The Performing Arts department at Kendal College is widely respected throughout the country, with a strong record of propelling talented creative students into performance and creative careers. We make no excuse for having some of the highest success rates in the country and students who follow their dreams.
The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, LAMDA, The Royal Scottish Conservatoire, East 15, Leeds School of Dance, and LIPA are all home to some of our former students training to be actors, musical theatre performers, dancers, directors and theatre creators. Many have also gone on to study BA Honours Degrees in other creative subjects such as journalism, creative writing and events management at top city universities including Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle. Areas like media production, film & TV studies and teaching can all be relevant to a pathway that starts with performing arts.
Performing arts students are given a thorough grounding in the core skills in acting and dance including voice, movement & singing through classes and workshops exploring, for example, Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Theatre for Young people, Commedia De’ll Arte, vocal technique, contemporary dance, jazz dance and group improvisation. The skills required for screen and audio work are introduced and developed.
I am a really practical person and didn’t want to study Dance and Drama sitting down in classrooms. I love the bond you get with your classmates; you are always working together with lots of different people, it’s just so nice.
Evie Frost, Performing Arts Level 3
This is a highly practical course where you will be taught by industry professionals through a series of performance projects from creating a scare event for Halloween to an evacuation role play day for primary schools to full-scale musicals and contemporary dance performances. You will be stretched, challenged and supported to be as strong a performer as you can be with a view to progressing to drama/dance school, university or professional work.
Placements, industry workshops and trips to see West End musicals and live theatre are also integral parts of the course.
Performing Arts utilise dedicated performance spaces, The Box and the Wildman Street Studios – both of which boast top of the range technical facilities and industry-standard equipment specially designed to host theatre and events.
Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Our end of year show, Thoroughly Modern Millie, was a huge success!
Performed at The Forum theatre Barrow, students from across our Arts & Media Campus did a fantastic job behind the scenes and on stage. Gain insight into all things Millie by watching this short video...
Meet your tutor
Hilary Pezet
Read MoreI am fascinated by training young actors to find new ways to play characters and to access the truth of a role. Helping students apply the theory to their training is what makes a performance come alive and it’s always satisfying to see theoretical work applied in practice. The students inspire me to teach.
View our courses
This course will introduce you to a wide range of theatre acting, dance and performance relevant to the industry and will provide you with opportunities to enhance your performance skills, increasing your confidence and enabling you to progress on your Theatre Arts journey.
This course will introduce you to a wide range of theatre acting, dance and performance relevant to the industry and will provide you with opportunities to enhance your performance skills, increasing your confidence and enabling you to progress on your Theatre Arts journey.
This intensive one-year course prepares you to audition for Drama school or develop your own theatre practice as a performer aiming to work in the industry. Whilst training, you will work as a small-scale theatre company with performance at the core of your learning.
