Acting

Acting in contemporary performance is a training for actors who want to engage with the full range of creative possibilities available to performers working today, rather than preparing only for conventional stage or screen roles. Contemporary performance extends beyond the well-made play and the traditional theatre building, encompassing physical theatre, devised work, site-specific practice, interdisciplinary collaboration, digital and interactive forms, and global storytelling traditions that do not originate in the European classical canon. Actors who can work fluently across these forms, generating material as well as interpreting existing work, are in increasing demand across the creative industries.

At the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, this three-year full-time programme is designed for actors interested in experimental and innovative approaches to global storytelling. You will develop essential acting skills including voice, movement, text work, and presence alongside the experimental and devising capabilities that contemporary performance requires. You will become part of a new generation of practitioners who can work across mediums to develop multidisciplinary and disruptive methods of engaging audiences.

LIPA's exceptional facilities and its ethos of combining rigorous training with creative risk mean that you will graduate with both technique and artistic ambition. The programme is taught by practitioners active in the field, and its Liverpool location connects you to a vibrant regional arts ecology.

Graduates from contemporary performance programmes work as actors, devisers, physical performers, workshop leaders, community arts practitioners, directors, and collaborative artists in theatre, film, television, and a wide range of live and digital arts contexts. Further study at postgraduate level in performance practice, devising, or applied theatre is available for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.