Theatre courses?

Apart from WAPA (which I've heard is difficult to get into) what else is available to study Drama in Perth, WA? Genuine Students/Lecturers with experience of courses and the content, would be appreciated so we can steer our daughter on to the right subjects in Secondary education.

Hi Audrey, There are a lot of options post-school for someone interested in theatre. WAAPA's Advanced Diploma in Acting is highly regarded and highly competitive, and it often takes students a few years after leaving school to gain the necessary life experience required to tackle such a full-on course. Not many people get in straight out of school. In the meantime, your daughter might want to consider studying a BA. UWA offers a handful of theatre units to those majoring in English as part of a BA. I'm not sure what the situation is like at other universities - perhaps have a look at their websites. I think ECU also offers a Contemporary Performance course, which could be worth a look. There are also a few RTOs that offer acting courses - for example, Principal Academy of Dance in Leederville (padance.com.au). And there are loads of weeknight acting courses and workshop series available. PAC is a great place to go for these (see screenworkshop.com.au). WAAPA also offers extension courses in the winter holidays. See their website for details. They have an 8-week acting course that might interest your daughter (I did it two years ago and highly recommend it). Is your daughter interested in music theatre at all? That would certainly increase the number of courses she could look at. For one, the Cert II in Music Theatre at WAAPA is a great course and a good springboard to further study in acting or MT. As for subject selection, well, TEE Drama is obviously a good choice... and English Lit is great for text interpretation. If she's into MT, then Music and/or Dance if her school offers it. Apart from that, she should choose subjects she enjoys! --- Louisa Fitzhardinge