Moving to Adelaide delivers student advantage

Leaving Melbourne or Sydney offers drama students a less expensive but first-class education with the advantage of strong industry links.
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Acting students at the Adelaide College of Arts work with the city’s leading theatre company directors, playwrights and actors to get a unique industry insight.

Unusually close ties between South Australia’s industry heavyweights and the Adelaide College of Arts make the College’s three-year Advanced Diploma of Arts (Acting) one of the best in the country, says Head of Acting Terence Crawford.

‘Basically everyone who is anyone in Adelaide theatre works here, either directing something for us or teaching.’

Crawford hopes potential candidates will consider participating in the College’s upcoming auditions in Melbourne and says the advantages for all students includes a no-nonsense approach to current industry trends.

‘Our teachers are walking straight from the professional rehearsing rooms into the classroom so there’s none of that glorified fantasy ideal of what good acting is. There’s only what is working today, what works in the here and now.’

The Advanced Diploma of Arts (Acting) is a fully immersive three-year course. 

Getting up close and personal with potential employers or influencers such as Paulo Castro, Elena Carapetis and Chris Drummond is also a huge bonus for students, says Crawford.

‘Having such close relationships with theatre company directors, playwrights and actors means that students, when they graduate, aren’t daunted by the prospect of auditioning for directors of theatre companies because in most cases they have already worked with them.’

In keeping with its place within South Australia’s TAFE system, the course is a fully immersive actors’ training program and focuses very much on practical training for acting, body and voice as well as production work and theory via contextual studies courses.

Crawford says the goal of the College, located in the heart of the city’s arts precinct, is to prepare students for professional lives.

‘We are serving the industrial needs of an actor rather than a university degree that might have a major in acting but is ultimately serving the god of academia,’ he said.

‘By the time you reach third year, the production aspect takes about three quarters of the time. The students have a schedule that is like being a working actor for a year.’

Studying at the Adelaide College of Arts is cheaper than other courses and Adelaide is a very liveable city. 

Auditions for the Advanced Diploma of Arts (Acting) course for 2017 will be held in Melbourne on Thursday 15 December, 9:30am – 5pm at 1 Beavis Street, Elsternwick.

Crawford says in addition to the benefits stemming from the inherent qualities of the course and the teaching, there’s also the cost factor.

‘There’s a lot of people in Melbourne who will be lining up to go to 16th Street or auditioning for the VCA and just missing out,’ he said. ‘This is an alternative they might not have even thought about and might not even know exists – a full time actor training opportunity in an extraordinarily liveable and friendly, cheaper city. Come to Adelaide!’

Auditions in Adelaide will be from Monday 28 November to Thursday 1 December, from 9am each day at Adelaide College of the Arts, 39 Light Square, Adelaide.

Cathy Anderson
About the Author
Cathy Anderson is a Melbourne-based freelance journalist and the co-founder of digital content creation agency Ginger Brown.