Acting

Train with some of the finest actors, directors and writers working today.

Immerse yourself in rigorous, world-class training, explore your creative ideas and develop compelling, original work as part of an inclusive curriculum; one that celebrates diverse voices, new work, and essential repertoire.

We are renowned for developing world-leading actors and our graduates can be seen globally in theatre, film and television. Graduates include Rakie Ayola, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Ruth Jones, Callum Scott Howells, Tom Rhys-Harries, Thalissa Teixeira, Eve Myles, Rob Brydon, Dougray Scott, Anthony Boye, Ed Bluemel, Clare Dunne, Anjana Vasan and Eric Kofi Abrefa.

Our acting courses are delivered in close association with the College’s design and stage management programmes constituting an unparalleled collaborative approach in UK Conservatoire teaching. Together you’ll become the College’s in-house production company, the Richard Burton Company. Working with professional directors, the company produces around 15 shows every year, from classic plays to contemporary drama.

‘We aim to deliver actor training fit for the 21st century. With a focus on craft and collaboration, our newly revised programme marries core repertoire with the best in contemporary writing, self-led practice and an increase in film production. We are industry-focused, accessible and aligned with best practice, graduating actors into the profession that are robust, ethically minded artists. We foster strong individual voices, a keen sense of the ensemble; actors comfortable working with the classics as much as on new work, and ready to create their own.’

Jonathan Munby – Director of Performance (Drama)

Why study acting at RWCMD?

You’ll work with acclaimed visiting artists who direct our performances and lead a range of classes delivering classical and contemporary actor training.
As part of your training, you’ll also have masterclasses with some of the country’s most exciting writers, actors and directors where you can get expert advice on everything from audition technique to finding an agent.
You’ll take part in annual showcases in Cardiff and London in front of leading agents and casting directors. In 2016, the College staged its first US Showcase in New York City, which returns in 2022.
Our training is inclusive and embraces diversity, working with the important voices in UK theatre, that tap directly into the most prescient and significant concerns of our times.
In our acclaimed annual new writing festival, NEW, you’ll work closely with leading writers and directors on plays commissioned by us in association with Royal Court, Paines Plough and Sherman Theatre. For 2023 we’re commissioning a new play by renowned playwright Philip Ridley. Productions premiere here at the College before moving to London’s The Yard theatre.

You’ll work with our writer in residence, who will tutor you and support you as you develop your own creative work. Acclaimed playwright and director Chinonyerem Odimba was our very first writer in residence in 2020. Our current writer in residence is world-leading playwright Roy Williams, one of the most important contemporary Black voices in British theatre.

'One of the most thorough and searching actor training courses in Europe.'

Simon Stephens, Playwright

Led by a renowned director with 20 years’ experience

Jonathan Munby, Director of Performance (Drama), has been a director for more than 20 years and has worked all over the world on classical plays, new writing, musical theatre and opera.

He’s worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare's Globe in London, the Donmar Warehouse, Chichester Festival Theatre, and theatres in the West End.

He’s also worked in theatres in the US and Japan, including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. and the Lincoln Center in New York.

He’s been nominated for, and won, several major awards, including a UK Theatre Award, The Helen Hayes Award in the US for ‘Most Outstanding Director’ and most recently the Olivier Award for Best Revival.

About RWCMD

Our vibrant multicultural institution boasts 800 students from more than 40 countries. As an actor, you’ll have opportunities to work with many of them – especially those on our stage management and technical theatre and musical theatre courses – in a number of exciting performances and projects.
Collaboration forms a huge part of what we do, allowing you to immerse yourself in new experiences with a broad range of disciplines and skills from across the college. Our unique student-led company REPCo, encourages students to work together to be bold, imaginative and entrepreneurial.
RWCMD is a vibrant arts centre staging 500 performances a year (many of which are free) which are a combination of world-leading artists and student work, often side by side. Regular major events at RWCMD include BBC Young Musician of the Year, and BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and standalone events such as the World Harp Congress in July 2022.
Our campus is right in the centre of Cardiff, the thriving, compact capital of Wales, which is only two hours by train to central London.
You’ll practice, study and perform in a beautiful, inspiring setting, bordering Bute Park, one of the largest green spaces in the city. We have a chamber music hall with extraordinary acoustics, a glass-lined foyer and performance space, the Richard Burton Theatre, as well as state-of-the-art studios and rehearsal spaces.
Cardiff was named as the most cost-effective city in the UK for students, according to the NatWest Student Living Index 2022.