Have you ever dreamed a little dream of acting on stage under the lights or in film or TV, in front of the camera? Have you wondered where you should go to make this goal a reality?
Well, the quick answer is a one-year, QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland ) Level 5 course focused on stage and screen acting and audition preparation in Galway Community College of Further Education (GCCFE ).
People of all ages have pondered and daydreamed about the fantasy of pursuing drama, but thanks to GCCFE's Acting for Theatre and Film course, these dreams will come to life. This is a real course with a strong practical as well as academic focus. It prepares adult students of all ages to embrace the performance industry, as well as offering strong progression pathways into higher education at degree level.
The Acting for Theatre and Film course
The Acting for Theatre and Film course is special in many ways. For one, there’s a strong focus on live performance in which the theatre, film and music students all participate. The academic year is punctuated with live performance opportunities for all drama students; the devised performance before the October midterm is a cross collaboration with the film and music students; an audition showcase before Christmas prepares students for acting college auditions and to build their acting portfolio online; the Silent Horror and Music Video showcase is a creative collaboration between music and film students and ensures the acting students get plenty of on-screen experience; the main stage show every February or March gives acting students the opportunity to cut their teeth on a full production.
Plays in the last few years have included Autobahn by Neil LaBute, Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan and Roddy Doyle’s version of Gogol’s classic The Government Inspector, which was performed in-the-round in GCCFE’s Tribe Theatre Auditorium. The course lasts from late September to early May and it is the only course of its kind in the west of Ireland. School leavers and mature students are also happy to learn that you can earn up to 390 CAO points from GCCFE's QQI Level 5 courses.
The Acting for Theatre and Film course includes vocational modules, such as Acting Skills and Techniques, Performance Craft, Theatre Performance Skills, Vocal Performance, Creative Writing, Mime and Movement, Theatre Studies, Stage Management, Production Design for Theatre and Acting for TV and Film. Other modules such as Personal Professional Development, Work Experience and Communications augment the learner experience in this acting and theatre-focused course. Our Further Education campus also has a fully operational stage, The Tribe Theatre with an auditorium seating capacity of 200.
Bridging the gap between education and working
The teachers delivering the course are dual professionals from both the theatre and film sectors. They scaffold learners in the educational environment for the working environment. Their years of building professional networks ensures that students receive opportunities to work in these fields, throughout the academic year. The Work Experience module creates links for the students with theatres, companies and festivals that make up the backbone of the arts industry in our city of the tribes.
Previous students have gone on to either become professional jobbing actors, joined or created theatre companies, or moved on to higher education to universities such as: University of Galway, University College Cork, Trinity College or to acting specific schools such as The Lir Academy, The Gaiety School of Acting, Bow Street, RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ), LAMDA (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art ), or to conservatoires in Wales or Scotland. Many students who pursue this course do so for confidence reasons, and they leave the course with an elevated sense of purpose and confidence to pursue another field with their performance and academic experience behind them.
Campus amenities
The Galway Community College Further Education campus is within walking distance of Galway city centre. It enjoys small class sizes, student services, computer suites, the Alo Café, a guidance counsellor, a college counsellor, and a disability officer - which not all FE colleges have the privilege of.
Erasmus opportunities play a prominent role in student life in GCCFE with over half of its adult student population gaining two weeks work experience in a European city this year, visiting Portugal, Spain, Malta, Belgium, Sweden and more.
So, drop into GCCFE's campus in Wellpark over the next two weeks to meet with its course coordinator, Catherine Denning, or drop her a line on [email protected], or call her on 091 755464.
