Curious about studying Acting and Contemporary Theatre - BA (Hons)at University of Essex? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Essex
Full Time
Oct 2026
3 Year
East 15 Acting School’s BA Acting and Contemporary Theatre course is renowned not only for its pioneering, highly influential training program, but also as a creative hub that produces original, bold theatrical work. This unique and highly challenging pathway is dedicated to training multi-talented actors. We combine developing your skills as a performer with experimentation in European physical theatre, devising, creative writing, composition and cross-media art, allowing you to expand into roles such as actor/musician, actor/writer and actor/choreographer. The training is inspired by leading contemporary international companies such as Complicite, the Schaubühe and the Wooster Group.Our philosophy sees the actor as an independent, inventive and entrepreneurial ‘artist’, and gives you the confidence and the competencies necessary to realise your artistic inclinations.
This core first year acting module provides an initial training in acting theory, method and practice based on the uniqueness of the individual and the ability to change, adapt, extend, perceive, accept and reject. Students move through self-study to look outside themselves, approaching firstly improvised situations and then scripted text in imaginative and collaborative ways. By the end of the course you will know how to start work on a play and will have begun collaborative text work. You are able to begin to create a character from a text and to start the process of creating the world of the play.
For this core first year acting module students work in small groups to study scenes from a contemporary play, learning how to divide a scene into units of action, how to discover objectives for a character and use the text to discover information – about the play, its themes and characters. You workshop scenes in your groups, practising your learning from the early part of the course. By the end of this block of work you will be able to find a character’s through line and recreate work achieved during the rehearsal process.
This core first year acting module provides opportunities for students to apply the introductory learning of Introduction to Acting Theory, Method and Practice to more demanding textual and acting challenges. You continue to advance your actor training through a focussed approach to the theatre of a particular period. Work on this course will be informed by your learning on Contextual Studies. The work of this module progresses into second year when it informs and supports the acting/voice project in Acting Techniques and Styles.
This first year BA Acting and Contemporary Theatre module is a unique and defining element of the East 15 Acting and Contemporary Theatre training. It provides students with opportunities to work and experiment in an environment that demands spontaneity and immediate response to events. It also provides an in-depth familiarity with improvised theatre both in its historical context and its contemporary practices. Students will develop the performance mental, intellectual and physical skills necessary to engage their audiences. You will learn how to work in a way that considers the total outcome and look of a theatrical piece of work. The module will prepare you for the work carried out in Year Two
This core full year module is one of the programme’s four skills modules. The work begins in Term One with an introduction to the anatomy of voice production. You will begin the work of acquiring good vocal habits through the use of basic vocal exercises. Techniques for direct communication with voice will be introduced. In Term Two you will develop the structures used by voice. You will work on improving articulation and explore accents and the voices of others. The work of the final term is on the vocal demands of acting, on developing clarity and power. By the end of the module you will have the ability to assess critically your own vocal capabilities and will have in place vocal exercises and a regime for future use.
This core full year module is one of the programme’s four skills modules. The work begins in Term One with an introduction to basic anatomy. You begin the work of developing suppleness and stamina. Techniques for the release of emotion in movement will be introduced. In Term Two you develop balance, co-ordinations and rhythm, linking movement and dance with acting. You learn a range of styles and carriage. The work of the final term covers preparation for physical demands and the extension of physical and dance vocabulary.
This core full-year module is one of the programme's four skills modules. In this module, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of good voice production and will begin to develop a sense of rhythm and aural awareness. You'll learn vocal warm-ups and build the technical skills to tackle an increasingly challenging range of repertoire and emotional situations. You'll also start developing an understanding of the unique characteristics of your own voice and learn to care for it properly. Additionally, you will acquire a basic working knowledge of music theory.
This full-year core module is one of the programme’s four skills modules. The module is designed to refine your ability to observe, analyse your observations, and articulate your ideas in seminar discussions and writing. You'll explore theatre history and how theatre reflects its times. You'll also learn about texts of ensemble theatre and theatre in community. You'll see, read and discuss plays, with the aim of formulating your own theatre criticism.
This module examines a range of contemporary theatre styles. Students will continue to develop their performance skills through the practice of acting, devising, writing, movement and voice. Students will be given opportunities to experiment specifically with expressionism in text and visual art. The concept of ‘actor-led work’ is introduced as a central objective for year 2. During the first part of the module students will be taken through exercises focusing on the starting point for both actor and for the space in which they work. They will be taken through exercises to develop implosive action, ensemble collaboration and the importance of playful response. Later on, exercises will expand to playing and manipulating existing text.
This module focuses on acting for camera. It also looks at writing, story development, and creating film, and explores the creative opportunities film offers as a form. You will be asked to propose ideas for short films. These can be adaptations of scripts you have written originally for theatre as well as original ideas written specifically for this project. Proposals will be selected and taken through a process of development into script writing. It will culminate in a filming project in which you will have the opportunity to experience various roles in filming such as acting in films, writing, directing or crewing.
In this module you will develop and apply the rigorous foundation work of first year and apply it to the more demanding dramatic texts being worked on in the second year Acting course. You will connect movement, voice and acting. You will begin exploring accents and dialects in more detail with a view to both acquiring accents and developing the skills and tools with which to work on accents throughout your career as an actor. You will begin to examine the vocal demands of different performance spaces, including outdoor performances, and develop your ability to give life to complex texts. The vocal demands of a range of performance styles, for example, Commedia dell’Arte, will be explored and students will be given opportunities to apply their vocal techniques to devised and text work of increasing complexity. The course is designed to prepare students for independence, to ensure that they enter their third year with voices of professional standard and the vocal training necessary to maintain them.
The course content of the second year will allow you to build and deepen the methodology of movement techniques studied in Year One. This module encourages you to be more specific and refined whilst developing an increased physical awareness and expressive potential. You will learn to expand your range of physical choices in various theatrical styles. You will gain an understanding of how inner psychological and emotional impulses can be outwardly concealed or revealed. Study of transformative techniques continues alongside the study of the body's structure and the interactive relationship of mind, body and space. Relationship between text and movement, impulse work, as well as the experience of deep listening to partners, will be explored. You will be introduced to different devising techniques. The module is designed to develop appropriate levels of physical, emotional and imaginative versatility. By the end of the module, you will be familiar with the practice of a personal warm-up and have identified a working technique for physical expression and characterisation.
Sourcing material from a variety of genres, student’s will explore the dramatic and musical capabilities of the voice in both solo and ensemble settings . You will progress to the interpretation of more varied, complex and demanding material and performance situations, and you will work on expanding your singing range and vocal agility. By the end of the module you will have a substantial knowledge of vocal technique which you can apply to support the singing and safeguard the voice. You will have at your disposal a varied repertoire of songs of different tempi and styles that fall within your acting and singing range in preparation for your work in final year. You will also learn how to effectively use the resources and skills of the people around you to create original arrangements and compositions for the voice. Students are encouraged to continue to develop personal warm-up exercise routines.
Contextual Studies is intended to help students to observe, make rational sense of their observations, and put their ideas into their own words as part of discussion and/or in writing. Contextual Studies sessions will support the content and practical delivery of work studied in the other core module of the degree course. Throughout the year you will develop your ability to write work for performance. By the end of the module you will be prepared to progress to the final year of the degree scheme, which has a strong emphasis on creating new work. EA226 broadens students' concept of theatre and provides historical and intellectual context to their practical work. The module supports the practical modules of the term and also leads to students delivering two pieces of work: A group-devised piece of Forum Theatre, inspired by the ideas they have encountered during the term; and a play or other piece of creative writing for performance.
This module constitutes a range of influences that have evolved from European physical theatre including emphasis on Lecoq and Gaulier research of the theatrical clown in the 1960s and 1970s. Students will continue to develop performance skills through the practice of acting, improvisation, devising, writing, movement, voice and singing. Student will have the opportunity to experiment with the theatrical clown, non-traditional text structure, mask and puppetry. The concept of ‘actor-led work’ is developed further.
Students will learn to investigate heightened text in unconventional adaptations or in challenging performance spaces. Students will explore the text and experiment with the creative opportunities and demands of a range of potential performance venues. Students will be encouraged to put their performance and creative skills into practice under a variety of different styles and approaches Students are assessed on their contribution and participation during the rehearsal process and performance of projects. The focus is less on processes and preparation and more on students' creative achievement in performance.
This module builds on the creative writing work students have undertaken in their second year. New plays will be selected by the module tutors and the Head of Course from students’ own self-authored work, to be performed in a production for an audience, as a festival of new work. Through the process of creating and staging the New Plays you will be given opportunities to take on a range of roles and responsibilities, which could include writer, actor and/or director, experiencing and learning the versatility that characterises the professional contemporary theatre arena. You will put into practice the taught acting skills you have developed during Years One and Two and test the boundaries of your own creativity by applying your skills to the interpretation of untried texts. The process of mounting the productions will provide students with experience of collaboration between actors, writers and directors. It could also be used as a platform for staging work that might transfer to professional staging, post training. By the end of the module you will have participated fully in creating and mounting a piece of original, text-led work.
This final year BA Acting and Contemporary Theatre module prepares you for your final graduation projects. Working in groups you, your fellow students and the Head of Course will decide the form you want your final projects to take. All projects are supervised however you are expected to take control of your own original work. Students will choose concepts and ideas, write, devise, produce, direct, manage and market their own work to a professional standard, putting all their learning and skills into the realisation of fully-owned projects, with a view to taking them into professional staging. In this module technical skills work is fully integrated with the work of preparing the projects for performance By the end of the module you will have produced a piece of professional standard original work. Several groups of former students have gone on to show the work they created in this module at professional theatre venues, for example at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Vaults Festival, and the Lillian Baylis Studio in London, as well as in venues across Europe.
In this module you will research and create a project attempting to explore a contemporary issue. You will learn to use theatre to contemplate and express ideas and emotional engagement with the chosen issue and further develop the skills of communicating with your audience. The final output can occur in a variety of forms (such as scripted or devised, existing work or new writing). The performance project will lead to a production at the school theatre for public audience. You will learn to engage as part of a larger company that will include designer and technicians. This module has been designed to enable students to integrate their subject knowledge with an understanding of sustainable development, acquiring the skills and competencies essential for addressing the urgent sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
In this module you will be presented with a programme of workshops and master classes led by directors, actors and casting professionals as well as the Head of Course. You will learn a variety of audition methods and styles such as the traditional two-minute monologue, screen test, reading to camera, workshops and ensemble selection processes.
By the final year of the course you are considered to be a performer and an actor. The work of skills classes in Terms One and Two of the final year in this core module focuses on your professional development. Classes involve the preparation of your shows, audition pieces, preparation for the final Showcase performance and weekly classes to deal with any ongoing problems and issues arising. You continue to develop and practice warm-ups and preparation for rehearsal and performance. The final year work allows you to establish patterns and pathways for creative well-being to follow throughout your working life.
The work of this final year module EA327 supports the content and practical project work of the practice-led modules in the final year. Under a tutor's guidance, students will examine their own creative work, assess its impact and analyse the text and performance. Students will look towards their future as artists and practitioners, examining the multiple pathways open to them as creative artists. They will consider the nature of artistic partnerships, engagement with venues and institutions, and other practical and artistic concerns related to the development of new work. They will be encouraged to form plans and articulate these verbally and in writing.
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