Acting and Performance

Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.

Course summary

- Develop high-level skills as an actor and performer.

- Research, plan and execute professional-standard performances across stage, screen, audio and digital media.

- Create a multi-media digital portfolio to showcase your work.

- Engage with communities and challenge real-world issues.

- Take part in our final-year degree showcase festival.

Develop your flair in everything from screen acting to working with texts, audio performance, and physical and spatial practices. You’ll master production processes and apply your learning by creating and starring in your own public performances. You’ll also work with real-world briefs commissioned by external clients, helping to challenge global issues.

At the end of your studies you’ll produce and deliver your own professional performance for public presentation at our Changemakers Festival – our festival of theatre and performance.

How you learn

You’ll take part in interactive lectures, seminars and practical workshops led by creative professionals, practitioners and expert academics. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with industry partners on ‘live brief’ projects. As you develop experience, you’ll create a professional portfolio designed to prepare you for a range of careers – whether that’s in the creative industries, drama education or postgraduate study and training.

Applied learning

Work placements

In your second year you’ll have the opportunity to undertake a short placement with an external organisation. Here you’ll use your newfound skills to address real-world challenges, connect with diverse audiences and make a difference in your community.

Live projects

We work with a range of local theatres, filmmakers, performance companies and arts organisations on live briefs and production projects. Recent industry collaborators include Sheffield Theatres, Forced Entertainment, The Sheffield Creative Guild, Theatre Delicatessen, Stand and Be Counted, John Godber and Doppelgangster.

Staff often produce performances for local and international festivals – and invite students to take part in them, giving you the chance to work alongside professionals. In recent years students have participated in Off the Shelf Festival, the Venice Biennale, The Melbourne Fringe Festival, Season for Change, and Woodland Trust’s Tree Charter. We also collaborate with Hallam’s Department of Film and Media Production to create additional screen acting opportunities for you to take part in.

Field trips

Throughout the course you'll have the opportunity to go on a wide range of trips. We're ideally located close to Sheffield Theatres and regularly see performances there. You'll also travel to see work in other cities in the north, nationwide and where possible internationally. In previous years students have attended international theatre festivals in Prague, Venice, Berlin and Paris.

Networking opportunities

We have excellent links to local actors, companies and venues – which we encourage you to take advantage of. These include Sheffield’s Equity Branch, the Making Room network at Sheffield Theatres and the Sheffield Creative Guild, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet, talk with and work alongside people from the industry.

Find out more about our Acting and Performance course, from opportunities and student experiences: http://www.shuperformance.co.uk/