellectual abilities. You will have the opportunity to develop skills in areas such as facilitating, devising, directing, performing, playwriting and filmmaking.
Central's BA (Hons) Acting (Musical Theatre) degree course provides you with the skills to work in classical and contemporary theatre, musicals, feature film, television and radio. Throughout the course, you will explore acting through a range of contemporary approaches to sung and spoken voice, movement and dance. This will include an intensive musical theatre training with the emphasis on acting.
Extensive engagement with industry professionals and external performance opportunities/collaboration with artists, theatre companies and producers. This is a 3 years full-time course, and students are entitled to full Equity status upon graduation.
As an actor, you will interrogate both musical and non-musical settings ranging from Shakespeare and the modern American realists to Sondheim and the popular musical. As the course progresses you will acquire the necessary skills for the realisation of ‘character’ in both the transformational and heightened theatrical styles of both spoken and sung performance.
The course has outstanding links with the performing arts industry and this is reflected in the wide range and high percentage of graduate employment.
Central’s BA Acting (Collaborative and Devised Theatre) is in creative partnership with international touring theatre company Complicite.
An innovative and rigorous actor training, emphasising the creation of new theatre. The course embraces a multicultural and multidisciplinary methodology with diverse student groups. It celebrates the creative potential of collaborative processes alongside development of the individual actor. It is a 3 years full-time course, and students are entitled to full Equity status upon graduation.
You will graduate with the skills to work in classical and contemporary theatre, film, radio and screen, as well as being an accomplished maker of your own work. The core actor training includes the psychophysical techniques of Jacques Lecoq, Michael Chekhov, Konstantin Stanislavski, Kristin Linklater and Moshe Feldenkrais and emphasises an embodied and experiential approach.
As well as developing rehearsal techniques for script-based work, the course will encourage you to explore the most up-to-date forms of theatre and filmmaking and to have a full creative and political engagement with your work.
The BA (Hons) Acting at Central:
A comprehensive classical and contemporary actor training that prepares actors who aim to become world-leading artists in theatre, film and television. The course focuses on new thinking in response to the rapidly evolving world of the arts and culture. It is a 3 year full-time degree, and students are entitled to full Equity status upon graduation.
The course has four key principles:
Self-discovery – we encourage you to investigate and interrogate your world, challenging your own habits and preconceptions and opening yourself to the journey of the training, while learning to accept uncertainty and failure as part of the process of change and growth, and making curiosity, originality and artistic courage the cornerstones of your professional and artistic life.
Artistry – we offer you the skills you need to build your craft as an actor, so that your imagination and creativity can find expression in truthful characterisation and in the telling of complex and profound stories that offer insights into our world and the human condition.
Empowerment – within the safety of the creative space and the integrity of the acting ensemble, we promote the honest exchange of thoughts and ideas, the sharing of creative inspiration and the generosity of spirit which should always characterise a true actor.
Tradition and innovation – intrinsic to this course is a commitment to studying longstanding theories and practices while welcoming innovation and new vision.
Have you developed a passion for theatre and performance through participating in school productions, attending youth theatre or taking a GCSE drama class? Level 2 Acting will help you take your performance skills further.
Throughout the course, you will learn the fundamentals of acting and further your knowledge of theatre as a whole. You will explore acting skills in a range of styles and genres, through scripted performance and devising. This exciting and confidence boosting course is a perfect start for aspiring actors. You will have various opportunities to perform in productions and events during the year, which will require you to attend rehearsals and performances outside of normal college hours.
This A Level Dance course will show you how contemporary Dance has evolved over recent decades. You will look at the developments that have taken place in Britain’s leading dance company, Rambert Dance Company, through the study of a range of choreographers' work and more recent changes in Dance, whilst also exploring developing and honing your skills as a choreographer.
Practical tasks provide the creative opportunity to develop work that you will perform solo, as a quartet and for a group piece, for one of the many shows we have throughout the year. There is a focus on learning to dance with others, in works choreographed by/for you, as well as having workshops from some of the UK’s leading choreographers.
This is an exciting, creative course which challenges students in many ways, whilst preparing them for university or the world of work.
If you are passionate about performing live and gaining the knowledge to work within the music industry, then the Level 3 in Music Performance is the right course for you. While studying at college, you will learn about the music industry, music theory and performance.
You will develop your performance skills by undertaking a number of performance projects culminating in a series of live public performances. This course is one or two years long; following completion of year one (Level 3 Diploma in Music Performance and production) you can progress to year 2 to achieve the full Level 3 Extended Diploma in Music Performance and Production.
Tuition fees:
• 16-18 year olds do not need to pay course fees
• Those aged 19 or over may not need to pay fees depending on their circumstances.
WHY TRAIN AS A PERFORMER AT A SCHOOL WHEN YOU CAN TRAIN AS A PERFORMER AT A DRAMA SCHOOL?
If you have a successful drama school on your doorstep with a great reputation, surely it would be madness to look for performance training anywhere else? We are thrilled to be able to offer this FULLY FUNDED 2 year course in Performing Arts with Acting for students who are considering a professional career in the industry. Equivalent to an extended BTEC/3 A-Levels, this Oxford, Cambridge and RSA (OCR) highly vocational qualification provides those aged 16-19 years with a level 3 award. The course runs Monday – wednesday 9.00am – 4.30pm and is based at Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts (the biggest arts centre outside London); you’ll be in the hub of a professional and artistic venue with creative projects going on around you all the time. Over the 12 years we have been there, students have been involved in professional productions, projects, workshops and Q & A’s along with free tickets for shows.
So, you’re looking for a course that focuses on just performing arts with an acting and drama bias because you see yourself moving onto places like RADA, LAMDA, Guildhall & Royal Central or Rose Bruford. Maybe you’re not sure what will be next for you but you just really love acting and performing and want to know what it’s like to train at drama school rather than be at a mainstream secondary school or college? Perhaps University is the route for you but whatever happens we will be there to guide you. The other great thing is that we are a small school which allows you to grow as an individual and be the best you can be.
As we believe that acting is the core of all the performing disciplines, we are so excited to be the only place in the South that offers this opportunity. The course is as practical and hands as possible. Although you will need to keep a self-evaluation journal along with providing written evidence of performance work undertaken, it involves less written work then A-level or BTEC courses. What makes us different is, not only, all our accumulated professional experience and knowledge but the extra professional training we provide alongside your curriculum studies. You’ll also be working with some of our industry professionals with years and years of experience which will give you a real insight into the world of stage and screen.
We can’t wait to have you onboard!
