Course Highlights
- Two terms in-person here at OSD (6 months)
- Experience the discipline and expectations of vocational Drama School training
- Develop the core disciplines in Actor Training
- Express yourself and your unique creative voice
- A practical, immersive course that builds the skills and confidence needed for degree-level acting training.
This dynamic Foundation Course in Acting is designed to prepare you for rigorous degree-level training in drama and performance. Tailored for passionate emerging artists aged 18+, this course builds the essential tools of the actor: voice, movement, imagination, and presence.
Graduates of the Foundation Course have gone on to train on our own Three Year Course and at other leading drama schools including RADA, LAMDA, Arts ed, Mountview and Guildhall, but also to study unrelated subjects at all the major universities. The Foundation Course in Acting at OSD has been running for over 25 years, with the majority of graduates are now pursuing successful careers on the stage and screen.
The course fosters creativity, discipline, and collaboration, ensuring you are fully equipped to meet the demands of professional training and beyond.
The course lasts two terms. Entry is by audition only and there are no academic requirements.
How can you fund your training?
Unfortunately, students on this course are not eligible for government funding in the form of the Dance and Drama Award or the Advanced Learner Loan.
The Foundation courses have a total tuition cost of £9,000 for the academic year starting September 2025.
We offer Foundation bursaries to three students consisting of £3,500 towards the cost of tuition. These Bursaries are means-tested and not available to everyone – please see the Bursaries section of the Funding and Fees page for more information.
Acting Foundation Course Content
The Acting Foundation Course is full-time – that means you will be required at school, during term time, 5 days a week between the hours of 9am and 5.30pm. The training includes most of the core disciplines that you will cover on a Three Year Acting Course. This is a great introduction to Acting Training for anyone who has an interest in training for the profession.
Course content is subject to change.
You will have a variety of performance opportunities across your six-months at OSD. These include
- Christmas presentation for the school
- Live improv comedy show in Oxford for OSD students, friends, family, and the paying public!
- Final performance presentation for friends and family in the OSD Theatre
Term One
Explore concepts of naturalism and authenticity on stage
Utilise the techniques of practitioners such as Michael Chekov, Stanislavski, Meisner and Hagen
Textual analysis
Term Two
Through rehearsal for your final performance presentation you will deeply explore character creation, utilising the skills learnt in term two to realise embodied and truthful performance.
In your movement classes, you will:
Explore your body as a tool for expression
Utilise the core concepts of the Laban efforts
- Find playful specificity through animal studies
Your voice is your instrument. As an actor, you must understand your voice’s mechanics to safely explore characterisation and build vocal stamina. Voice classes explore:
Physiology and anatomy of voice for performance
Vocal health
Breath control
Application to text
Storytelling
Effective sight reading
Inflexion and interpretation
This body of work will confront the actor with the challenges of classical text, which contains heightened or poetic language.
Deconstruction of text for performance
Use of poetry
Confidence with the use of heightened language
Classical monologues in performance
Classical duologues in performance
Singing isn’t just for those on the Foundation Course in Acting with Musical Theatre! Singing will allow you to explore:
- Vocal health
Ensemble singing
Singing and performance for the actor
Acting through song
Film and Television will allow you to explore making and acting in screen work:
Production and technical skills for filming
Acting for screen
Producing effective self-tapes
Solo speeches
Creating short films
Improvisation skills help the actor develop:
Listening skills
Comedy in performance
Ownership of the stage
Narrative and character
Skills for sustaining a longer narrative
By exploring practitioners such as Augusto Boal, Peter Brooke, Keith Johnstone, Ken Campbell, Jaqcues LeCoq, devising classes help you to develop solo and group performances.
Devising skills for theatre
Ensemble devising
Script writing
Realising a staged production
The Foundation Course in Acting helps to support your onward applications to three or one year acting courses. This support includes:
Discussion of colleges and training options
Choosing an appropriate repertoire of speeches and songs
Solo performance of speeches and redirection
Support with personal statements
Support with self-tapes
1-2-1 Speech support
Acting Foundation Course Alumni Include:
Alumni of the Acting Foundation Course have gone on to train at other institutions such as RADA (Aimee Lou Wood), LAMDA, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Nicola Coughlan), and Bristol Old Vic, as well as our own Three Year Course.
The Acting Foundation Course in images
Student reviews
