Acting for Stage and Screen

BA (Hons) Full time

Course Overview

UCAS code: W410
Duration: 4 years
Study type: Full Time
Napier code: 54116BH

This practical, performance-based course is offered jointly by Edinburgh Napier University and Queen Margaret University. It draws on our well-established reputation as a centre for excellence in screen practice-led courses and on Queen Margaret’s expertise in actor training. The course is designed for direct entry to year 3 and provides a distinctive and complementary course of actor training to the canonic conservatoire tradition.

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This practical and performance based programme is offered jointly by the School of Arts & Social Sciences, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and the School of Arts & Creative Industries, Edinburgh Napier University.

This course is aimed at experienced and articulate performers who are interested in taking charge of their own careers. The course will enhance performing skills to industry-standard, while working in a practical, simulated professional environment.

The programme recognises that actors may be called upon to perform in a variety of venues, media and styles, and will provide vocational and industry-relevant training through intensive workshops, centred on acting for stage and screen and on the craft, practice and business of performance. It will consolidate and extend existing skills and will ensure that all graduates have a secure understanding of the business they are entering.

Given our Edinburgh location, you will be working in some exciting venues, with professional directors and teachers. Students will leave with 'festival-ready' productions that can transfer for showing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and elsewhere, and also with a show reel of screen acting work, a personal business plan and the skills and knowledge to really take charge of your own career development.

This course will advance your knowledge of specialist areas in acting, voice and movement and enable you to demonstrate learned performance skills at professional-level standards, in an integrated and creative context. It will also enable you to demonstrate initiative and creativity within the area of acting for stage and screen. You will also gain transferable skills in creative problem solving, planning, leadership, team work and time management.

  • Stage and Screen Actor
  • Various roles in the entertainment industry which require initiative and creativity
  • Producer
  • Managing and launching small theatre companies
  • Theatre Company Manager
  • Arts Administration

What's it like?

Take a leading role in the entertainment industry

Career prospects

We are one of the top universities in Scotland for graduate employability, with over 93% of our graduates in jobs or further study six months after graduating.

The arts and entertainment industries are notoriously competitive, particularly in the area of performing. The range of skills you will gain on the course will prepare you for work in a number of areas. The qualification also provides a platform for further research and study and a further academic or teaching career.

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What's involved

Modular learning

Our courses are structured by modules which gives our students a flexible learning programme. Modules covered by this course:

On offer

Campus life

World class facilities


Why I chose Napier

Requirements at a glance

Entry to the course

International students

Full-time study (per year)

The fees listed are stated per annum.

Part-time study (per year)

The fees listed are stated per annum.

Part-time study

The number of modules studied is dependent on the exit that you wish to achieve, for example:

  • A Grad Cert is 60 Credits (3 modules)
  • A Cert HE/Grad Dip/ HND is 120 credits (6 modules)
  • A Dip HE credit is 240 credits (12 modules)
  • A Degree is 360 credits (18 modules)
  • An Honours Degree is 480 credits

Please note that some part-time courses give modular exemptions for previous study and vocational experience. Advice is available during application.

Fees Table

Fees displayed are correct at the time of publication but the University Court reserves the right to make changes in fees at any time, and without notice, before or after the student's admission to the University.

Tuition fees are reviewed annually and will rise each year during your programme of study, at least in line with inflation.

Funding your study

We have a selection of funding opportunities available such as the UK postgraduate tuition fee loan (Scottish & EU) and specific scholarships aimed at student from India and across Africa. Visit our funding pages to find out what you could be eligible for.

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