Acting [with Foundation Year]

Our BA (Hons) Acting degree in Cambridge gives you the opportunity to train as an actor for stage or screen.

Reach your full potential on this conservatoire-style course designed to build your creative acting skills. The course will introduce you to all the skills demanded of today’s professional, including live performance, screen acting and motion capture.

Our Drama and Dance courses ranked 13th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2025, with 92% for “satisfied with teaching”.

On our BA (Hons) Acting degree at ARU you will get involved in extensive live performance work on stage in both the studio and theatre. You’ll develop techniques for acting on screen and also for live environments. You will also gain experience with new technologies and alternative platforms for acting, enabling you to be a dynamic and responsive actor prepared for a career in the ever-evolving creative industries. This may include the use of green screens, immersive live and virtual environments, live streams to remote audiences and acting for online applications.

You’ll focus on the progression in your own skills and abilities, growing into a confident and versatile performer. In the first year we’ll focus on fundamental acting skills. voice and movement, screen acting and how to rehearse for a full production. In the second year you’ll work with an external director, experiment with Physical Theatre, learn about new performance technologies and extend your experience with screen acting and classical text. In the final year, the Immersive Performance and a final Showcase will allow you to demonstrate your high-level skills in acting. The showcase enables you to graduate with a professional standard CV and showreel.

You’ll also choose a topic of personal interest to explore practically and/or academically, with individual attention from an expert supervisor to support your completion of the Major Project.

As a BA (Hons) Acting student at ARU, you’ll develop your technical and production skills in our specialist facilities for both recorded and live performance, including motion capture and green screen. Our technical staff will be on hand to offer help and support.

You can also choose to study abroad for a semester, with funding available to help cover the cost. You can also take an optional placement year.

You may also be able to collaborate with other Cambridge School of Creative Industries students such as our film students who need actors for their films, or alongside Computer Games students in the use of motion capture for creating CGI. This will mirror the professional experience of a working actor and develop your skills and experience in collaboration, team work, communication and problem-solving, ready for your future career.

As an ARU student, you can also get involved with the University of Cambridge's Footlights comedy events as a writer, performer or member of the production team.

The impact of our Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, and Film & Screen Studies research achieved 'world-leading' in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.

Year 1:
Foundation in Humanities, English
Media, Social Sciences and Education

Year 2:

Studio Performance
Voice and Movement
Introduction to Screen Acting
Fundamentals for Acting
Into ARU

Year 3:

Ruskin Module (15 credits)
Performance Project
Physical Theatre
Performance Technologies
Performing Shakespeare
Acting for Camera

Year 4:

Immersive Performance
Showcase
Undergraduate Major Project

You’ll show your progress through a variety of methods that reflect the skills and knowledge you’ll need as both a practitioner and critic, able to both make work and analyse it. These will test your ability, technique, creativity and production skills, and involve both collaborative practice and individual work.

They include: live or mediated performance; process in creating performance (e.g rehearsals, collaborative skills, and professional conduct); rationales for performance; technical production work; critical reflection; essays; portfolios; design plans (e.g. lighting, sound, costume, shooting scripts for video); reviews; practical demonstrations; workshop facilitation; and oral presentations / examinations.