Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre

Completing your application form

A guide on what to expect when you are filling out your application form can be found here

Students can apply for both the Bachelor (Hons) in Acting degree (three years, full-time) and the Foundation Diploma in Acting and Theatre (one year, full-time). Only one application form and one registration fee is necessary.

Full details on the Audition Process can be found here.

Students who apply for the two courses will be considered for both based on their first round audition performance. Please note that even if you are not successful in your first round audition for the Bachelor (Hons) in Acting, you can still be in consideration for the Foundation Diploma in Acting and Theatre.

There is an intake of 16 students each year. All eligible candidates who apply before the closing date of February 1st 2026 will receive an audition.

When attending each round of auditions, if you are not successful in furthering your application to the Bachelor (Hons) in Acting, you will receive two separate communications from The Lir Academy Admissions Manager:

• your Result for your recruitment to the Bachelor (Hons) Acting
• Your Result for your recruitment to the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre

Audition Process

1st Round Audition

The first round of auditions will be held from November to February. Applicants will have the option of doing their first-round audition in person (at The Lir Academy, Dublin) or online (over Zoom).

All times displayed on the website when selecting an audition slot are GMT, Dublin time.

Final Round, Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre

The Final Round of auditions for candidates who are successful at the first stage only for the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre will be held in April.

The Final Round audition will consist of a half-day workshop, where you will be asked to work on your Contemporary and Classical pieces with the direction of The Lir Academy tutors, and observed by our Admissions panel.

Applicants based on the island of Ireland must attend in person, international applicants can attend over Zoom.

Applicants who are successful in their application for the Bachelor (Hons) in Acting at the first stage, and progress to the second Round of auditions for the full-time degree but are not offered a place on the third and Final Round of auditions for this course are still under consideration for the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre. These applicants will be assessed for their suitability to the Foundation Diploma on the basis of their work on their second round audition, and do not need to attend the separate final round audition described above.

Candidates who are successful up to the final round of auditions for the Bachelor (Hons) in Acting course and have also applied for the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre and are not offered a place on the degree, will still be in consideration for the Foundation Diploma and their results will be communicated in May 2026.

Results

Applicants will be informed on whether they have been admitted to the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre on the first week of May 2026.

Choosing Your Speeches

A guide to choosing the right speeches can be found here

Auditions outside Ireland

Applicants from outside of the island of Ireland will be given the opportunity to audition online over Zoom.

All times displayed on our website are GMT (Dublin time).

Changing audition date

Please note that changes to audition dates and/or refunds can only be made in exceptional circumstances. Please book carefully and do not book on behalf of somebody else.

If the dates displayed on the website do not suit you, please contact admissions@thelir.ie to check when new dates might be released.

Equality and Diversity

​Candidates should feel free to disclose impairment at any time during the audition process if they have not done so on their application form. Applicants with a disability who demonstrate talent and potential will be put forward to each stage of the audition process by the panel members who will not concern themselves with the implications the disability may have on subsequent training. The panel will be informed of any disclosed disability on a candidate’s application form unless the candidate has asked for the disability to be kept confidential.

Applications received before the 1st of December will incur an administration cost of € 50 in the form of an application fee.

Applications received after this date will incur an administration cost of € 75 in the form of an application fee.

First-round auditions will be held from November 2025 until February 2026.

Cancellation policy: Please take care when booking your audition as we do not readily give refunds or offers to reschedule if you cannot attend the date you originally booked. Refunds and/or rescheduling are at the discretion of The Lir Academy. The Lir Academy Admissions team will require you to provide evidence supporting your request for absence, i.e. medical certificate, school exam certificate, etc.

In the event that The Lir Academy needs to cancel an audition date, an alternative means of auditioning will be provided.

New audition dates will be released on a rolling basis between the opening date for applications on October 1st 2025 and the deadline to apply, February 1st 2026.

One of the key aims of The Lir Academy is to ensure fair access to training for the most talented and capable students, regardless of their background.

As a result, The Lir Academy has committed to providing application fee waivers to make sure that applicants who demonstrate they do not have the means to cover the application fee are encouraged to apply.

You can download the application fee waiver below - please note the deadline to submit the application fee waiver is Friday 30th January 2025. Please ensure that you have submitted all the required documents. Failure to submit what is required of you may delay the processing of or affect the outcome of your application.

All decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

Once you have submitted your application fee waiver form to admissions@thelir.ie with all the required documents, The Lir Academy Admissions Manager will be in touch to provide you with a link to fill out an application form. Once you submit your application form you will be able to choose your audition date, and proceed to submission without charge with the link provided to you.

Note: Please be aware that this process may take some time, as your application has to be assessed and we receive a high volume of requests. It can take The Lir Academy Admissions Manager up to four weeks to process an application fee waiver request and assign you with an application link. This should not take away from your preparation time for the audition: you should be preparing your audition pieces from the moment you consider applying, and will be called in for your audition shortly. We will always aim to give you at least two weeks notice when scheduling your audition.

The programme runs for 24 weeks, over the Michaelmas and Hilary Terms of Trinity College Dublin. It is devised into three eight week modules each of which culminates with an intensive week of rehearsals and project based work.

• Classes run Monday to Friday with 7-8 hours contact time per day
• Classes are led by The Lir’s regular teaching staff
• Core classes in Movement, Voice and Acting
• Individual Tutorials with dedicated Foundation Course Coordinator
• Project based work, focussing on classical and contemporary theatre, culminating in week-long intensive rehearsal periods
• Improvisation & Physical Theatre
• Text analysis and sight reading
• Choral singing
• Acting for Screen
• Solo Shakespeare and Shakespeare Scenes
• Theatre History
• Audition Technique classes
• Professional Development and career progression classes, with a focus on professional acting and non-acting based theatre, TV & Film careers

• Candidates must have complete fluency in the English language
• The minimum age for admission is 17 years old (applicants must be 17 years old by the start of the academic year they are applying for)
• Students are expected to have achieved the minimum matriculation requirements for Trinity College Dublin courses, however, exceptions may be made based on the demonstration of exceptional talent and ability at interview stage.
• The standard matriculation requirements for Trinity College Dublin are pass grades in English, Mathematics, a language other than English. If you are enrolled in the Irish Education system, complete these subjects at Foundation Level and achieve a pass grade, this is accepted.
• You are also expected to have completed a full set of valid subjects for your examination system and be eligible to graduate from the last year of secondary school in your country.
• Full details of the specific matriculation requirements for the country you're applying from are available on Trinity's website.

Please note, acceptance onto the course is at the discretion of The Lir Academy. If The Lir Academy feels for whatever reason that a participant is not suitable for the course, they will not be accepted. All decisions are final and not subject to appeal.

As this is only a one-year course, it does not attract government funding. All students offered places on the Foundation Diploma in Acting & Theatre are required to fund both the annual fee and all living costs privately.

As this course is placed on the National Framework, it is open to EU and Non-EU students. Non-EU students will be eligible to get a student visa to undertake this course in Ireland.

Students admitted to The Lir Academy will also be admitted to Trinity College Dublin and therefore the fees policy of TCD will apply, as follows:

Fee Status
If a student is eligible for EU Fee Status the total cost of the Foundation Diploma is €9,332 (2025/26).

If a student is only eligible for non-EU Fee Status the total cost of the Foundation Diploma is € 21,570 (2025/26).

Students are also required to pay an additional fee for Student Levies & Charges (SLC) (€ 209.75) upon registration.

A breakdown of undergraduate EU fees can be found on Trinity's website.

To determine your fee status, read below. You can also consult the resources provided by Trinity College to determine your fee status:

Undergraduate Students

Eligibility Reckoner

EU Fees Eligibility

A student is considered eligible for EU fees if they meet the following criteria:

1. is ordinarily resident¹ in the EU²

AND

• has received full-time post primary education

AND/OR

• has worked full-time³ in the EU for three of the five years immediately preceding admission to Trinity

2. Or is a person who has

• official refugee status⁴ or has been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State

AND

• has been ordinarily resident in the EU² for three of the five years immediately preceding admission to Trinity.

Important notes:

1. For students aged under 23, the student's parent(s) must also have been ordinarily resident in an EU Member State for three of the five years prior to the student's entry to Trinity.

2. EU, EEA countries (Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein), Swiss Confederation or United Kingdom.

3. Where an applicant can show that they have been in receipt of social welfare payments this may be taken in lieu of full-time employment.

4. Applicants who have written confirmation that they have been allowed to come to Ireland as part of the family re-unification scheme may also be eligible.

5. The Admissions Team may contact some applicants to seek supporting documentation regarding their EU/non-EU status.

6. Children of emigrants may be assessed as EU applicants if they can provide documentary evidence of having completed 5+ years of primary and/or secondary education in the EU/EEA/Swiss Confederation or United Kingdom, and have no previous third-level attendance.

Non-EU Fees

If you do not satisfy the criteria for EU Fees, then you must pay non-EU Fee rate, regardless of nationality or citizenship (€ 24,760 - AY 2025/26).

Students classified for fee purposes as non-EU will not be permitted to change their fee status following admission. This fee includes tuition fees and the SLC fee.

A breakdown of undergraduate non-EU fees can be found on Trinity's website.

Annual Review of Tuition fees and other charges by Trinity College Dublin:

Please note, tuition fees and other charges are subject to annual review by Trinity College Dublin which may result in a fee increase each year. All students (undergraduate and postgraduate, EU & non EU) on courses/programmes of study of more than one year should be aware that tuition fees and other charges may be subject to increase annually.

The annual revision is approved by Trinity’s Committee and College Board and typically increase by approximately 3% per annum or more in any given year.

The undergraduate EU rate of tuition and student contribution is set by the Department of Education and Skills.

The Lir Academy Virtual Tour is available HERE. But first, make sure you're familiar with a few ground rules that will help you get the most out of this experience!

1. On the bottom left-hand corner you will find a play button.

You can press that button if you want to be taken to the building automatically, or you can just click through the building to move at your own pace. To move through the building, click on the walls, floor, or use the shortcut links to go directly to a selected part of the building.

2. Throughout the tour you will be guided by our students' voice-overs and have the option to watch videos and photo selections that will transport you straight into life at The Lir Academy. Here's a map for finding your way around this material:

• The purple buttons are voice-overs.
• The red buttons are videos and photo slideshows.
• The green buttons will present you will give some information you may not have known about The Lir Academy.
• At a few different points throughout the building, the green dots will present you with a shortcut to a different area of the building

3. Please note that if you have virtual reality glasses, you can use them to physically walk through the building. All you have to do is click the "View in VR" symbol on the bottom right-hand corner.

5. Want to share your excitement with your friends and family? You can click the share button on the bottom right-hand corner and help us spread the word on social media!

But most of all, enjoy your virtual tour of The Lir Academy!

Download the course handbook below.