MIDSUMMER CONSERVATORY PROGRAM

About the Audition

Auditions for the 2024 Program will be held live via Zoom and will take place in February and March of 2024.
Please prepare two monologues to be memorized:

• One from Shakespeare (please make sure that your Shakespeare piece is in verse)
• One of your own choice. A second Shakespeare or a Contemporary piece.

You have four minutes in total for the two monologues.

Please do not deliver the speeches in close-up but instead stand further back from the camera to allow for a full body view when possible.

For a list of Audition dates, click here.

Weekends
Throughout the programme, students on the Midsummer Conservatory Program will have a variety of excursions, master classes and group activities planned for them, including at the weekends.

The weekends will also provide students with some free time to explore as well as for learning lines, rehearsing together and preparing for the week ahead.

For the planned day excursions to London and Stratford, students are provided with a food allowance and suggested cafes and restaurants (where BADA staff will also dine).

Events

Open Day
The work on the Midsummer Conservatory Program course builds to an Open Day where the students share their new found knowledge and work developed throughout the 3 weeks. Families and other guests are welcome to attend Open Day.

Excursions
The Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford upon Avon and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London are just two of the theatres visited during the programme – each including a day trip for exploring.

Masterclasses
Students have Masterclasses in Physical Theatre and Stage Combat delivered by leading British practitioners in these fields, along with actors and directors.

Accommodation

Accommodation is provided within the St Mary’s University, Twickenham campus and consists of a single room with shared bathroom facilities in a block reserved for BADA.

Students are supervised by two experienced chaperones who also reside in St Mary’s for the duration of the Midsummer Conservatory Program; they are on call night and day to ensure the students have the best possible experience.

Students attending the Midsummer Conservatory Program must adhere to BADA’s code of conduct at all times and follow the instructions given by the Dean of BADA, BADA’s Welfare & Program Support Officer, and the chaperones.

BADA runs a strict no alcohol policy on this programme. No participant, regardless of age, will be allowed to drink alcohol while attending the programme.

Facilities

BADA’s Midsummer Conservatory Program is based at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. Located in Greater London and a five minute walk to the River Thames, St Mary’s is close to the Hampton Court Palace, home to Henry VIII, and the Rose Theatre, which is modeled on the Elizabethan theatre of the same name. Founded in 1850, St Mary’s College moved to its current site, the land attached to Strawberry Hill House, in 1923. Built between 1747 and 1792 by a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, considered to be Great Britain’s first Prime Minister, Strawberry Hill House is the finest extant example of Georgian Gothic Revival architecture in the UK. The house and acres of gardens surrounding it have been carefully restored to their original grandeur.

St Mary’s is thirty minutes from Central London via train and is convenient to Heathrow Airport.

The BADA Office is located in the same building as the student accommodations; BADA staff will be readily on hand for the students and easily accessible throughout the day.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided seven days a week for all students at St Mary’s.

The grounds of Strawberry Hill House provide a large, landscaped and wooded campus, with plenty of picturesque spots to practice a sonnet or a scene from Shakespeare.

Please note that BADA is an organisation which contracts with St Mary’s University for the use of facilities for the duration of the Midsummer Conservatory Program, but which has no formal connection with the University.

The Midsummer Conservatory Program’s faculty features distinguished artists from British theatre. To learn more about our Faculty, please visit our Faculty page.

We welcome applicants ages 16 – 18.

Participants must have turned 16 prior to the start of the course (no later than July 1). Prospective applicants who will turn 16 after July 1 should wait to apply until the next application cycle.

The 2023 Midsummer Conservatory Program fees were:

On acceptance, in order to hold their place, applicants will need to pay a non-refundable deposit of US$500. The balance of the fees will be due in two installments with final payment due by the end of May.

All fees are payable in US dollars. Please note, in addition to the fees payable to BADA, participants are responsible for their own airfare, ground transportation to and from the airports and spending money while on the program (including the purchase of meals at weekends).

Midsummer Conservatory Programs Refund Policy

A deposit of $500 is required on acceptance, which is non-refundable. Fees paid in excess of the $500 deposit are refundable if BADA is notified prior to the final payment deadline. No fees are refundable after this date.

If the program is canceled by BADA due to circumstances beyond our control, all fees, with the exception of the application fee, will be refunded. BADA accepts no responsibility for personally incurred expenses such as flights or pre-booked ground transportation.

Financial Assistance 

In a typical year, awards from the BADA scholarship fund are available to assist accepted applicants in defraying the costs of attending BADA’s summer programmes.  These awards are based on need and merit. Unfortunately, due to the continued ramifications of COVID-19, awards for those applying in 2023 will be extremely limited.

Please note: while we normally encourage students in need of financial support to apply, applications to the BADA Scholarship Fund and our Norman Ayrton Scholarship are no longer open for summer 2023.

Each year, BADA offers two scholarships to the Midsummer Conservatory Program donated by the Norman Ayrton Scholarship Trust. Established by the bequest of BADA’s first Dean, Norman Ayrton, the Trust works to advance education in the arts. Norman believed that all talented students should have access to the highest-quality drama training and established the Trust so that financial need is not an obstacle to attending the Midsummer Conservatory Program.

The scholarships underwrite both the Tuition and Accommodation fees for the program.

To apply, MCP applicants must express need for financial support on their application. All students who do so will be considered for a Norman Ayrton Scholarship. Scholarship determinations are made based solely on the audition.