BA (Hons) Placement year available

Acting

Reach your potential on this conservatoire-style course designed to build your creative skills including live performance, screen acting and motion capture.

Grow into a confident and versatile performer. Focus on fundamental acting skills, voice and movement, screen acting, and how to rehearse for a full production.

Work with external directors, experiment with Physical Theatre, learn about new performance technologies, and extend your experience with screen acting and classical text.

In your final year, our Immersive Performance module and Showcase will allow you to demonstrate your high-level skills in acting.

Why ARU?
  • Train in professional-standard facilities including our professional 260 seater Mumford Theatre

  • Gain experience with new technologies and alternative platforms to become a dynamic and responsive actor

  • Develop your technical and production skills in specialist facilities for recorded and live performance

  • Graduate with a professional CV, headshots and showreel

  • Collaborate with other creative students, experienced tutors, community partners and industry professionals

  • Get involved with Cambridge's many acting troupes and events

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Study at an award-winning university

We were named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2023. We've also been awarded a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework – a reflection of the outstanding education we offer our students.

Course options

Course options

Key facts

Looking for different course options?

Modules are subject to change and availability, and may vary by location. If you have the choice of optional modules, these are indicated with a *.

Year 1
  • Studio Performance
  • Voice and Movement
  • Introduction to Screen Acting
  • Fundamentals for Acting
  • Into ARU
Year 2
  • Ruskin Module (15 credits)
  • Performance Project
  • Physical Theatre
  • Performance Technologies
  • Performing Shakespeare
  • Acting for Camera
Year 3
  • Immersive Performance
  • Showcase
  • Undergraduate Major Project
Module details

To prepare you for university study, you can take a foundation year at the start of this course. Find out more about foundation years.

Year 1
  • Foundation in Humanities, English, Media, Social Sciences and Education
Module details

You can choose to take an optional placement year as part of this course. Placements typically happen in Year 3, and your course will take four years overall. Find out more about placement years.

Placement year
  • Work Placement - Cambridge School of Creative Industries
Module details

Read profiles of teaching and research staff on this course.

Facilities

As part of your studies at ARU, you’ll have access to all of our creative industries facilities including:

  • full-size professional theatre on campus
  • dedicated drama studio, with highly flexible black-box performance space
  • green screen and motion capture equipment
  • large rehearsal space with audio playback facilities, piano, LED lighting rig, portable dance mirrors, gym mats and rostra/modular staging
  • Students’ Union-run dance studio
  • podcast and video capture system.

Careers

Our conservatoire-style BA (Hons) Acting degree enables you to develop your creativity and technical competence in a wide range of acting media, including both live performance and recorded performance.

You’ll also develop transferable skills such as research, teamwork, communication, problem solving, and resourcefulness. These skills are invaluable in other areas of the creative industries, and in other sectors.

Graduation doesn't have to be the end of your time with us. You might decide to continue on to a Masters course, such as our MA Dramatherapy. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship and get 20% off your fees.

Employability and personal career development

Informed by employers, our courses support an integrated approach to employability. You’ll have opportunities to develop the skills and abilities they are looking for and gain a deeper understanding of how your academic learning relates to the world of work through Live Briefs and Ruskin Modules.

You will need to dedicate time outside of your course to develop your employability, through placements, internships or volunteering or through our partner scheme Students at the Heart of Knowledge Exchange (SHoKE). You can evidence this experience on your CV and talk about it in interviews to give you that all important edge.

Our Employability and Careers Service offers a range of expert advice and support to build your unique professional profile, including tailored career appointments, advice on writing your CV, and help to complete job applications. You’ll have 24/7 access to the Careers Centre, our comprehensive online digital resource, which empowers you to start building a Personal Career Development Plan from the very start. Design your future at ARU.

Entry requirements

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