The Performing Arts course at the University of South Wales offers an all round intensive study of performance skills focusing on acting for theatre, film and voice, devised performance, technical production and directing for theatre. Situated in the prestigious Film School, our Performing Arts for Theatre & Film course offers unrivalled opportunities for screen training in our custom built studios at the City Campus. Whether it is acting in a film, directing a theatre play or devising a multimedia performance, our core skills and practices are designed to equip you for a successful career in the creative industries.
Performance matters: it changes the way you think, see and react to the world around you. The University's Performing Arts students not only study how to act, direct and make theatre and film but also understand the importance and impact of these art forms in a digital age. We teach our students that making theatre and film is a vocation that has meaning and value. Our Performing Arts degree course offers you that chance to create new and exciting fictional worlds through a stimulating, practical and theoretical study of drama, theatre, film, radio and television. The course is aimed at creative, responsive and independent thinking students who are committed to making performance work that reflects and comments upon the social and cultural world that surrounds them.
The location of this performance course within one of the most established Film Schools in the UK gives unparalleled opportunities for students to hone their skills both in their assessed work and by taking advantage of the many additional projects on offer. You can collaborate with fellow students in the areas of Film, Music, Animation, Games Design, Photography and Fashion. Many students build up an extensive showreel for future employers consisting of their many film projects. The opportunities afforded by our move to the City Campus in 2011 has allowed further expansion of the range of high quality work produced by students.
The Performing Arts teaching team is committed to providing a creative, supportive and rewarding educational experience for all, with an emphasis on one-to-one tutorials, helpful feedback, group project work and public performances. The experience of our teaching team covers a wide range of performance disciplines and includes acting for film, theatre and radio; directing theatre; devised performance. You have the opportunity to work with staff on research projects, including theatre productions and films and we showcase the best student work in public performances locally and at festivals such as the International Student Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Our students have also acted in and provided voiceovers for award-winning drama, documentary and animation films.
*Title subject to validation
Your first year offers core skills in acting for film and theatre along with contemporary movement and voice practice. Training and teaching is led by professional actors, choreographers and academics, who will not only foster your practical skills but also develop your ability to consider the nature of acting, drama and theatre in the context of society. Students are taught the histories and contexts of theatre and cinema through the study of Naturalism as a dominant mode of theatre production and the development of genre in Film and Television. You will create theatre performances as a company and collaborate with BA Film students on a shared film project.
Your second year will see you undertaking further specialist training and study in acting for voice, including radio, animation and games, theatre in education, physical and devised theatre and multimedia performance. You will also study the major artistic and dramatic movements of twentieth century theatre and film, including modules in British and European Drama which will prepare you for an extended piece of critical writing in year three.
You will choose as a major option in semester 1 of your final year either acting, directing or technical production as a specialist pathway, culminating in a public presentation and performance of your work. You will also write a dissertation on a topic of your choice, where the focus will be on an aspect of theorising performance. Finally in Semester 2, with your peer group, you will create and produce a graduate showcase, which will be performed in a professional industry context. Throughout your third year you will be encouraged by tutors to create diverse, challenging and innovative performance practices in response to specialist interests that you have developed during the degree course.
A 
programme specification is available for this course.
Assessment
Throughout the course you will be assessed through a combination of practice alongside theoretical essays and presentations, supplemented by a self-reflective and context-based analysis of production. You will receive clear and detailed feedback that will help you reflect on and develop your strengths as a student and practitioner.
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Lucinda StoneLucinda is a dance, movement and yoga practitioner with over 12years experience teaching and engaging in creating projects within the dance and performance arena. Sarah CrewsSarah completed her Ba (hons) in Performing Arts at Newport University. She has since gained her Masters degree in Theatre Directing at Royal Holloway, University of London and is now undertaking doctoral research at Newport. Celia JacksonCelia Jackson is an artist and Senior Lecturer who has lived in Wales for 22 years. Paul ConwayPaul has spent his career in stage, film, radio and TV as a professional actor, director, deviser and published writer. Andy SmithAndy studied Drama at Aberystwyth University before undertaking a PhD with the University of Glamorgan. |
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| Mandatory Items |
Costs |
| Specialist materials and learning resources, books and scripts (Typical Spend) |
£50 per year |
| Field trips and conferences |
£50 per year for theatre trips and £100 for a residential field trip in year 3 |
| Other |
Up to £50 per year for costs related to practical assignments |
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• Three major public projects each year are performed at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport offering students a fully professional experience of working in a producing theatre arts centre.The most recent was the successful Chekhov play ‘ Cherry Orchard’.
• A range of other work is made available for public viewing either in the City Campus studios or at other venues in the area depending upon the needs of the production. Theatre in Education students will tour to local schools.
• Many students take advantage of the thriving media environment of south Wales to take roles in locally produced productions such as Dr Who, Torchwood and Casualty.
• All third year students take part in a residential study trip to Gregynog House in mid Wales where intensive research and rehearsals are carried out around their final year studies. Students regard this experience as one of the highlights of the course, allowing focused study and team building away from the distractions of the city environment.
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Mother and Daughter enrol togetherWith enrolment for the new academic year in full swing at Newport University, for one local woman, queuing with her enrolment forms yesterday was a lot of fun. |
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The Performing Arts course is located at the new City Campus in the centre of Newport. The brand new facilities include:
• Fully equipped dance studio with sprung floor
• Black Box studio with lighting rig
• Professional Film Studios with ‘green screen’ and motion capture facilities
• Film editing facilities
• A range of rehearsal studios
• Sound recording studios and editing facilities
• Library and IT facilities
• Strong links with the Riverfront Arts Centre (next door to the City Campus) where we perform three shows a year, including the final year graduate showcase.
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Screen Academy Wales Students Await New York ExchangeThe dream of a lifetime has come true for two film students from the University of Wales, Newport who have been selected to attend the first New York University and Screen Academy Wales international exchange this week. |
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Where next?
Our graduates have a good record of finding work in the creative industries as actors, directors and freelance theatre-makers. Other areas of employment include arts administration and events management. The course is also excellent preparation for further study and teacher training, including Masters and PhD studies.