Music Theatre Performance 2A

All music theatre students must undertake the Music Theatre Performance course. It is a skills-based practical course focussed on the three areas of acting technique, voice production and dance skills. This includes key areas of BALLET, TAP and JAZZ dance, ACTING technique as well as scene work, VOICE theory and production. As such, all classes are workshop style where attendance is critical for skills development.

Dance

An emphasis on more advanced technical work is addressed along with a greater understanding of style, along with the encouragement of more rapid and accurate learning of basic choreographic combinations. Greater strength and flexibility is also addressed along with stylistic accuracy.

Voice/Movement

Second Year Voice develops students’ practical awareness of how actors use voice to build character. Through focused studio work, students build greater physical freedom and ease, increased breath capacity and control, more efficient resonance, expanded pitch range, and enhanced articulatory agility. This year of voice training is largely exercise-based, deepening students’ connection to language and vocal presence in action. Emphasis is placed on oracy, rhetoric, and the expressive power of words, alongside an embodied understanding of the voice as a three-dimensional, physical instrument - integrating body, breath, vocal tract, and imagination. Where appropriate, this work is supported by an introductory engagement with phonetics and accent work, providing a foundation for clearer, more versatile vocal expression.

Acting

This module builds on the foundational skills developed in first year, with a focus on performance style and the demands of heightened text. Through the exploration of non-naturalistic text – material with a strong sense of heightened theatricality and overt poeticism – students develop their ability to adapt the performing self to the demands of text in a heightened style. Working with a range of heightened texts, students deepen their skills in text analysis, vocal and energetic choice-making, and clear, dynamic communication of language. Emphasis is placed on the actor’s role as interpreter, cultivating rigour, confidence, and a relish for language while developing practical rehearsal strategies that support expressive, responsive performance in heightened styles.

This course builds on the foundational acting skills developed in first year, with a focus on performance style and the demands of heightened text. Through the exploration of non-naturalistic material, students develop their ability to adapt the performing self to language that is poetic, structured, and theatrically charged. Working with a range of heightened texts, students deepen their skills in text analysis, vocal and energetic choice-making, and clear, dynamic communication of language. Emphasis is placed on the actor’s role as interpreter, cultivating rigour, confidence, and a relish for language while developing practical rehearsal strategies that support expressive, responsive performance in heightened styles.