Curtain call for acting course

I WISH to express my dismay at the rash decision to terminate the three-year professional actor-training programme, The Bachelor in Acting Studies (BAS), at Trinity College, Dublin.

This degree course — the only one of its kind in the country — provided a vital service to the Irish film, TV and theatre industries.

The Bachelor in Theatre Studies was a full-time, non-fee paying degree course that was highly focused, comprehensive, progressive and unparalleled in its commitment to developing the art of the actor (as opposed to purely commercial considerations).

As a result, it has produced an inordinately high number of successful theatre and film artists. This despite the modest funding provided by Trinity College.

In a profession which by its nature has a high unemployment rate, BAS graduates have proved extremely successful and a majority go on to full-time careers. Indeed, the annual graduation showcase is one of the cultural highlights of the industry calendar, as agents and directors vie for this fresh and dynamic injection of acting talent.

I graduated in 2000, and this course was pivotal in my development. It taught me the true meaning of being an actor, and my life would have taken a dramatically different path without it. The BAS allowed actor students to study their art from 9am to 6pm (often later) five days a week, representing the commitment this career demands. Fees for first-time third-level students were subsidised by government. I can’t stress how crucial this was; I would not have been able to pay the €5,000 per annum to the only other available course.

It is sad to admit Trinity never seemed to embrace this course, which was always cash-strapped, and in fact seemed quietly not to regard it as a serious or mature pursuit.

This shortsightedness is reminiscent of the atmosphere that provoked our greatest artists, Joyce, Yeats, Shaw, Wilde and Beckett — many of them, incidentally, Trinity College alumni — to abandon their country to work in more supportive environments abroad.

Peter Gaynor

5 Upper Ormond Quay

Dublin 7.