Level 3
Musical Theatre
Start your journey to become a professional musical theatre actor.
Diploma
Level 3
Diploma Musical Theatre
WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?
DRAMA SCHOOL LEVEL TRAINING
Experience drama school level training with an average of 21 hours of teaching time a week.LEARN FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
Learn professional musical theatre techniques taught by working industry professionals.EQUIVALENT TO 3 A LEVELS
Achieve an Extended Level 3 Diploma, equivalent to 3 A Levels.
ALL OUR AUDITIONS ARE FREE.
To keep our process inclusive and accessible, we believe that money shouldn’t prevent anyone from auditioning.
You can apply directly to Bristol School of Acting using the button below. Once we receive your application, we’ll invite you to the next stage of the audition process.
Qualification: RSL Level 3 Extended Diploma
Duration: 2 years full time
Start date: September 2026
Location: Sliver Street
Drama school level training with an average of 21 hours of teaching time a week.
Professional musical theatre training across acting, singing and dance, taught by working industry professionals.
An Extended Level 3 Diploma, equivalent to 3 A Levels.
BSA 16-18 is a drama school at diploma level with a professional ethos and rigorous approach.
Musical Theatre has been a feature of our Acting diploma from the outset and our Head of School, Stuart Wood has developed and directed many professional musicals. The photographs that follow are from musical productions we have staged, including Our House and Spring Awakening.
The Musical Theatre extended diploma course prepares you to think as a professional performer and equips you with the acting, singing and dance skills to progress both to musical theatre and acting courses at drama school and into the industry. You are taught by expert staff and you benefit from the wide professional networks that those staff bring.
BSA is proud to have a number of Associate Artists who have helped to create this course. They include musical director Jon Beales, choreographer/director Cameron Carver, performer Tamsin January, director Guy Retallack and West End and Broadway star Rachel Tucker.
YEAR ONE
Throughout the first year you’ll have an equal amount of acting, singing and dance classes to give you the foundations across all three disciplines you need to be a musical theatre performer. However, today’s musical theatre performers are expected to be good actors and that is where BSA excels. Acting is at the core of the training, whether that’s “acting through song”, or acting techniques that will give you the skills to excel, even as a non musical actor, or teaching you to understand movement psychology as well as choreography, our approach to acting will put you ahead of the competition.
Acting classes introduce you to character development and text analysis using the approaches of Stanislavksi and Uta Hagen. In singing you explore the techniques that underpin the creation of contemporary musical theatre sound, belt, blend and mix, breath support, articulation and tone. You learn how to employ a wide range of vocal dynamics and styles to sing the text and explore the different styles of musical from pop-rock to hip hop from classic musical comedy to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber . Dance class focuses on the basics of a broad range of styles including jazz, ballet, urban and global dance.
You will also take units in:
Rehearsal Skills in which you work on scenes for performance, learning how to rehearse professionally, apply a variety of rehearsal techniques and develop your own approach to preparation.
Repertoire- understanding and interpreting the different genres of musical theatre.
Audition Preparation that will help you select audition songs and understand the techniques of auditioning, in preparation for drama school auditions that you’ll do in your second year.
YEAR TWO
Acting, singing and dance training intensifies and the range of musicals you study broadens as you explore more complex styles. You’ll take part in
A Masterclass Programme run by our Associate Artists – all working professionals at the highest level of musical theatre.
A Professional Portfolio unit that gives you the skills to develop your career
A Cross Arts Collaborative Performance unit that gives you the chance to create a musical performance for TV and film
Throughout year 2 you have individual tutorials to work on your audition pieces for drama school and other further training.
The highlight of the second year are the studio production staged in February and the final production staged in June in a professional theatre.
Submit your application on our website by visiting bristolschoolofacting.com/apply. You will then be invited to an audition. We will send you a selection of audition pieces to choose from (or you can choose your own). Depending on the result, you may be asked to attend a recall audition.
Though experience of dance, drama or expressive arts are advantageous in giving you a sense of what’s involved, we are more interested in raw talent and welcome your application even if you have had little or no experience.
For your audition, we’ll ask you to:
• Prepare a speech from a contemporary play
• Sing a solo from a musical
• Take part in a dance workshop
You don’t need to be able to read music, but we’d like you to sing your solo accompanied by our audition pianist, so please bring the sheet music for your chosen song. If this isn’t possible for any reason, our Admissions Team can advise you.
Experience in dance, drama or singing is advantageous, but we’re more interested in raw talent and welcome applications from those with little or no previous experience.
To gain acceptance onto BSA’s programmes, applicants must have achieved a Grade 4 or above in GCSE English Language, or an equivalent qualification.
If you have not achieved a Grade 4 or above in GCSE Maths, you may resit this while studying with us.
Continuous assessment, practical skills assessment, written assessment and self-assessment.
The programme is fully funded for students ages 16-18 at the start of their course. Students will be eligible to apply for a discretionary bursary. Auditions are also free of charge but students are asked to contribute to the cost of theatre trips by way of a one-off £200 charge which pays for around 10 trips over the 2 years.
Term 1: 14th September – 23rd October 2026
Term 2: 2nd November – 18th December 2026
(19th December 2026 – 3rd January 2027, Winter Holiday)
Term 3: 4th January – 12th February 2027
Term 4: 22nd February – 26th March 2027
(27th March – 11th April 2027, Spring Holiday)
Term 5: 12th April – 28th May 2027
Term 6: 7th June – 2nd July 2027
(3rd July 2027 onwards, Summer Holidays)
If you want to book any holidays for these half terms, please reach out to BSA’s Attendance Team beforehand to make sure your young people do not miss rehearsal or show dates. Thank you.
If you’d like to talk to us or ask any questions about the course you can email us at hello@bristolschoolofacting.com
