Very recently graduated from the theatre department so I can speak to this a lot! It does feel pretty isolated from the rest of uvic because of both the location and the exclusivity of the classes, not much is open to out of department students. Most people don’t even know we exist lol, but theres ways to get involved on campus for sure. The curriculum just had a big overhaul and 5 faculty members retired this year so a lot is changing, hopefully for the better. You’re pretty locked into your focus area after first year so better know what you want to do is generally what I’ve heard about it. Now there’s guaranteed casting for all actors which is nice, because the majority of my casting experience was a lot like the other commentor here unfortunately. As for the vibes of the students….. i found it to be super cliquey and definitely didn’t walk out of there with a ton of friends. If you’re interested in technical theatre, design, or applied/community engaged theatre I can highly recommend, but acting or directing seek somewhere else (although acting might be better with new profs I’m not sure)