Bachelor of Arts in Live Performance

Total tuition fees for 2025:

R120 050

* Total tuition fee for Gqerberha campus:
R115 450

Overview

The Bachelor of Arts in Live Performance programme provides students with all the required conceptual, technical, craft, attitudinal, and concrete skills to originate and deliver performances in a variety of live and recorded entertainment productions.

Through regular experiential learning cycles, the scope and complexity of the student work increases in every year of study.  On a 1st year level students are introduced to the skill sets of the programme on a basic level, on a 2nd year they practice these to an intermediate level and, progress to a comprehensive level in 3rd year. This culminates in students demonstrating their industry readiness by producing graduation works that are exhibited publicly, on professional platforms to their intended audiences.

Unlike in traditional learning spaces, students are not assessed on the knowledge they have gained by means of examinations. Instead, they are assessed by how they are able to analyse and apply this knowledge in the context of creating live performance projects. This problem-based learning assists students in developing their own concepts, then in contextualising and socialising this learning through successful collaboration, integrating their own understanding with that of the team, and finally in evaluating their progress in order to foster a sense of personal development. Also included in this approach, is the opportunity for students to engage with a professional context, applying their knowledge in order to begin thinking about building successful and fulfilling acting careers.

Students enrolling for this degree should have a strong desire to:

• Develop a culture not only of knowledge exploration, but also of understanding, applying and analysing this knowledge to come up with their own novel performance concepts.
• Take on multiple roles within creative project teams across multiple content forms, adopting a collaborative learning  approach.
• Be aware of the ethical and cultural contexts in which they work, and the opportunities they have as creative professionals to invest in the world.
• Apply their knowledge in the context of the live performance profession in order to build successful careers and foster personal fulfilment.
• Nurture a culture of life-long, deep, relevant learning by continuously reflecting on and developing their progress.

Course Structure

There are 5 areas of study that are grouped into three key modules namely: Research, Discipline and Production. All three modules are compulsory for all students.

1. Research

• • Research Studies equip students to develop conceptually relevant ideas. Students are taught to align these ideas with the practical competencies taught in Discipline, in order to realise their project outcomes. Research Studies are a combination of philosophical notions, which address the human condition, and Discipline theories, which inform professional practice in the Creative Industries.  Research Studies are comprised of focus areas, namely: Narrative, Performance, Medium, Aesthetics, and Business.

2. Discipline

• • In Discipline Studies, students are equipped to realise the concepts, as developed in Research Studies, through the technical and craft skills offered in Discipline. Students learn a broad variety of technical competencies through the means of lectures, discovery and peer-led learning under the guidance of a tutor.

The Live Performance Discipline Studies Centre (DSC) include the facilities and equipment required to achieve the discipline competencies, namely:

• • • • • • Theatre space for Stage Acting
          • A Studio for Screen Acting
          • A Movement Room for Integrated Voice and Movement
          • Vlogging kits for Media Presenting
          • A Recording Studio for Music Performance (selected campuses only)
  • In Reflection Studies, students are taught to critically reflect on their term’s learning. As such, Reflection Studies is designed to assist students in cultivating life-long learning skills that enables them to monitor, develop and understand their performance in relation to the requirements of the world of work.

 3. Production

• • Contextual Studies teaches students essential 21st Century skills, such as critical and creative thinking, good ethical practices, the ability to collaborate, and to use a variety of general software applications. These skills enable students to navigate opportunities that could emerge from a rapidly expanding, and evolving media economy.

• • In Production Studies, students learn to systematically apply the concepts and theories explored in Research Studies, and Contextual Studies; together with the skills learned in Discipline Studies, to produce their term projects.  Production Studies is delivered through a series of small learning group activities and peer-led workshops, where project teams work towards achieving a set of project goals and performance objectives during the preparation, production and presentation of their projects.