Experimental Arts and Performance, BA

at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

In the first two years, the programme focuses on development of your practice across three key areas: text/theory, body/ movement and materials/technology. The final year focuses on a specialised area of practice developed through research, professional mentorship and independent projects.  
 

Year 1: Exploring your creative practice
 

Your first year will explore a wide range of different vocabularies of experimental performance.
 

You will:

• Acquire skills in dramaturgy, writing for and about performance, composition and performance-making

• Produce short performance across collaborative projects, involving installation, writing and immersive performance

• Creatively reflect on performance by making zines, podcasts and other creative works

• Explore documentation and archiving as creative practices, engaging with memory, bodies, colonialism and borders
   

Units: Performance as Event; Performance Skills; Performance Histories; Text as Performance; Immersive Project.
 

Year 2: Growing your creative practice
 

In this second year, you will grow your experience of performance at the intersection with other disciplines, explore materials in performance, and collectively curate and produce a festival.
 

You will:

• Develop skills in performance research by undertaking your own projects and connecting your work to the professional sector

• Make performance work with different materials and environments

• Explore practices of curating and programming performance in different contexts, as well as examining ethical and political considerations

• Learn skills and think critically about hosting, presenting, framing and facilitating contemporary performance work
   

Units: Performance Matters; Performing Materials; Contemporary Practices; Contemporary Studies; Writing for Solo Performance; Curating Performance; Festival Project. 
 

Year 3: Refining your practice 
 

In your final year, you will explore different models of working, engage with questions of representation in and through performance, examine cultural infrastructures and consider the future of your practice.
 

You will:

• Write a dissertation on a topic you choose

• Work on a professional project that will culminate in a public showcase

• Grow your skills in cultural leadership, including resource management, project management, funding, modes of work, and connecting with policy and cultural strategy  

• Regularly share work in progress with visiting artists

• Connect with graduates working in the industry
   

Units: Cultural Politics of Performance; Professional Practice; Dissertation; Future Practice.

Our standard academic entry requirements range between 120 and 96 UCAS tariff points. You can see how many tariff points your qualifications would gain on the UCAS Tariff Calculator. International qualifications and others not covered within the UCAS tariff can also be accepted. 
 

Please note that we may make lower offers (including unconditional) to exceptional candidates and those who have alternative or prior experience to offer. All candidates are invited to interview, which is a key factor in determining who is accepted on to the course.

English Language Requirements

Applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to prove their English language proficiency by gaining an overall score of 7.0 in an IELTS test. We do accept equivalent English language qualifications. Applicants are advised to gain this certification as early as possible and more information can be found
 

The fees for Experimental Arts and Performance, BA may vary from £20,000 to £35,000 annually for tuition fees. The fee's prices may get higher for International Students.

Graduate employment and career pathways include:
 

• Performer, Arcola Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Brighton Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Budva Theatre Festival Montenegro, Glastonbury Festival, National Theatre Studios, The Shed (National Theatre), The Place.
• Company-in-Residence, Artsdepot, Shunt Vaults, Dixon Place (New York). Writer, Royal Court Theatre, Something Other, Exeunt Magazine.
• Director, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, New York International Fringe Festival, Finborough Theatre, National Theatre Connections.
• Performer/ Director, Brighton Festival.
• Producer/ Performer, Latitude Festival.
• Producer, CircusFest, Roundhouse, Singapore World Expo.
• Presenter, BBC Radio 1Xtra, Sky Arts.
• Projection Specialist, Mesmer.
• Stage Manager, Secret Cinema.
• Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London, Queen Mary University of London, University of Swaziland.
   

Recent further study, master’s degrees, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, California Institute of the Arts. PhDs at various universities.