New Acting course: 'It's an opportunity to take tradition and flip it upside down'

LIPA has launched a new acting course, BA (Hons) Acting (Contemporary Performance). We spoke to programme leader Yusuf Khamisa to find out more. 

Q: How would you describe the course? 

A: It’s a multi-disciplinary, individually artistic, global approach to storytelling. 

Structurally it is similar to our other Acting programmes, but we gain inspiration from other cultures. In your technique training, for example, we can look at movement through African rhythms, Indian beats or eastern European folk movement. 

The training also brings your individual artistic skills to the fore while you learn about narrative, form and storytelling. So, if you have an ability in movement, spoken word, stand up, drag, hip-hop dance or even graffiti art, we use actor training techniques to develop ways you can use these artforms to tell stories.   

We take a global approach to selecting material and if we do study the classics, we’ll look at them from a non-conventional perspective, which could be non-verbal, physical or a musical approach. We’ll flip them upside down. 

By the end of the course not only will you be a skilled actor, you’ll be a storyteller in a variety of different forms. 

Q: Who is the course right for? 

It’s ideal for people who have a passion not just to act but to perform, to devise, to create and to tell stories. This course is for artists who are interested in an experimental, multi-disciplinary approach to live theatre. 

Q: What sort of work do you envisage graduates doing? 

This course has been created in response to industry demand. We’ve been talking to agents and casting directors about the skills they want in an actor. And increasingly in contemporary productions there is this desire for creative, multi-skilled actors who will thrive as part of a more experimental, devised approach. I see them working for companies like ThickSkin, Frantic Assembly and Complicité.   

What I believe makes this course unique though, is that graduates can also work in traditional theatre, TV, radio or film – they will be equipped with the skills to do that as well.

Q: What excites you most about this course? 

This is my bag! I went through a very traditional actor training route, but I’ve always had this itch to operate outside the status quo. What this course gives us is an opportunity to take tradition and flip it upside down. It enables us to approach training from a completely decolonised perspective; a global lens. This is really important to me - and very exciting. 

Find out more about Acting (Contemporary Performance)

Production images from LIPA's 2024 collaboration with ThickSkin Love Will Tear Us Apart. Photography by Andrew AB. Yusuf Khamisa by Brian Roberts