BA (Hons) Musical Theatre

Our musical theatre programme – the only one of its kind in Wales – equips you with physical, vocal and professional skills to meet the demands of this ever-changing industry.

Heavily practical in nature, it prepares you for a career in musical theatre through a rigorous, expert-led training programme, enriched with performance projects and a variety of staged performances, including two fully staged productions working under professional conditions.

Guided by our experienced industry practitioners, you’ll study a comprehensive range of singing, spoken voice, dance and acting methods. You’ll also learn how to create your own original work through a collaborative and creative process – contributing, cooperating and taking responsibility for the collective realisation of a final project or performance.

To help foster exciting opportunities for future work, we organise Agent and Industry Showcases showcases for our final-year students. You’ll perform in Cardiff and London’s West End to an invited audience of industry professionals, including agents and casting directors.

With individual tuition and small group classes set in a thriving creative arts centre, you can evolve into a multi-skilled, reflective, collaborative and professional artist, possessing all the skills that pave the way for a sustainable and versatile career on the contemporary stage.

• You’ll develop a comprehensive, highly developed and cohesive set of vocal, professional, physical and acting skills and techniques. These will allow you to adapt to the diverse opportunities and wide-ranging demands and diverse opportunities of today’s rapidly expanding musical theatre industry.
• You’ll develop a broad working knowledge and appreciation of both contemporary and classical musical theatre repertoire and genres.
• It’s the only undergraduate programmme in Wales that provides dedicated, professional and conservatoire-based training in musical theatre.
• You’ll have one-to-one tutorials, small classes of 16 students, workshops, rehearsal-based performance projects and seminars.
• Our impressive list of tutors includes renowned Musical Directors, choreographers and Acting Tutors across a range of genres. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
• Showcases in Cardiff and London’s West End will allow you to demonstrate your talent to a roomful of industry professionals, such as casting directors and agents.
• You’ll participate in a series of performance-based projects, concerts and cabarets, collaborating with students on your course and those studying other subjects here at the College.
• In the final year, opportunities will include becoming a part of the college's Richard Burton Company, performing musical theatre productions to both invited and public audiences within a professional environment, working alongside full technical, production and creative teams in a range of performance contexts from studio shows to main house musical productions.
• Our robust links with the profession means you’ll work closely with a range of leading industry visitors, such as renowned directors, Musical Directors and Choreographers.
• You’ll have rehearsal based-workshops, focusing on singing technique, repertoire, spoken voice, text and dialect, which are supported by individual tutorials. Dance and Movement classes include Ballet, Jazz and Tap technique and repertoire, as well as Movement and Conditioning classes
• Acting classes and projects will guide you through practical explorations of the fundamentals of acting as well as approaches to text; building character and relationships through the rehearsal process.
• You’ll also study approaches to Heightened Text including Shakespeare, as well as investigating the demands of the filmed and television industries.
• You’ll focus on developing professional skills essential to maintaining a career, including knowledge of industry structures, professional expectations, as well as casting processes.