Acting facilities

Join Acting students Becca and Georgia as they take you on a tour around the Acting facilities at our Ruskin Hall building.

With roots as a drama school going back to 1936, we retain the professional outlook and commitment to contemporary training that has seen our drama provision consistently rated amongst the best in the UK.

Acting and Applied Theatre facilities

Stage Management facilities

Public Performances

We also use professional venues for all public performances, which means the School has access to a range of theatre spaces that few drama schools can match. These regularly include Sir Barry Jackson's historic 'Old Rep’; the Crescent Theatre, which is comprised of a main auditorium and a studio theatre; and the Patrick Studio at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

[00:00:05] Hi there. [00:00:06][0.2]

[00:00:06] I'm Becca. And I'm Georgia. [00:00:07][1.1]

[00:00:08] And we're students on the Acting course. This is Ruskin Hall, which is where the Acting courses at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire are mainly based. [00:00:16][8.1]

[00:00:17] Follow us. Today, we're going to take you on a little tour around Ruskin Hall. So this is Studio one which is one of ten studios we have here at Ruskin Hall. It's one of our big studios, and it's a favourite of a lot of us because it's it's super bright, it's super open. It's got a big, big window at the back, stained glass window. You have quite a lot of classes in here across all different years. You might do quite a lot of your first year projects in here, maybe dance stuff that needs a lot of space. [00:00:46][28.7]

[00:00:47] So as you can see, Studio two is connected to Studio one, which is very helpful. When we were doing our divide project in the second year, because we had both spaces, we could have one group rehearsing with the director in Studio one and then we could break out and do some additional work in here. [00:01:01][13.9]

[00:01:02] Lots of windows, a nice. [00:01:03][0.9]

[00:01:04] Nice, bright space. [00:01:04][0.5]

[00:01:08] So this is the resource room. This room is always free, so it's open to any students. If you need to come and do some research, if you want to flip through some plays or even if you just want a bit of downtime to just chill out for a while. [00:01:20][12.4]

[00:01:21] So as you can see, we've got a number of computers here that are really useful because we get access to single drama online. Got thousands of plays on it as well as connections from the National Theatre on the Globe. If you wanted to watch some plays, if you want to read some plays, we've got this selection here. [00:01:36][15.1]

[00:01:37] So here we come to some lockers. This is one set of lockers is quite few. [00:01:41][3.5]

[00:01:41] You get access to a key when you start in first year and I know I used it all the time, I kept my character skirt, and then my characters shoes and any bits of like props or costumes for jewels and things just to save me locking them in every day. I could just store them in one of these. So it's nice and easy. This is Studio three, formerly nicknamed the Green Room. It comes with chairs and desks, so any sort of theory based classes are usually done in here, like acting script studies, that kind of thing. [00:02:05][24.2]

[00:02:06] And you also might just come in here to do your own personal study in this nice big open room with loads of space to do your work. [00:02:11][5.9]

[00:02:14] This is Studio four. It's a lovely, nice, bright, open studio, lots of windows. It's used for a range of classes across the years. I remember I had a voice class in here, for example, in the second year. [00:02:24][9.9]

[00:02:24] As you've probably seen a lot of the studios link into each other. So Green Room literally links into this one. So the building's got a really nice flow and you can always hear of the years and other classes rehearsing, which is really nice. [00:02:35][10.8]

[00:02:36] So Ruskin is across three levels, we've just shown you the ground floor. Plus there's also Studio five just down there, which is similar to the other studios. Lovely and bright. [00:02:44][8.6]

[00:02:45] And we're going to now just take a look upstairs. [00:02:47][1.6]

[00:02:54] This is Studio ten, and this is predominantly where singing lessons at all. [00:02:57][3.3]

[00:02:57] Yeah, it's for singing lessons. You're normally in a group. [00:02:59][1.5]

[00:02:59] Please don't worry if you're not a singer. I was terrified on my first day of singing, but the teachers are so supportive and they really, really help you across the first two years of the course with singing. [00:03:09][9.2]

[00:03:09] Yeah. We also have pianists that come in every lesson. So you have your teacher and then a pianist as well. So you've got two people with a wealth of knowledge about the industry to help you. [00:03:19][9.5]

[00:03:22] So this is Studio six, one of the largest studios at Ruskin Hall. Just for an example of how this might be used in the second year, I rehearse one of my projects in here with my classmates. We also got to work with the Stage Management students for the first time in the second year, so they would come in in the morning, do a complete mock up of the sets and props tables. Then they'd have a desk with all the effects cues on there. So it was really great to get to work with them from the second year. [00:03:45][22.7]

[00:03:46] Yeah, also in Studio six as it is one of our biggest studios. You might do quite a lot of movement work in here, so dance or any sort of yoga classes and also on stage comebacks. It's really good. Everyone's got lots of room. [00:03:58][12.3]

[00:03:59] So this is Studio seven and as you can see, we've got mirrors behind us, which is really useful for movement classes, dance classes, just to see what your body is doing in the space. [00:04:07][8.4]

[00:04:08] Yeah, and also the studio links to Studio six, the studio just in there and that has a really nice flow to Studio eight. So this is the common room. It's a really nice, cosy, chilled place to come. At lunch or in between any classes. It's got a microwave, a fridge if you want to bring your own lunches. And there's also a really nice independent cafe about a one minute walk across the green, which does coffee and loads of lunch and food. [00:04:43][35.7]

[00:04:44] And we love that. [00:04:44][0.8]

[00:04:45] So that concludes our tour of Ruskin Hall. Very much hope you've enjoyed. It's a really lovely building ever since we've been based here. Everyone in a drama school, has just loved that we've been in Bournville, it's a really nice, picturesque, safe and fun environment. [00:04:45][0.0]

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