The Oxford School of Drama

Get a Taste for Acting School with OSD’s Acting Masterclass

The Oxford School of Drama

One of the many considerations when applying to professional Actor training is the style of teaching that each institution offers. Here at OSD, we are lifting the curtain on training and offering you all a glimpse into the rehearsal room with our 30 Minute Acting Masterclass, led by our Head of Acting, John Ward.

John showcases the training on offer here at OSD, where you’ll find mentors who are not only experts in their field but also passionate advocates for your success and peers who form a community not just a student body.

Guided by John, our third year graduating students Cynthia and Jowan navigate their monologues using a series of practical tools. John presents a series of accessible and effective exercises that explore journey, connection, target, and circumstances. These practical tools can be used to support the actor in exploring, unpacking, and deepening the text on their feet.

This video brilliantly depicts the quality of training we offer here at OSD. It can also be used as a tool when rehearsing monologues for auditions, ensuring that the work you offer is the very best it can be.

At The Oxford School of Drama, we believe in nurturing talented individuals into adaptable and exciting actors. We know that through collaboration, connection and craft, the actor has the power to impact change. Our Three Year, One Year, and Foundation Course applications are still open, so start your journey towards unlocking your potential today.

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Seamus Allen

Seamus trained in his hometown, Dublin at the Conservatory of Music and Drama. After graduating he toured nationally with some of Ireland’s premier children’s theatre companies, as well as developing and performing clown performances for Barrabbas, and magic shows for Cahoots N.I. 

Since moving to the UK Seamus has appeared in The Tempest, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth and Robin Hood (Creation Theatre Company), Quest (Folklore Presents) The Disappearance (The Sticking Place),and Where’s My Desi Soulmate? (Rifco Arts). Tv work includes Bear Behaving Badly (Thames Valley).  Seamus is also a skilled improviser, training with Ken Campbell’s School of Night and core cast in the annual London 50 hour Improvathons and performs with “Austentatious, The improvised Jane Austen Novel”.  

Seamus was the director of the Young Company at the Watermill theatre in Newbury. He established Readings only Improvisation comedy club, “What’s the Game?! Improv”, hosting shows as well as coaching professional performers.  Seamus was Head of acting at Read college, a course which he wrote and which became one of the most successful Foundation courses for getting students into the top acting degree programmes in the UK.  Most recently he has been Head of Year at Drama Studio London and gained an MSc in Performance Psychology focusing on excellence in actor training.

Seamus is Head of Foundation and teaches on the Foundation Courses