Acting and Politics

Acting and politics is an unusual and thought-provoking combination, but one that makes genuine sense. Both disciplines are concerned with how people communicate, persuade and represent ideas to an audience. Acting trains you in the craft of embodied human expression, developing voice, physicality, emotional intelligence and the ability to inhabit a character and convey a text truthfully and compellingly.

Politics develops analytical thinking about how power operates, how societies are governed and how ideas compete in the public realm. Together they cultivate an unusual combination of creative ability and critical understanding.

At Liverpool Hope University, this three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year, a work placement and a year abroad. The acting strand develops your craft through performance training, voice work, movement, devising, script analysis and production. The politics strand introduces you to political theory, comparative government, international relations and the study of political behaviour and institutions.

The year abroad offers the opportunity to experience theatre and politics in a different cultural environment, which can be genuinely enriching for both strands.

You will develop the practical skills and professional awareness of a trained actor alongside the analytical and communication skills that politics demands. The combination is particularly relevant if you are interested in political theatre, verbatim performance, community arts, documentary work or careers that sit at the boundary of creative practice and civic life.

Graduates go on to careers in acting, theatre, film and television, community arts, arts education, arts administration, political communications, journalism, public affairs and campaigning. The programme is also good preparation for further professional training in acting or postgraduate study in drama, performance, politics or related disciplines. The combination of performance craft and political understanding is valued in a wider range of contexts than either alone.