This is an advanced skills and knowledge top-up degree that helps you develop the skills you need for a future in acting and performance.
Develop high-level skills as an actor and performer.
Research, plan and execute professional-standard performances across a range of media.
Create a digital portfolio to showcase your work.
Engage with communities and challenge real-world issues.
Take part in our final-year degree showcase festival.

Hone your craft through specialist modules in applied theatre, acting with texts, or comic performance. You’ll master production processes and apply your learning by creating and starring in your own public performances. You’ll also work with our external partners, helping to challenge global issues, through our Change Makers Festival.

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, DINA, 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.

All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.

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.

You learn through

• acting and performing
• taking part in production projects
• practical workshops
• attending performances
• work-based learning 
• independent study
• real-life projects for external clients
• interactive lectures and seminars
• extracurricular activities, including theatre and performance productions

Our graduates have gone on to rewarding and fulfilling careers in

• the acting profession
• the creative industries
• film production
• marketing, communications and media
• education
• community theatre 
• creative arts facilitation
• the charity sector
• journalism
• public-facing professions such as HR, training and customer service

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to work for

• The Royal Shakespeare Company
• Sheffield Theatres
• Forced Entertainment
• Third Angel
• GrowTheatre
• Blowfish
• Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. 
• Open House Pictures 
• their own companies and creative enterprises – set up with support from the university

 

Normally you need a Level 5 qualification (Foundation Degree or HND) in Performing Arts, Drama, Theatre or a related discipline. If you have achieved it in the last five years you will not be asked to submit a piece of work as part of the selection process as we will be able to assess your application via your UCAS form.

If you have professional experience, rather than a Level 5 qualification, or you have achieved a Level 5 qualification more than five years ago, you will be invited to submit a piece of work as part of the selection process.

If English is not your first language you need an IELTS score of 6.5 or above with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills or equivalent. If your English language skill is currently below IELTS 6.5 we recommend you consider a Sheffield Hallam University Pre-sessional English course which will enable you to achieve an equivalent English score.

Please note the University will only admit students who are aged 18 or over at the point of enrolment.

Important notice:

The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.

Final Year Compulsory modules
Module	Credits	Assessment
Change Makers' Festival	60	Coursework

 

Elective modules
Module	Credits	Assessment
Advanced Acting Techniques	20	Coursework
Drama In Education & The Community	20	Coursework
Foreign Language (French, Spanish, Italian)	20	Coursework Practical
Making Comedy	20	Coursework Practical
Performance Lab	20	Coursework