The Professional Touring module sees the entire BA cohort working together to devise a full-length ensemble production. As well as performing, of course, students take on company roles such as tour managing, costume design, and marketing. This holistic approach ensures the development of valuable employability skills and provides our students with much-needed industry experience. In fact, some of our graduates have gone on to work in such roles as a direct result of their experience on this module.

Opening at our very own venue in Bristol, the BA Touring Show show will then tour a variety of other venues in the UK. Past venues include Jacksons Lane and Artsdepot in London, Déda in Derby, The Point in Eastleigh, and The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury. Below is an in-depth look at a recent year’s Touring Show ‘Out Of The Loop‘ featuring interviews with some of the staff and students involved.

The Practice As Research module or PaR, as it’s known, is an artistic research assignment that invites students to analyse their own practice, pose questions and carefully examine the skills they’ve spent so long developing.

Students share their findings in a presentation to their tutors and peers.  Very often, these conclusions and realisations will go on to inform the work made during the Final Major Project module.

The Final Major Project, is a self-devised solo or group performance of between 20 and 30 minutes in length. The FMP can be the apogee of three years of hard work – a gathering together of every idea, influence, and inspiration – or it can be a snapshot of what an artist is capable of physically and creatively at that moment. Some students have adapted their FMP into full-length productions, such as 2016 graduate Robin Dale, whose piece ‘What Does Stuff Do?’ won the Act Prize at BE Festival and earned him a slot on the festival’s tour of Spain. Robin now tours ‘What Does Stuff Do?’ both nationally and internationally while also developing new work. Other graduates have chosen not to return to their FMP, but instead to use the lessons learned during its creation to inform the development of other work.