BA (Hons) Musical Theatre

Why study this subject?

Work alongside industry specialists as you develop your skills and abilities through the three essential disciplines: Acting, Dance and Singing. Collaborate, create and gain performance experience from full scale musicals to a graduate showcase.

With this course you’ll become a confident, creative and self-motivated individual, ready to break into the Musical Theatre industry.

This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

With a track-record of producing industry-ready alumni, BNU is the perfect place for you to kick-start your career.

As part of the Art, Design and Performance School at BNU, you’ll benefit from a practiced-based course, supported by contextual studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively across the university with other courses, ensuring during your studies you are building a varied network, like you would in the real world. Previous joint projects have seen acting students working with film and TV production, audio and music, set design for stage and screen, costume design and making, and hair and make-up students. We’ll support you to find an approach to Musical Theatre that’s uniquely yours and alongside this set you up with the real-world skills you need to secure Musical Theatre work when you graduate.

Led by a dedicated and experienced course team to support and guide your development in preparation for a career in the industry. Nurturing your learning and professional development throughout your time here at BNU. You will benefit from working alongside current professional guest lecturers and creatives in the industry.

As well as this we seek to bring your work into the wider world and to bring the world into the university. During your time at BNU you’ll have the opportunity to perform at external venues and take part in workshops with leading companies, both on and off campus. We also have access to the Wycombe Swan Theatre and Wycombe Town Hall as part of our Wycombe Swan Residency. The Swan Theatre sits adjacent to the University and is one of the UK’s leading regional theatres.

With London only a short journey away, you can take the opportunity to visit the West End and see some of the world’s best theatre productions.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

What facilities can I use?

We’ve invested in a range of state-of-the-art facilities to help you bring your ideas to life. You’ll benefit from our dance studios, all of which are bright, open spaces, equipped with;

• overheard gallery lighting
• audio playback facilities
• fully sprung floors
• floor to ceiling mirrors for rehearsals
• ballet barres
• Air conditioning

You will also have access to our drama and performance studios, all are kitted-out with everything you’ll need, including;

• tiered seating
• sprung floors
• lighting and sound systems
• black-out drapes
• Props and performance blocks

You’ll also have access to high quality camera equipment, a greenscreen room and lighting rigs and sound recording facilities, all suitable for film and TV screening.

We also understand that during your time at university, it is also just important to get involved with extra-curricular activities. Our Students’ Union offers a range of free societies and nights out for you to enjoy, from musical theatre society to our yearly festiball event, there is something for everyone. 

What will I study?

The BA (Hons) Musical Theatre equips you with the fundamentals of musical theatre performance skills, enabling you to emerge with the confidence and creativity to launch a career as a performer.

The notion of the ‘thinking practitioner’ is central to our approach on this course, the ability to understand yourself as a performer and have the confidence to engage creatively and thoughtfully with the industry, and its innovations, is at the heart of our working ethos. 

Throughout this degree you will be exploring both the practical and theory of musical theatre. The production module strand will require you to engage with increasingly demanding productions within genres such as: Pre-1950 Classical, Contemporary Broadway, Variety and Cabaret and Political Musical Theatre. 

You will take part in fully realised productions as a key part of your BNU Musical Theatre education, often performing in large-scale productions. These are created in an intensive ‘timetable takeover style’ which mimics the experience of producing a show in a professional setting.

The course is a high-quality practical training designed to hone your performance skills and stimulate your creative thinking. You’ll focus on acting, singing, and dancing throughout the course. You’ll become a member of our repertory musical theatre company, producing both studio and theatre performances.

As well as this you will engage with industry professionals via a programme of workshops, seminars, lectures and performances.  You will work collaboratively with a professional creative team to design, create and produce high quality productions. Experienced professional lecturers will tutor students in a range of acting, singing and dance styles, closely aligned to the industry’s constantly evolving sense of genre.

The course progression will develop those skills necessary for entry to the performing arts industry. These will include the knowledge and skills you need to manage a professional freelance creative career and develop promotional materials such as showreels, an online portfolio and self-taped auditions. You will also take part in our Graduate Showcase.

Upon graduating from this course you’ll be able to show you are a versatile performer, with valuable industry connections, experience and knowledge towards making your passion a career.

Assessments will be varied, but largely practical and involving a balance of technical and interpretative skills. Some modules involve group work and others will be focussed on the solo performance.

We're passionate about giving our students as many opportunities as possible so you’ll be able to work on a number of exciting projects. We know the importance of catering for different learning styles and enabling our students to develop a wide range of academic and performance skills. You’ll learn to develop your own response to open briefs, giving you independence and creative control over your work.

Throughout the course, an attempt is made to connect practical and critical work, with an understanding of the links between theory and practice evidenced in written work. Teaching methods may vary but will include workshops to develop practical and production skills, seminars and lectures, performances (some of which are formally assessed) where you will perform to an audience or be mediated (i.e. for camera) and study trips, research-driven essays, live presentations and a dissertation.