The Introduction to Directing short course at Birkbeck, University of London equips you with the skills and knowledge required to practise as a professional director or independent theatre artist in today’s industry.

Led by leading practitioners, you will understand the role of a professional director and the relationships with key collaborators such as actors, writers, designers and the industry. You will gain a greater understanding of the relevant theory and methodology, supported by practical sessions to enhance your knowledge.

The course will cover:

Practical sessions will include:

This Introduction to Directing course at Birkbeck is well suited to emerging or aspiring directors. It closes with a panel discussion with an artistic director and freelancers to provide you with insights on your potential career paths. The course also offers a great taster for those wishing to study on the MFA Theatre Directing course in the future.

As a learner on this course, you will study alongside fellow professionals wishing to enhance their knowledge in the subject area, giving you the opportunity to make connections with like-minded colleagues and network.

You will receive a Birkbeck certificate of participation upon completion of the course.

This course is non-credit bearing, so carries no credit points.

For more information, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Gain practical insights into the business of theatre through this series of digestible digital sessions. Turn your passion into your profession.

Fundamentals:ONLINE is a series of online webinars for all young theatre-makers looking to upskill and learn more about the practical ‘business of theatre’ from a host of industry professionals.  

Whether you are looking to lay the groundwork and grow your understanding of how to establish a career in the arts or gain some valuable insights from people who have already done so, these webinars will explore key areas important to any emerging artist creating grassroots theatre and trying to make their way.

Session Topics:

  1. Producing for You: Getting Things Off the Ground with David Hewitson – 30 September
  2. Finding the Finances: Where and How to Approach Funding with Conner Milliken – 14 October
  3. Marketing & Audiences: Not What You Sell but How You Sell It with Shelley Middler – 4 November

Key Information:

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Introducing The Youth Theatre Together Map!

Click the Opportunity Info link below to find a youth theatre near you. Search by adding a location, organisation name, age range, activity or region into the search bars.

Through in-house productions, industry based placements and hands-on training, you’ll learn all relevant skills relating to the work of the production technician in theatre, events, and other areas of the entertainment industry.

Course overview

With technology at its core, this course offers practical, hands-on training in a variety of high-end lighting, sound, and video systems – skills that are in high demand for the theatre, events, film and television industries in Wales and across the rest of the UK.

You’ll have classes given by leading professionals operating at the top of their field, alongside several production placements, both based at the College and with our industry partners here in Wales.

With your placements, developing your expertise for a technical career in the creative industries is only one part of it. These experiences will also help you to build communication and team working skills that are essential to thriving in collaborative environments.

After graduation, you could take on roles such as a production electrician, lighting technician or programmer, sound and system engineer, video operator or programmer, among many more.

Why study this course?

  • All but two of the modules are designed to replicate the experience of work-based learning. You’ll work with state-of-the-art entertainment industry technology such as, but not limited to, automated lighting and consoles, digital sound systems, video projection and production electrics.
  • You’ll train with a team of staff who are highly skilled industry professionals. They offer you not only first-rate teaching in current best practices, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
  • For your placements within the second year at the College, you’ll have a lead production role, under the supervision and guidance of a senior technician, working with the various technical teams (video, lighting, sound) during the fit up of Richard Burton Theatre Company productions.
  • Throughout your training, you’ll work alongside staff from the design and stage-management departments and interact with students from across the College’s performing arts courses. These collaborations will help you to develop an understanding of and empathy of the other fields of practice within the creative arts.
  • Your external placement will take place with one of our leading industry partners, such as the Welsh National Opera, Stage Sound Services, Figure of Eight Events or Sherman Theatre. This opportunity not only gives you practical, real-world experience, but it also allows you to meet and create a network of contacts within the industry.
  • For up to three years after you complete your course, you have the option to ‘top up’ your qualification. You can do this by completing an additional year of study to gain a level 6 qualification as part of our BA (Hons) Stage Management and Technical Theatre.
  • You’ll have talks from, and get to meet, industry professionals from a range of different disciplines, who are regularly invited to speak here at the College – giving you a chance to widen your professional network in readiness for your life after graduation.
  • You’ll take part in visits to local theatre companies, giving you a feel for what the industry is really like. On occasion, when major productions visit Cardiff, we’ll try to arrange visits to the production and organise a tour or talk for your cohort.

Through work experience and hands-on training, you’ll learn how to plan, draught, construct and install sets to a professional standard whilst working on our numerous public productions.

Course overview

Work placements and hands-on training in our workshops are at the centre of this specialist course that focuses on building sets for theatrical productions.

From day one in our state-of-the-art workshops at Llanishen Studios, you’ll learn fundamental construction techniques in carpentry, metalwork and welding. But you’ll also delve into using digital tools that are essential in set construction, such as SketchUp and Auto Cad, and computer numerical control (CNC) equipment.

Following your workshop training, you’ll then become more familiar with the theatre environment, learning basic skills in access equipment, rigging and flying systems. You’ll also gain greater insight into the roles and duties of relevant team members and become involved in the load-in and fit-up of productions here at the College.

The bulk of this course, which is the only one of its kind in the UK, consists of work placements – some of which will be held at the College. The others will take place externally with our professional partners, which are some of the largest and most prestigious companies from the TV, film and theatrical industries in Wales and the UK.

In our welcoming creative environment, you’ll build all the professional, practical and technical skills you need to secure a construction technician role after graduation – a position that’s highly in demand.

Why study this course?

  • Your skills will be in demand – there’s currently a shortage of suitably qualified entry-level technicians in the stage and screen industries.
  • You’ll be guided by expert practitioners who are currently working in today’s industry. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
  • Your cohort is small – so you’ll receive a very high level of individual support and attention during your course.
  • We’ve partnered with some of the largest companies in the UK, who offer our students professional work placements, these include Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Theatrical Services, Bay Productions, Wild Creations, and Bad Wolf.
  • You’ll take on increasingly high levels of responsibility for creating and installing stage sets for our in-house productions, including opera and musical theatre. You’ll take on the role of construction leader in at least one of your placements. As part of this work, you’ll follow the design process, work with the designer to produce the required construction drawings, lead the construction and the final fit-up of the set.
  • You’ll be based at our large and superbly equipped workshops at Llanishen Studios, which are the largest and best equipped of any competitive conservatoire.
  • At the end of the two-year course, you'll have the option to ‘top-up’ your qualification and receive a BA (Hons) in Design for Performance by completing an additional year of study specialising in scenic construction.
  • Alongside your placements, you’ll have evening classes at the College to help you develop commercial and financial awareness, as well as project management communications and leadership skills.
  • Collaboration runs through everything we do here. You’ll train alongside other design and stage-management students, as well as those studying our performing arts courses. This kind of work helps you to develop an understanding and empathy of other creative arts disciplines – but it also helps you to build partnerships that can last long after you graduate.

In this work placement centred course, you’ll learn how to create stage sets, backdrops and props for public performances, television and film.

Course overview

Our industry-led course will give you all the skills you need to create stage sets, backdrops and props for public performances and work on major television and film projects.

Guided by a team of staff who are experienced professionals, you’ll learn all the main workshop practices of the stage and screen industries.

These practices include fundamental painting and texturing techniques, prop making, metalwork and how to use tools and other relevant equipment – such as core computer skill training (specialising in fusion360 and Auto Cad), which will allow you to operate laser cutters, 3D printers and computer numerical control (CNC) equipment.

You’ll then put your newfound knowledge into practice, where you’ll have several work placements – both in College productions and with our industry partners, who create sets and props for some of the country’s biggest productions.

The only course of its kind outside London, it provides a welcoming, safe environment where you can experiment and really push your creative boundaries. You’ll emerge as a specialist in your discipline, ready to flourish in this ever-changing, demanding industry.

Why study this course?

  • You’ll gain an understanding of the techniques, crafts, structures and working methods used in today’s industry. This includes both metal fabrication and carpentry.
  • You’ll train with a team of staff who are highly skilled industry professionals. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
  • Most of this two-year course focuses on using your skills in a variety of different settings – both in College productions and in placements with our industry partners.
  • These industry partners are companies who work with some of the largest and most prestigious theatres in the UK and abroad. Our partners and supporters include Theatr Clwyd, The Bakehouse Factory, Welsh National Opera, Cardiff Theatrical Services, Bay Productions, Wild Creations, and Bad Wolf.
  • You’ll work alongside other students from our design and stage management departments and interact with those from across our performing arts courses.
  • In at least one of your work placements, you’ll take on the role of scenic arts leader for a production performed here at the College. This role will see you following the design process, working with the designer to produce the necessary costings and paint samples, as well as overseeing and guiding BA and MA Design students on their production placements.
  • Our strong ties with industry also means that your training reflects the latest best practice in TV, film and stage. These partnerships also allow you to easily build a network of contacts, which is crucial to laying the groundwork for a successful career in the arts sector.
  • Our workshop facilities are the largest and best equipped of any competitive conservatoire – and you’ll be working on the same equipment as those specialists in the industry.
  • We keep the cohort numbers small so you’ll get lots of individual support throughout your course.
  • You’ll also develop your leadership and management abilities, giving you the confidence to thrive in a professional environment after you graduate.
  • After you complete your course, you'll have the option ‘top up’ your qualification. You can do this by completing an additional year of study to gain a level 6 qualification as part of our BA (Hons) Design for Performance degree.

Join playwright and associate artist Carl Grose and Spymonkey founder and co-artistic director Toby Park as they attempt to crack open the mysterious, maddening and utterly marvelous process of how to go about writing a show for Spymonkey.

Who's it for:

  1. Actors, Clowns and performers keen to develop their writing skills
  2. Solo artists and performer-led companies looking to kick start a new project
  3. Directors and dramaturgs who facilitate collaborations between performers and write
  4. Writers interested in devising, adaptation and other collaborative creative processes
  5. Writers interested in Clown and Comedy

Why we think it is important:

Spymonkey worked for many years as a devising company. We took a huge step forwards in our creative process when we began working with a writer, and as it happens the first writer we ever worked with was Carl, for Oedipussy. It was a revelation, and we couldn’t understand why we hadn’t done it sooner! The writer brings so much to our intensely collaborative process: provocations for improvisation exercises, hot-seating, taking on the task of dramaturgical structure, of character arc, sifting and compressing the hours of improvisation, creative meetings with designers and directors and ridiculous conversations over tea breaks. And of course for the actual nuts-and-bolts of script-writing. Since then we’ve worked with a load of writers, but we keep coming back to working with Carl because he is brilliant and he understands Clown and our Theatre of the Funny.

What will be explored:

  1. We’ll open up the bonnet of the Theatre of the Funny creative process, and give you a tour of the workings of our creative engine. We’ll get our hands dirty. There will be cleaning products available!
  2. An exploration of past collaborations (how we took Greek Tragedy and turned It into a Spymonkey Show)
  3. Finding the ideal starting points and the right source material for original shows and adaptations.
  4. Mining humour, physicality and theatricality in your ideas.
  5. Writing exercises to liberate source material.
  6. Key improvising and devising exercises which we’ve developed over the years.
  7. How to listen to improv (what to run with and what to drop).
  8. How to prepare, how to play, how to polish.
  9. And much more besides!

Please note: There will be writing involved, but we also find it essential to explore writing practically and on its feet. All participants will be encourages to join in the work and support the development of others so writers come expecting to get up and play, and performers ready with their pen (or laptop).

Essential Information:

Calling all university students! Spymonkey are offering a 50% discount on this workshop with the promocode SPYMONKEY50 and Name of Uni.

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

What is it that makes you as a performer uniquely funny? How do you share that brilliant, special ridiculousness with an audience so that they are helpless with laughter? 

In this 5-day introduction to Spymonkey Clown we will focus on how to identify and develop that particular quality of Funny that is special to you, and only you. 

You will be supported to develop these comedic skills in a safe, fun and laughter-filled environment. This positive group dynamic will allow you focus on identifying and trusting your best impulses, taking risks, being adventurous, generous and honest as a performer. In this highly enjoyable workshop we will play games and exercises, developing trust and complicity with the group. You will find the pleasure in your own ridiculousness, stay optimistic, discover your comedy gold, and get ready to laugh until your face hurts. 

We will share many of the methods that Spymonkey have found essential over the years in creating Theatre of the Funny: physical games, improvisational games, status exercises, physical comedy routines, chorus exercises and parody.

Essential Information:

Calling all university students! Spymonkey are offering a 50% discount on this workshop with the promocode SPYMONKEY50 and Name of Uni.

For more information and to book, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Learn from leading professionals, create your own work, support your wellbeing and develop your dance, acting and singing skills.

Every weekend DreamArts Creative Labs enable 6-12 year olds to explore and unleash their talents. Our skilled professionals encourage members to devise and perform their own original musicals.

Saturdays

Sundays

To register, please contact angela@dreamarts.org.uk

Young Identity run free workshops every week throughout Manchester and Trafford for young creatives aged 13 - 25. With regular attendance, you’ll get access to specialist workshops, creative projects and performance opportunities.

HOME - Mondays 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Central Library - Tuesdays 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Old Trafford - Wednesdays 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Respect and Dignity - Mondays 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

Verse and Vibe - Tuesdays 6:00 PM - 7:45 PM

For more information and to sign up, click the Opportunity Info link below!

Read me aloud