Performing & Production Arts

Create live and digital experiences that engage and inspire from the very start. This full-time diploma gives you the chance to write and devise performances, take to the stage or screen, and master the technical side of theatre, events, and multimedia. 

You’ll grow your skills in acting, dance, musical theatre or production, working in industry-standard spaces within an inclusive, collaborative studio culture. 

Daily teaching from industry professionals, guest artists, and partnerships with 2Faced Dance Company, Powerhouse, Open Sky, Hay Festival and more, will give you direct insight into the performing arts world. Through regular skills training, project rehearsals, and public performances, you’ll build confidence, technical expertise, and creative vision — shaping your authentic performance identity and preparing you for your next steps. 

Working with like-minded students in a creative environment every day, you will collaborate with the others in the performing arts department, as well as those studying art, music, and creative media.  

As part of our Thrive Thursday programme, we have frequent workshops and masterclasses with industry professionals, giving our students the knowledge and connections they need to build the foundations of a career in the performing arts. You will complete work experience in the industry and respond to live briefs from local employers.  

You will also enjoy an array of inspirational trips, fun alumni events, and other enrichment opportunities throughout the year to create a real sense of community within the performing arts department.

> Images below include trips to West End Shows and productions by Common/Wealth, and professional workshops with the likes of National Dance Company Wales and RoguePlay.

Full-time training in one of four strands that brings your skills to life:

Along with our Level 3 Diploma, we also have a Level 2 Foundation Course which offers you an additional year to develop your performance skills in your subject area and/or give you the academic support to meet the equivalent of 4 GCSEs required to move on to a Level 3 Extended Diploma, pending a successful audition. This means that you will study with us over a three-year period (one year at Level 2, and two years at Level 3). 

Studying a Level 2 qualification in your chosen course area can be a valuable step in achieving your goals at Level 3.  

We also offer a 1 year Level 2 diploma course, that allows you to enter in at a lower entry point to gain experience and confidence before moving onto the 2 year Level 3 Extended Diploma course. See more information further down the page. 

Each term you have a choice to work on either a ‘live’ performance such as a live theatre piece, or a ‘recorded’ project, such as choreographing and dancing in a music video. You will get the chance to explore diverse forms of live and recorded performance over three projects per year, where you could go from performing in a music video, to a Shakespeare play, to a piece of musical theatre.

Our performance modules explore musical theatre, contemporary and classical acting skills, improvisation, physical theatre, performing with masks, film & TV acting, scriptwriting, directing, theatre for children, movement techniques, singing, and audition skills. While dance modules include jazz, contemporary, ballet, and physical theatre. Students study both choreography and dance performance. In the second year there is an opportunity to take an exciting unit on aerial circus – learning to perform on hoops and silks.

1. Apply via the HCA website.
2. Attend a workshop-style audition in your chosen strand of acting, dance, musical theatre. Students interested in production arts will provide a portfolio of work in their interview.
3. Interview with performing arts specialists.
4. Receive a decision letter within two weeks.