Acting and Performance (top up)

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 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.

Find out more about acting and performance courses, facilities and student projects on the SHU performance website: https://www.shuperformance.co.uk/

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.

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

Applied learning
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.

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.

Compulsory Modules

Change Makers' Festival

Elective modules

Advanced Acting Techniques
Drama In Education & The Community
Foreign Language (French, Spanish, Italian)
Making Comedy
Performance Lab

Coursework | Practical