Through intensive practical and performance-based training, this course enables you to develop the skills, knowledge and experience required to sustain a career in professional theatre and its related industries. The training develops students’ physical resources – voice and movement – enabling them to respond to the wide range of demands made upon the modern actor. Rather than adhering to any single philosophy of actor training, the course seeks to bring many influences to bear on your work, encouraging you to be able to make informed choices about various approaches.

First year modules introduce professional rehearsal practice and explore fundamental approaches to acting through daily classes and rehearsals. You will receive a thorough introduction to voice and text work, movement skills and singing. You will also begin to investigate the specific practices and demands of the film and television industry. Through Reflective Practice, you will build a toolkit for survival as an actor in industry.

Through second year modules, you will explore accent and dialect work, develop your individual song repertoire, explore physical theatre and learn a series of dance sequences. Performance-based projects introduce the world and language of Shakespeare, approaches to comedy, musical theatre and radio acting. Further training in acting for screen culminates in the realisation of short films. A collaboration project will give you the opportunity to work with musicians and create a piece of theatre that engages with the community.

In the third year, you will be given the opportunity to assimilate, develop and integrate the skills acquired in the first two years, through rehearsal and performance of a series of full-length plays under professional working conditions, as part of the Richard Burton Company. Each student will undertake five consecutive performance modules, encountering a variety of roles, styles and venues. One of the performances will be part of the RWCMD's NEW season. You’ll work with a professional writer, dramaturge, and director within the process of a commissioned play. Students will interrogate and workshop the writing over the course of the year before, entering an intensive five-week rehearsal process where the piece is rehearsed and staged. NEW season performances will take place in Cardiff before touring to a London venue.

The new Self-led module introduces you to the process of devising and creating your own work. In the first and second years, you will have the opportunity to perform your work as part of an internal festival. In the final year, you can continue to develop your work and realise this into a fully stage production which will run alongside the NEW season (available to four students).

Throughout the course, you will take part in a series of practical classes and seminars designed to orientate you towards the world of professional acting and offer strategies for finding employment, with particular emphasis on audition technique.

During the third year, you will perform in Actors Showcases in Cardiff and London to an invited audience of industry professionals, including agents and casting directors. North American students also have a US Showcase in New York City.

Our BA (Hons) Applied Theatre aims to inspire the next generation of passionate and skilled theatre-makers. Our focus is on developing the skills and understanding needed to create compelling new performances and theatre projects with purpose. We are concerned not only with how we make theatre, but also why.

Prepare yourself for a successful career in Stage Management by studying at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Our BA (Hons) Stage Management degree provides in-depth, practical training; we aim to produce confident graduates who are ready for a successful career in the industry as soon as they leave us....

Prepare yourself for a successful career in Stage Management by studying at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Our BA (Hons) Stage Management degree provides in-depth, practical training; we aim to produce confident graduates who are ready for a successful career in the industry as soon as they leave us. You’ll gain authentic industry experience while developing the vital skills needed in each role of a stage management team.

The BA Production Technology and Management programme is a very practical course that will see you take on industry-standard roles from the very start. With a timetable that is also reflective of industry practice, you will build the stamina and resilience to withstand a challenging yet rewarding career.

Production consists of both the BA Production Technology and Management and the BA Production Arts and Design programmes. Production students will work very closely with each other in the classroom and on RCS productions.

This is the only conservatoire-based technical theatre degree in Scotland. Through the programme we aim to produce production technicians, stage managers and lighting designers who can turn their hands to any related role, making them employable in a range of contexts, whilst also being specialists in career pathways, i.e. stage management, stage technology, sound design, sound engineering, lighting technology and lighting design.

We’ll help you to create your own pathway through the programme, focusing on your areas of interest. You will learn to work creatively, as an individual artist, as part of a production team and in collaboration with other students of all disciplines.

RCS is a major public performance venue with world-class facilities. The combination of professional venues, extensive workshops, construction spaces, design studios, and the latest stage and workshop technologies provide a fantastic learning environment.

We work closely with industry to ensure our curriculum is current, competitive, and of the highest professional standard, so you will gain all of the skills and knowledge needed for your future career. We have very close relationships with key Scottish national companies, such as Scottish Opera, the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet as well as companies across Scotland, such as the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, Blue Parrot Production and Events in Edinburgh and Warehouse Sound in Glasgow.

Further afield we have well-established relationships with national and international organisations such as the Association of British Theatre Technician (ABTT), the Association of Stage Pyrotechnicians (ASP) the Production Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA), United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Inc. (USITT), Cirque du Soleil, TAIT, Just FX and the National Theatre in London.

Our graduates will aspire to become the creative leaders and innovators of the future and will be encouraged to push accepted boundaries and create new standards of practice in the industry at large.

The Production Arts and Design programme has been designed to create a high-level conservatoire learning environment for aspiring scenic artists, prop makers, stage carpenters, costume makers, and set and costume designers.

Welcome to Production at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Production consists of both the BA Production Arts and Design and the BA Production Technology and Management programmes. Production students will work very closely with each other in the classroom and on RCS productions.

The Production Arts and Design programme has been designed to create a high-level conservatoire learning environment for aspiring scenic artists, prop makers, stage carpenters, costume makers, and set and costume designers. You will learn in an environment where your technical knowledge is as important as your creativity and individuality.

You will be accepted based on your profile in one particular area, taken from the five subjects on offer (scenic art, set construction, costume construction, prop-making, and set/costume design). You will follow an individually-negotiated pathway based on a major and minor study to ensure a quality learning experience and afford you the opportunity to engage with the broad and diverse range of performance programmes.

The opportunity to work with film-makers, dancers, musicians and actors is unique and the facilities in which we do this are second to none. The Wallace Studios at Speirs Locks has purpose-built production workshops and design studios and the Renfrew Street building houses five public performance spaces including a fully-equipped proscenium arch theatre and a black box studio theatre. The combination of professional venues, extensive workshops, construction spaces, design studios and the latest stage and workshop technologies provide a fantastic learning environment.

As our standards are rooted in industry practice we have exceptionally strong links with professional partners from across the UK and beyond. We have very close relationships with the key Scottish national companies, such as Scottish Opera, the National Theatre of Scotland and Scottish Ballet as well as the majority of regional theatres such as the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. We work closely with industry to ensure the expertise you acquire is current, competitive and of the highest professional standard.

The BA Performance in British Sign Language and English is an undergraduate degree that teaches students to be both actors and makers of work.

If you identify as D/deaf or hard of hearing, and want to perform or create work on stage and screen, we want to meet you. You should be keen, curious and ready to work. Our students use BSL and/or spoken English. It is your choice. We look at how to create performance through both of these languages.

Choose to study with us and be part of a unique programme which is breaking down barriers in the industry and opening up theatre to new audiences. You are welcome to come and meet the team and observe our classes in advance of applying.

During the three year programme, you will benefit from the distinctive environment of RCS and study a rich blend of performance modules.

This course is designed around the learning and teaching needs of deaf performers and is the only course of its kind in Europe. The programme has been developed in association with Solar Bear Theatre Company with input from a range of theatre, education and deaf professionals.

The working languages of the programme are British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English. You will have fully-qualified BSL interpreters in class and in rehearsal.

The small class size ensures you will have the opportunity to work closely with our teaching staff and visiting professionals. You will also benefit from our many collaborative and professional partnerships including Solar Bear and National Theatre of Scotland.

You will develop skills in acting, movement, dance, signing on stage, improvisation and puppetry as well as explore highly visual and physical performance styles. We will teach you the skills you need to prepare you for a career in film, television, theatre and more.

The programme only recruits for students every 3 years and the next cohort is due to start in September 2022.

The BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Performance programme is designed to enable you to develop the skills, attributes and knowledge necessary for a career as a creative entrepreneur and artist (singer-actor-dancer) in the Musical Theatre industry.

Key Features:
- Support and guide your development in preparation for a career in the professional musical theatre industry
- Empower students to operate as creative entrepreneurs
- Foster the development of graduates able to make and perform musical theatre works that reflect, interrogate and/or enrich society
- Enable you to value, have confidence in, articulate and execute your own artistic choices
- Support your development as an independent learner able to recognise and realise your own intellectual, creative and practical potential
- Facilitate your learning from professional musical theatre practitioners
- Enable you to understand the range of creative roles within musical theatre and how these might inform future employability
- Nurture your collaborative and leadership skills.

The BA (Hons) Professional Dance and Musical Theatre is a high-calibre vocational programme which will equip you for a career in the professional entertainment industry.

The BA (Hons) Professional Dance and Musical Theatre is a high-calibre vocational programme which will equip you for a career in the professional entertainment industry. The three-year programme offers intensive specialist training in dance, singing and acting, aiming to provide you with excellent employment skills. Upon graduation, employment may include musicals (West End and touring), dance companies, television, theatre and education.

After the first year you undertake your studies within a more focused specialist track: triple threat training, singer/acting focus or a more dance-based track. This allows you to choose a direction of study in the second and third year that is in line with your skills, abilities and likely destination.

This BA (Hons) Professional Dance and Musical Theatre is validated by the University of Birmingham.

The Course:
- Full-time, delivered over three years
- High contact hours
- Vocational and academic studies
- Practical skills including dance, singing and acting
- Variety of performance opportunities including musicals and showcase
- Small class sizes to ensure effective individual learning
- Greater understanding of cultural and historical developments through academic study and research projects
- Offers opportunities to be creative through guided choreography projects
- Career guidance and industry advice opportunities
- Opportunity to be seen by a range of industry professionals prior to graduation

Students will gain experience of working in a wide range of materials, surfaces, textures and effects, enabling them to interpret designs to the level of finish expected by contemporary audiences. They will develop skills in research, analysis and interpretation, and a high level of technical competence in drawing, painting, colour theories and working on both large and small scale elements.
Techniques such as marbling, wood graining, lettering, spray gun and texturing will be taught, and students will gain a good understanding of art history, period styles and architecture. There is the opportunity to develop comprehensive skills as part of a team by delivering realised public productions, and to take on increased levels of responsibility as the course progresses.

Studying on the Design for Performance pathway of the BA (Hons) Theatre Practice course, you will:

- Be prepared to work creatively and professionally as a set and costume designer
- Receive intensive design training with industry-wide interaction
- Develop skills through speculative and realised performances at Central
- Collaborate with performers, directors, other designers and production team.

The course develops practitioners with a strong sense of direction and identity, and an ability to think conceptually. From the first year you undertake speculative design projects that will challenge and test ideas in a broad range of performance contexts, from text-based drama to opera, dance, site-specific performance and installations, under the guidance of professional directors, designers and choreographers.