Musical Theatre BA (Hons)

In partnership with Wilkes Academy, we're offering you the chance to pursue a degree level qualification in Musical Theatre. Develop your practical skills as a performer across all aspects of musical theatre, take part in a range of productions and learn the background to the genre and how the industry works.

The BA (Hons) Musical Theatre degree at Wilkes Academy is a distinctive course offering excellent vocational training that stands out from the rest. This course that will prepare you to become a successful professional within the performing arts industry.

The course is delivered by extremely experienced musical theatre practitioners who are well-known and respected in the sector. Wilkes Academy prides itself on giving students the ultimate musical theatre experience. You will participate in a range of practical and informative workshops and seminars. These are enhanced by a range of supporting activities and contextual studies that will help you gain confidence and become a rounded musical theatre professional.

The course is intensive and we have high expectations of all students, helping to instill in you the discipline, training and professional standards and expectations that the industry demands.

Embarking on a course at Wilkes Academy marks the start of what we hope will be a lifelong love for, and career in, a creative industry which opens doors to the future!

Wilkes Academy is based in it's own bespoke premises in Swindon. It is fortunate to have fantastic state of the art studio space. We’re very proud to have created the optimum environment for our students to learn, grown and develop their own creativity.

We are incredibly proud of the facilities available to our students. The twelve spacious studios – complete with over 1000 squared metres of Harlequin Floor, are complemented by seminar and social spaces which are used by students on the course.

The course is designed to develop you are a well rounded musical theatre practitioner, combining practical skills development with an ongoing academic exploration of all aspects of the genre and the broader creative industries.

Through this course you will develop your knowledge and understanding of contemporary musical theatre practice and learn about the fundamental principles of working in the performing arts sector. You will be encouraged to reflect on how this learning supports the development of a sound base of skills and professional practice. The course is designed to enable you to appreciate the scope and complexity of musical theatre in a range of performing arts industry contexts and the professional demands associated with this. You will learn to adopt a mature and informed approach to personal and career development, and to question, discuss and debate professional practice, theoretical premise and areas of social and cultural interest

In the first year you undertake a range of practical modules which are designed to consolidate and build your practical skills in singing, dance and performance for musical theatre. Other modules also start to introduce you to the skills, techniques and approaches to academic study within the performing arts perspective. There are also a range of performance opportunities throughout the year.

In the second year you continue to enhance and develop your practical skills working across a variety of approaches and techniques in musical mheatre. You explore the genre of musical theatre further by examining the history and context of a range of performance approaches. You also participate in 2 major assessed performance pieces, drawing on traditional and contemporary musical theatre genres.

In the final year you have the opportunity to showcase your skills both individually and as part of a company. You take part in both individual performances and also feature within a major final production. You are required to reflect on your own development as a performer and explore your own future career plans. You also explore how you can promote yourselves to the wider industry. You develop your own promotional materials - including show reels, industry CV's etc - which demonstrate the range of skills and approaches you have developed, which you can then use to promote to the external industry.