"Drama is life with the dull bits cut out" Alfred Hitchcock. We examine what it is that makes good theatre work: the play, the story, the characters and language, the director's interpretation, the complex work of the actors themselves, and the technical and design elements that make theatre so alive. If you're reading this it's because you already know the unbeatable excitement of live performance. No amount of technology can replace watching real actors, or having a live audience right in front of you. That's what we study. The course involves seeing professional productions. In recent years we have been to the Globe, the Royal Court, The Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Barbican, the Almeida as well as local venues such as Cambridge Arts Theatre and the Junction. You will participate in professional drama workshops. Actors from a range of theatre companies have visited to work with our students. You will spend lessons exploring plays practically. Finally, you will develop your own performance skills in a range of styles, informed by the theories of the greatest practitioners. It's the many opportunities to experience and create live performance that make this course so dynamic. You'll be part of a community of over 150 drama devotees, creating up to ten shows a year, seeing up to ten professional performances, staging your set texts and participating in exciting extra classes in improvisation, screen acting and physical theatre.