At TFT we are proud of our continual work with the arts community, whether that’s via our Get Involved Programme or working partnerships. Bristol School of Acting have been based at TFT for the past 4 years and it is a relationship we are immensely proud to sing from the top of the building about.
Proudly encompassing everything that is Bristol and the arts, the Uk’s newest drama school has firmly set its foundations in the weekly make up here at the factory. Running both college and degree level courses from the Theatre, it offers what some Drama schools can not, the ability to be immersed into a professional theatre on a daily basis. To understand how the space works behind the scenes, the ability to see professional visiting companies come into the space and transform it into their own. To see fist hand the intricacies in production, technical operations, front facing audience focused hospitality as well as access to the performance spaces – is alien to some until the world of work.
Speaking to Joe Spurgeon, Programme leader and producer for Bristol School of Acting, he felt that basing their 4 degree courses within the walls of a working professional theatre not only draws the attention of their students, but works as a real incentive into potential students applying for their courses. “Having an insight into the workings of a professional theatre, no matter which course they are on, is like gold-dust for our students when progressing their careers upon completing their course”. “It allows them opportunity to stand out to potential employers compared to those who may have been purely classroom based”.
When asked how BSA choose the work that their students perform, Joe explained “We are definite in our approach when picking texts that are not just the well known verses, we enjoy prepping our students with variety. By giving them a deliberate global flavor across their course, it enables them to increase core skills such as language, culture and prominent topics that can be felt no matter where in the world the story is set. To reflect the diversity of those in our care, in our communities and in our city and beyond is very important to the team at BSA. We mix this in with more contemporary and classical performances to hone skill sets and push our students to embrace and challenge themselves to a variety of work.”
May / June is an incredibly busy time for the current cohort of BSA Students. 2025 is the first year that there is no graduating degree due to the courses now running as 3yrs rather than 2. This is not to say that they are in a lull, in-fact far from it! BSA have their college extended diploma course performing their end of year shows Boudica and Bakkhai in May, with their end of year university courses culminating in a performance of Balm in Gilead all here at TFT. To top all of this off, in June there will be a final performance for the year from the acting and devised theatre degree which is their final creation of this academic year and is set to combine classic working techniques and new devised (from scratch) theatre.
To find out more about BSA, visit their website – bristolschoolofacting.com
Posted on 21 May 2025
