Professional Diploma in Performance (Acting) Level 4

72 UCAS points typ­i­cal­ly from A Lev­els or a Lev­el 3 Diplo­ma in Per­form­ing Arts, although stu­dents from oth­er sub­ject spe­cialisms are encour­aged to apply.

An inter­view and audi­tion will also be required, in which you will be asked to per­form 2 con­trast­ing pieces of your choice.

Mature stu­dents who may not have for­mal qual­i­fi­ca­tions are encour­aged to apply for an inter­view where you will be con­sid­ered on your expe­ri­ence, enthu­si­asm, and commitment.

We will review each appli­ca­tion on a case-by-case basis to ensure you get a place on the course most suit­able for you.

One of the ways we do this is through a very effec­tive ​‘6 weeks to suc­cess’ pro­gramme that oper­ates from the first day you start your course. This includes sup­port such as (but not lim­it­ed to):

• Allow­ing you to change cours­es if you change your mind in the first 6 weeks — sub­ject to course availability
• Mov­ing you between course lev­els if you are find­ing your cur­rent lev­el too easy / too hard — sub­ject to course availability
• One-to-one reviews with your aca­d­e­m­ic tutor to ensure you are pro­gress­ing and achiev­ing well

You will be expect­ed to com­mit to rehearsal sched­ules and some addi­tion­al hours for per­for­mances. You will be required to wear uni­form for class­es as per the essen­tial kit list pro­vid­ed before start­ing the course.

Our course enquiries and admis­sions team can be con­tact­ed at enquiries@​stamford.​ac.​uk should you have any fur­ther ques­tions. Alter­na­tive­ly, con­tact the Prin­ci­pal at ESPA, Kel­ly Ann Gor­don on 01780 767696 or admin@​easternschool.​co.​uk.

You will be assessed con­tin­u­ous­ly through­out the pro­gramme, includ­ing assessed class­es, assessed per­for­mances, reflec­tive jour­nals, research, dis­cus­sions, group work and presentations.

You will be expect­ed to com­mit to rehearsal sched­ules and some addi­tion­al hours for per­for­mances. You will be required to wear uni­form for class­es as per the essen­tial kit list pro­vid­ed before start­ing the course. The course is run in part­ner­ship with East­ern School of Per­form­ing Arts (ESPA). ESPA is based in the cen­tre of Stam­ford, with our own per­form­ing arts build­ing includ­ing 4 stu­dios, class­rooms, com­mon rooms, and kitchen facil­i­ties. ESPA pro­vides indus­try-expe­ri­enced tutors for all of their cours­es, enabling stu­dents to devel­op skills required for their next steps.

Please see our social media plat­forms for more con­tent and updates, our Insta­gram is @espa_arts and our Face­book is @EasternSchoolPA.

You can also find infor­ma­tion on our web­site www​.east​ern​school​.co​.uk where our vir­tu­al stu­dent expe­ri­ence area gives you a chance to try out some online taster sessions.

Suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of this course will allow you to progress to the HND in Per­form­ing Arts at The East­ern School of Per­form­ing Arts or study at pres­ti­gious per­form­ing arts schools. 

Pre­vi­ous stu­dents have gone on to study at estab­lish­ments such as: Arts Ed, Guild­ford School of Act­ing, Urdang, Per­form­ers Col­lege, Bird Col­lege, East 15, Leeds Con­ser­va­toire, Roy­al Birm­ing­ham Con­ser­va­toire, Roy­al Cen­tral School of Speech and Dra­ma, Trin­i­ty Laban, Italia Con­ti, Liv­er­pool Cen­tral Stu­dios, and Liv­er­pool Insti­tute of Per­form­ing Arts.

Project 1 — Core Skills Devel­op­ment.

You will work on fur­ther devel­op­ing your act­ing tech­niques and skills, along with the devel­op­ment of mate­r­i­al. You will work on a vari­ety of mate­r­i­al, both as indi­vid­u­als and as a com­pa­ny, explor­ing and apply­ing appro­pri­ate skills and tech­niques devel­oped in classes.

Project 2 — Pro­fes­sion­al Development

There are a wide vari­ety of pro­gres­sion routes avail­able in the Per­form­ing and Pro­duc­tion arts. Through a process of research, dia­logue, reflec­tion, and eval­u­a­tion you will iden­ti­fy and pre­pare for spe­cif­ic high­er edu­ca­tion or employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties that are appro­pri­ate to your indi­vid­ual ambi­tions. You will assess your own strengths and per­son­al goals and explore the routes suit­ed to you. Prepar­ing for poten­tial audi­tions takes time and clar­i­ty of aims, to ensure you pre­pare the cor­rect mate­r­i­al and demon­strate your strengths. In this project, you will break down and exam­ine the prepa­ra­tion that is need­ed to devel­op appro­pri­ate audi­tion tech­niques and present your­self in a mock audi­tion. You will also pre­pare appli­ca­tion mate­r­i­al and devel­op pre­sen­ta­tion skills that are required when apply­ing for future study or work. Through crit­i­cal eval­u­a­tion and reflec­tion, you will be able to define your emerg­ing ambi­tions and capabilities.

Project 3 — Com­pa­ny Performance

You will per­form in sev­er­al com­pa­ny per­for­mances — one of which will be a pub­lished work, and the oth­er a devised com­pa­ny per­for­mance. This project will enable you to exam­ine the cre­ative and devel­op­ment process, along with that of being a com­pa­ny mem­ber and tak­ing direc­tion for performance.

Project 4 — Final Major Project

This final project pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty for you to present a port­fo­lio of work that show­cas­es your cre­ative devel­op­ment in a full-scale pro­duc­tion. You will work on a select­ed com­pa­ny piece that enables you to hone in on the skills and knowl­edge devel­oped through­out the pro­gramme to focus on the areas of inter­est and impor­tance to you and your next steps. This project will cul­mi­nate in a pub­lic per­for­mance of the work.

You will have access to pro­fes­sion­al rehearsal rooms, record­ing stu­dios, and a large 98-seat on-site the­atre for your performances.

All of our lec­tur­ers are high­ly expe­ri­enced and come from an indus­try back­ground. This means that you will receive top qual­i­ty teach­ing and sup­port in order to forge a long and suc­cess­ful career in whichev­er area of the per­form­ing arts indus­try you wish to go into.

You will ben­e­fit from var­i­ous study facil­i­ties includ­ing a recent­ly refur­bished Library where you’ll have access to books, jour­nals, and computers.

You will also have access to an Aca­d­e­m­ic Sup­port Tutor to assist you with your stud­ies and Careers Advi­sors to help you with your future employment.

You will have access to pro­fes­sion­al rehearsal rooms, record­ing stu­dios and a large 98 seat on-site the­atre for your performances.

All of our lec­tur­ers are high­ly expe­ri­ences and come from an indus­try back­ground. This means that you will receive top qual­i­ty teach­ing and sup­port in order to forge a long and suc­cess­ful career in whichev­er area of the per­form­ing arts indus­try you wish to go into.

You will ben­e­fit from var­i­ous study facil­i­ties includ­ing a recent­ly refur­bished Library where you’ll have access to books, jour­nals and computers.

You will also have access to an Aca­d­e­m­ic Sup­port Tutor to assist you with your stud­ies and Careers Advi­sors to help you with your future employment.