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LOCATION
Docklands Campus
Location Fees and Funding
Here's the fees and funding information for each year of this course
Overview
Over three years of practice-led learning with leading industry professionals, you will be immersed in the techniques of acting, text, voice, movement and performance for stage and screen with the industry always at the forefront of our minds. Our goal is to develop flexible and versatile actor-entrepreneurs who feel empowered within their craft across all mediums, spaces and platforms.
You can also take this course with a foundation year, which means you it will take you four years to complete the course full-time, and eight years to complete the course part-time.
What makes this course different
Starring...
This degree will give place equal emphasis on both stage and screen acting, approaching the work at all times with a sense of freedom and play building towards public/industry performances and screenings of your work.
Industry readiness
The acting industry is rapidly changing and this course combines the traditional craft of the stage and screen actor with the new technology demands of the industry from streaming platforms, voice over, to virtual reality and motion capture performance.
Interdisciplinary career
The core philosophy of the course is the generous ensemble actor where individuals learn to work and collaborate within a group whilst also exploring their personal practice of voice, movement, emotional honesty, connection to the word, scene study and improvisation on screen and stage.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
This new and inclusive degree in Acting for Stage and Screen offers an intensive and dynamic actor training, developing acting skills for both on-camera and on-stage. From initial idea through to performance or screening we will encourage and support an understanding of the actors' creative process. With 75% practical assessments, acting techniques are explored via workshops enabling a personal creative toolkit to be built.
Alongside your lecturers you will be mentored and taught by professional actors, directors, casting directors, film-makers and screenwriters, many of whom continue to work in the industry today. This practical and analytical training will help to develop your own artistic identity and offer you a creative performing arts community with plenty of opportunities to create your own original work.
This course focuses on a collaborative approach, building an ensemble and creating a conservatoire atmosphere for our degree students with a focus on developing the graduate actor with an extensive CV, a professional show reel and a resilience to make exciting contemporary work.
If you join in the foundation year, you will have the opportunity to transform and develop your existing experience and skills in creative practice and establish key academic skills to prepare you for undergraduate study.
The first year of undergraduate study develops core skills in key areas of disciplinary practice and collaboration. You will participate in industry-modelled projects in collaboration with students from other related disciplines.
In the second year you will experiment further, explore different approaches to individual and collaborative practice, engaging with external practitioners and organisations, and developing employability skills as part of a Professional Life module.
In the third year of study you will become more focused on the development of your own specialist ideas, practice and research, individually and in collaboration with others, internal and external to the University.
You will graduate with a rich and dynamic digital portfolio to present to industry professionals and future employers.
DOWNLOAD COURSE SPECIFICATIONS
This course is subject to validation. You can still apply for this course while it is being approved.
MODULES
- Core Modules
Group Work 1 CloseGroup Work 1
In this module you will collaborate with students from other disciplines in creative projects that model professional practice.
You will apply disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, through creative collaboration. You will also develop understanding of the context of your work. You will carry out roles within your collaboration that reflect professional practice.
Collaboration activities assessed in this module will develop a final creative output, which might include a public performance, production, composition or installation for example, presented and assessed within the overall project.
Group Work 2 CloseGroup Work 2
In this module you will collaborate with students from other disciplines in creative projects that model professional practice.
You will develop and apply specialised disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, and further develop skills in creative collaboration with other disciplines, project management and production. You will also develop understanding and insight into the context of your work. You will carry out and evaluate roles within your collaboration that reflect professional practice.
Collaboration activities assessed in this module will develop a final creative output, which might include a public performance, production, composition or installation for example, presented and assessed within the overall project.
Public Outcome ClosePublic Outcome
- Core Modules
Acting for Stage and Screen Technique 1: Establish CloseActing for Stage and Screen Technique 1: Establish
Acting for Stage and Screen Technique 2: Extend CloseActing for Stage and Screen Technique 2: Extend
Collaboration 1 CloseCollaboration 1
Research and Development
In this module you will research and develop understanding about the nature of collaboration within the performing and creative arts. You will critically evaluate the social, cultural, and technological context of your collaborative practice, and evaluate the nature of both disciplinary practice and multidisciplinary practice.
In disciplinary practice disciplinary skills are developed and applied within defined areas of practice through collaboration with others.
Collaborative practice involves independent disciplines collaborating on their own terms and within their specialised areas of practice, establishing effective working partnerships between disciplines, with limited integration.
You will develop and apply specialised disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, and develop skills in creative collaboration, project management and production, and research. You will evaluate roles within your collaboration that reflect professional practice.
This module integrates theory and practice and develops skills in reflection, analysis and evaluation. You will research practice-based theories while developing creative project-work in collaboration with students from other disciplines for internal performance and presentation.
Collaboration 2 CloseCollaboration 2
Implementation and Impact
In this module you will collaborate with students from other disciplines in creative projects that model professional practice. Collaborative Practice involves independent disciplines collaborating on their own terms and within their specialised areas of practice, establishing effective working partnerships between disciplines, with limited integration.
You will further develop and apply specialised disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, and further develop skills in creative collaboration, project management and production, and research, developing understanding and insight into the context and impact of your work through practice and research. You will carry out and evaluate roles within your collaboration that reflect professional practice.
You may collaborate in projects with disciplines within the cluster (Music, Dance, Drama, Performing Arts, Creative and Professional Writing), or externally (e.g. Media, Art and Design, Games).
Collaboration activities assessed in this module will develop a final creative output, which might include a public performance, production, composition or installation for example, presented and assessed within the overall project.
Public Project 1 ClosePublic Project 1
In this module you will apply skills in professional creative activities developed in Skills and Collaboration modules, to a final creative project outcome. This may take the form of a public presentation, performance, installation, creative production, staged or site-specific performance, or event, for example. This will be defined within the overall project brief, which will also identify how learning outcomes in this module will be evidenced.
Mental Wealth: Professional Life: Enterprise and Engagement 1 CloseMental Wealth: Professional Life: Enterprise and Engagement 1
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide students with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Students will begin to recognise the areas for their own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Central to the developmental process is for each student to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self-awareness to enable themselves to assess what they are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback. Students will additionally develop knowledge of strategies to advance their own physical intelligence through 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches to inform their health and wellbeing.
Having developed skills and understanding of the key developmental areas of competency, students will participate in FUEL, a performance and production events microbusiness for the performing and creative arts, as defined by project briefs.
Students will be mentored and supervised by students from higher years. In this position they will learn and begin to apply the cognitive, cultural and social intelligences developed elsewhere in their studies (and from external activities) as required in the workplace, namely cognitive flexibility, emotional resilience, motivation, ethical decision-making, managing your audience, coordinating with others, negotiation, creativity, active listening, attention, problem solving, research, synthesis and analysis.
In this module students will apply skills in professional creative activities developed in Skills and Collaboration modules, to a final creative project outcome. This may take the form of a public presentation, performance, installation, creative production, staged or site-specific performance, or event, for example. This will be defined within the overall project brief, which will also identify how learning outcomes in this module will be evidenced.
- Core Modules
Mental Wealth: Professional Life Enterprise and Engagement 2 CloseMental Wealth: Professional Life Enterprise and Engagement 2
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide students with the opportunity to apply several of the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Students will advance the areas identified at level 4 for their own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Students will reflect on the success of the strategies that they employed to further develop their reflective skills, self-awareness, 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches and where necessary improve their approaches.
Having developed skills and understanding in the key developmental areas of competency, students will facilitate and produce projects and events for FUEL, a performance and production events microbusiness for the performing and creative arts, as defined by project briefs.
Students will have opportunity to select an in-house microbusiness project to join in the role of 'Producer'. In this position they will take on a specific production role, working collaboratively with peers and academic staff on a live project. In doing so they will apply the cognitive, cultural and social intelligences learnt elsewhere in their studies (and external development) required in the workplace. In addition to the intelligences developed in the level 4 Mental Wealth Module, students will also focus on service-orientation, self-discipline & management, reaction & response time, cognitive & muscle memory, managing stress, critical thinking, Complex problem-solving, research, synthesis & analysis.
In this module you will apply skills in professional creative activities developed in Skills and Collaboration modules, to a final creative project outcome. This may take the form of a public presentation, performance, installation, creative production, staged or site-specific performance, or event, for example. This will be defined within the overall project brief, which will also identify how learning outcomes in this module will be evidenced.
Acting for Stage and Screen Craft 1 CloseActing for Stage and Screen Craft 1
Acting for Stage and Screen Craft 2 CloseActing for Stage and Screen Craft 2
Multidisciplinary Collaboration 1 CloseMultidisciplinary Collaboration 1
Research and Development
In this module you will research and develop understanding about the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration within the performing and creative arts, making reference to key models of practice and practitioners. You will critically evaluate the social, cultural, technological, economic and environmental context of your collaborative practice, and evaluate the nature of both disciplinary practice and multidisciplinary practice.
You will develop and apply specialised disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, as well as develop and integrate skills in creative collaboration, project management and production, and research. You will carry out and evaluate roles within your collaboration that reflect models of professional practice.
This module integrates theory and practice and develops skills in reflection, analysis and evaluation. You will research practice-based theories while developing creative project-work in collaboration with students from other disciplines for internal performance and presentation.
Multidisciplinary Collaboration 2 CloseMultidisciplinary Collaboration 2
Implementation and Impact
In this module you will collaborate with students from other disciplines in creative interdisciplinary projects that model professional practice, and which result in a public engagement, performance or presentation of creative or participatory work.
You will further develop and apply specialised disciplinary skills associated with your particular programme pathway, and further develop skills in creative collaboration and facilitation, project management and production, and research. You will demonstrate understanding and insight into the context and impact of your work through practice and research. You will carry out and evaluate roles within your collaboration that reflect professional practice in contemporary multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work.
You may collaborate in projects with disciplines within the cluster (Music, Dance, Drama, Performing Arts, Creative and Professional Writing), or externally (e.g. Media, Art and Design, Games).
Collaboration activities assessed in this module will develop a final creative output, which might include a public performance, production, composition or installation for example, presented and assessed within the overall project.
- Optional Modules
Optional placement between Years 2 and 3 CloseOptional placement between Years 2 and 3
An optional placement year can be taken between Level 5 (Year 2) and Level 6 (Year 3).
- Core Modules
Advanced Practice and Innovation: Acting for Stage and Screen CloseAdvanced Practice and Innovation: Acting for Stage and Screen
This module explores innovation, within the arts in general and creative writing specifically. It will examine the context within which innovation occurs, and the multitudinous ways in which creative artists may choose to innovate. A combination of lectures, seminars and workshops will explore everything from ground-breaking writers and their unique approaches to their genre and media, to innovation within music, art and visual and sound media. The module will also explore the changing nature of media in an increasingly multi-platform age and consider innovation as a way to overcome the challenges of media convergence. Students will be encouraged to think of the conventions within their own preferred genre and medium, problematise an aspect of those conventions and develop a creative approach that widens those boundaries. In workshops, students will have the opportunity to form editorial groups to work with and enhance each other’s developing work.
Advanced Practice and Enterprise: Acting for Stage and Screen CloseAdvanced Practice and Enterprise: Acting for Stage and Screen
Final Project: Research and Development CloseFinal Project: Research and Development
Research and Development
In this module you will establish a design portfolio of research and development materials in collaboration with others culminating in a proposal for an interdisciplinary practice-based project, which you will design and lead, and a related written research topic.
You will establish relevant collaborations with others appropriate to your proposed project (e.g. creative collaborations across disciplines, creative and technical collaboration, production support, marketing strategy and implementation, project management). These relationships will model professional practice and may internal and / external to the University environment.
Key features
- Research and propose a substantial creative and collaborative interdisciplinary project
- Conduct research into a chosen topic related to creative practice
- Produce a review of literature and other relevant research sources
- Present research and development materials reflecting academic and professional industry stands
Final Project: Implementation and Impact CloseFinal Project: Implementation and Impact
Implementation and Impact
In this module you will implement and deliver an interdisciplinary practice-based collaborative project, which you will design and lead, accompanied by a written research report on your chosen research topic.
Having established working relationships with others in the design, research and development of your project, you will continue to collaborate in the implementation phase, innovating and leveraging ways of working across and within disciplines towards transdisciplinary practice and presentation in the public and professional domain.
You will deliver your project within the parameters defined in your proposal and through leadership and management of the project's implementation, making appropriate adjustments and modifications to facilitate the its progress. You will present the project outcomes and measure its impact following models of professional and academic practice evaluated in your research proposal.
Key Features
- Design, produce and lead a substantial creative interdisciplinary project
- Conduct research into a chosen topic related to creative practice and produce a report
- Present creative interdisciplinary projects innovatively in the digital domain
- Present research outcomes reflecting academic and professional industry stands
Public Project 3 ClosePublic Project 3
In this module you will apply skills in professional creative activities developed in Skills and Collaboration modules, to a final creative project outcome. This may take the form of a public presentation, performance, installation, creative production, staged or site-specific performance, or event, for example. This will be defined within the overall project brief, which will also identify how learning outcomes in this module will be evidenced.
Mental Wealth: Professional Life : Enterprise and Engagement 3 CloseMental Wealth: Professional Life : Enterprise and Engagement 3
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide students with the opportunity to apply the full range of skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Students will advance the areas identified at level 5 for their own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Students will reflect on the success of the strategies that they employed to further develop their reflective skills, self-awareness, 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches and where necessary improve their approaches.
Having developed skills and understanding in the key developmental areas of competency, students will manage and lead projects and events for FUEL, a performance and production events microbusiness for the performing and creative arts, as defined by project briefs.
Students will have opportunity to select an in-house microbusiness project to join in the role of 'Manager'. In this position they will oversee the successful operation of the enterprise, coach and mentor students new to the programme and lead those working in 'producer' roles. Working collaboratively with peers and academic staff, they will ensure the effective delivery of a live project by managing people and physical resources. In doing so they will apply the cognitive, cultural and social intelligences learnt elsewhere in their studies (and from external activities) required in the workplace.
In this module you will apply skills in professional creative activities developed in Skills and Collaboration modules, to a final creative project outcome. This may take the form of a public presentation, performance, installation, creative production, staged or site-specific performance, or event, for example. This will be defined within the overall project brief, which will also identify how learning outcomes in this module will be evidenced.
HOW YOU'LL LEARN
Your journey may begin at Foundation level, where you will establish core skills and techniques in common projects, culminating in an online portfolio.
Year 1 - Level four
This degree starts by developing a professional and practical skills-based training including vocal technique, approaching text, overcoming inner blocks, ensemble training, authenticity, promoting presence, playfulness and working with the camera as a maker and performer.
Year 2 - Level five
This year features collaboration projects including Research and Development processes with writers and directors, an exploration of the creative process with public projects, writing, film making, physical theatre, acting to camera, and improvisation. The second year connects the student with industry both in house at UEL and with invited practitioners.
Year 3 - Level six
The Third year culminates in a festival of new writing, launching the student into the industry with a combination of stage and screen exposure. Our flagship scheme PROJECT ON A BUS is also an offshoot of the Performing Arts Department and gives undergraduate and graduates a platform to make and perform original work.
You'll be taught by a range of staff, many of whom run their own practices or work in practice, which ensures that the practice-led research which is disseminated in the studios, or actually takes place there, is relevant to industry and practice. It also means that studios are well placed to take advantage of the myriad of professional networks which staff bring with them. Within each module are a practice component and coursework component with the intention that knowledge and skills are always introduced and developed in relation to projects.
Guided independent study
When not attending timetabled lectures you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for exams. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and Moodle.
Academic support
Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support.
Projects
Professional practice, innovation, enterprise and engagement will be modelled and applied in live projects and assessed through the development of an online creative portfolio. Each piece of coursework will be presented as a digital portfolio.
Practice Portfolio
Practice Portfolios include a range of creative artefacts associated with disciplinary and interdisciplinary practice, developed through performance, production, composition, devising, writing, and other creative activities. Practice portfolios are used to capture multi-dimensional evidence relating to the product of a creative process (e.g. performance, composition, installation, improvisation, workshop, site-specific activity, interactive artefact (e.g. immersive theatre production or website), and other artefacts relating to the creation of this material, including formative assessment evidence (e.g. plans, notes, scripts, scores, evidence of collaborative development / devising).
Coursework Portfolios
Coursework Portfolios report the process of creating practical work. They will often include production reports to illustrate and evaluate the process, as well as integrating research and contextualisation, including formative assessment evidence.
Practice and Theory are integrated, so that research skills, critical reflection and evaluation, and contextual studies are embedded in you project work throughout the programme.
Dedicated personal tutor
When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.
Workload
Each year you will spend around 300 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.
The approximate percentages for this course are:
- Year 1: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours.
- Year 2: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours.
- Year 3: scheduled teaching - 300 hours; guided independent study - 900 hours.
Your timetable
Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.
Class sizes
To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally attracts 30 students per year. You will attend lectures and seminars together, and regularly work in smaller groups and individually in workshops and practical sessions.
HOW YOU'LL BE ASSESSED
Assessment of portfolios is split as follows:
- 80% Practice Portfolio
- 20% Coursework Portfolios
You'll always receive detailed feedback outlining your strengths and how you can improve.
We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.
CAMPUS and FACILITIES
Docklands Campus, Docklands Campus, London, E16 2RD
WHO TEACHES THIS COURSE
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
What we're researching
At the University of East London we are working on the some of the big issues that will define our future; from sustainable architecture and ethical AI, to health inequality and breaking down barriers in the creative industries.
Our students and academics are more critically engaged and socially conscious than ever before. Discover some of the positive changes our students, alumni and academics are making in the world.
YOUR FUTURE CAREER
Performing Arts programmes at UEL develop an existing base of core skills in practice, research and portfolio development, and apply these to specific industrial contexts in collaborative projects that simulate professional practice, and which integrate with the Theatre, Media and Immersive Experience industries.
The BA Acting for Stage and Screen course will develop a core set of skills and will also develop transferrable skills (linked to UEL Core Competencies and the Career Passport) for the creative industries.
The integration of both staged and screen-based acting technique, dramaturgy and creative collaboration with technical and creative areas mirrors the nature of the contemporary industrial context, in which traditional career pathways have been superseded by more diverse skills sets and practice applied across disciplinary and industrial contexts.
Programme specific skills will include: Acting for stage and screen, dramaturgy, video editing, creative writing, creative and technical production, interactive portfolio development, sound recording (environmental, Foley stage, stage), sound design.
You will be able to collaborate and participate in a range of projects, resulting in a portfolio of project work that represents a broad range of skills and experience, with depth of both disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills.
This approach anticipates a diverse world of work, building skills to create coherence and impact that is transferable across multiple industry contexts.
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.
