• One Year Course

    One Year Course

one year
“She is capable of getting to the truth of a character at the drop of a hat. And I think it’s because first of all, she’s enormously talented, and secondly, she’s incredibly well trained”

Nicholas Cage on Claire Foy (graduate of the One Year Acting Course)

This is an intensive course with an extended final term to allow for the last four weeks to take place in London. It is designed for those who have completed their academic studies and have some theatre or film experience already. This is a course for high achievers who are knowledgeable about the industry and are determined to succeed. It is important that you are bright and flexible but at the same time able to meet the challenge of trying new methods of working. We expect you to be fearless in your understanding of yourself and appreciation of others.

We are currently one of only two vocational schools to receive Government funding for our One Year Course.

Course Content

Throughout the course you will have contact with, and feedback from, people working in the industry including Casting Directors, Agents and graduates.

Term One

Term One

A thorough analysis of the basic principles of acting and their application to a wide range of demands: from Shakespeare through to the techniques required for film and television. Techniques are drawn from the work of Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov and Uta Hagen among others.

Term Two

You will be fully immersed in all aspects of the rehearsal process in preparation for a full scale production in front of tutors and students at the School. You will also rehearse and record a personal showreel in a professional recording studio and have the opportunity to audition for the BBC Carleton Hobbs Radio Award.

Term Three

Term Three

This begins with a full scale public production by an experienced professional director. Film work continues in preparation for filming on location with a professional director and crew. For the final part of this term all classes take place in London where you will rehearse for your final showcase production in a professional London theatre. In 2016, students performed a new play written especially for them by Isley Lynn at Soho Theatre. At the end of this term you will take part in the Agents’ Showcase at The Soho Theatre in London.

Throughout the course your application to voice and movement classes is crucial to developing your technical ability and vital if you are to realise your full potential. Core classes in film and television, radio and professional development start in Term One and are taught by specialist tutors with many years’ experience in the profession and teaching at this School. You will have regular individual tutorials in singing and voice and termly individual tutorials in acting and movement.

Directors who have recently worked with students in their final term include:

  • Hal Chambers
  • Paul Hart
  • Polina Kalinina


The Oxford School of Drama is a small school and will always remain so. Some years we have taken as few as 14 students on the course, never more than 19. This means that if we offer you a place then you can be confident that we believe you will succeed and, provided you are prepared to be brave, flexible and open to new approaches, we will work hard to make this happen. As importantly, at the end of the course, you will be one of a small number of graduating students, rather than one in a group of 100 or more, as is the case at some graduate showcases.

As a School we make no distinction between the graduates of our One and Three Year courses. They all achieve at the highest level. In recent years graduates of the One Year Course have secured their first acting jobs with employers such as BBC Television, ITV and BBC Radio and on stage for The Royal National Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, English Touring Theatre, Royal Court, Nuffield Theatre Southampton, Chichester Festival Theatre, Theatre Centre, Barbican Centre, Bristol Old Vic, Glasgow Citizens Theatre and Eastern Angles.

Qualification

This course is validated by Trinity College London as degree equivalent, Level 5 in the Government’s National Qualification Framework. Equity membership is awarded to all students who complete this course.

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