Level 3
Acting
The first step on the road to becoming a professional actor.
Diploma
Level 3
Diploma Acting
WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?
DRAMA SCHOOL LEVEL TRAINING
Experience drama school level training with an average of 21 hours of teaching time a week.INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS
Learn approaches to professional acting taught by working industry professionals.A LEVEL EQUIVALENT
Achieve an Extended Level 3 Diploma, equivalent to 3 A Levels.FAST TRACK YOUR BSA APPLICATION
Qualify for an automatic recall audition for Bristol School of Acting degrees.
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 acting training taught by working industry professionals.
An Extended Level 3 Diploma, equivalent to 3 A Levels, plus an automatic recall audition for BSA degree courses.
BSA 16-18 is a drama school at diploma level with a professional ethos and rigorous approach.
The course prepares you to think as a professional actor and equips you with the skills to progress to drama school and into the industry. You are taught by expert staff and you benefit from the wide professional networks that those staff bring. The core of the course is the acting class which runs over the two years and takes you through the approaches of Stanislavski, Uta Hagen and Meisner. Staff support you to develop a personal acting process, using techniques from all the approaches. Voice and movement classes support the development of your acting instrument and specialised units, such as Acting for TV and Comedy, develop your skills. The course works towards productions in year 2. These are professionally staged with high production values and you collaborate with professional working directors, designers and production staff. We have a partnership with Tobacco Factory Theatres where many of our productions are staged.
You’ll share a building with the BA Acting students and so will be immersed in the drama school environment and you’ll be fast tracked to a recall stage audition for any of our BA acting courses.
We have an enviable record of helping our students secure places at top drama schools and we currently have ex BSA students at RADA, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Rose Bruford College, Manchester School of Theatre, Arts Ed, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Drama Studio London, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and our own BSA degree courses.
YEAR ONE.
Throughout the first year you’ll have Acting classes in which you explore the core acting system of Stanislavski. During the class you work on scenes from contemporary plays, building your skills in script analysis, understanding the building blocks of character and exploring truthful character in action. You also make an in-depth study of the acting exercises developed by Uta Hagen. Uta Hagen was one of the great acting teachers of the 20th Century and her seminal book Respect for Acting is a handbook for the course.
Alongside acting you take voice and movement classes each week to develop your skills. In voice you explore the techniques that underpin strong vocal support, use of breath, articulation and resonance. You learn how to employ a wide range of vocal dynamics to voice character and to be able to project in a variety of theatre spaces. Movement class focuses on training the body as an actor’s instrument and the relationship between space and dynamics to create characters with strong physical lives.
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.
Acting for Camera in which you work on contemporary TV and film scenes. The objectives of the unit are to learn the basic techniques of ‘revealing’ rather than ‘playing’, develop skills in preparing for a scene and learning the technical skills required of the process, such as marks, playing for a variety of shots and continuity.
Audition Preparation that will help you select audition pieces and understand the techniques of auditioning, in preparation for drama school and university auditions you do in your second year.
The year culminates with a public production of a piece of ensemble theatre for young people and provides you with the opportunity to put all the skills you have learned in year one into practice.
YEAR TWO.
Acting class continues with a detailed exploration of Meisner technique to develop spontaneity and truthful reactions.
You’ll take units in:
Comedy. You are introduced to the basic techniques of comedy drama and apply them to two contrasting styles of comedy scene. Texts are chosen from genres including comedy of manners and French farce to contemporary dark comedy, social comedy and satire.
Physical Theatre. You explore the work of practitioners such as Lecoq, Frantic Assembly and Pina Bausch and create an ensemble piece of physical theatre.
Shakespeare and Jacobean theatre. This unit introduces you to the way an actor unlocks and communicates complex text.
Throughout year 2 you have individual tutorials to work on your audition pieces for drama school and university acting courses. The highlight of the second year are the productions staged in February and July.
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.
Once you’ve submitted your application, you’ll be invited to an audition.
We’ll send you a selection of audition pieces to choose from, or you can choose your own. Depending on the outcome of your audition, you may be invited to attend a recall.
Previous experience in drama or the expressive arts can be useful, but we’re more interested in your potential 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