The MGA one-year Foundation course in Musical Theatre offers a pre-vocational year designed to prepare you for the demands of professional, full-time training and provides you with the skills required to audition successfully for the country’s leading Musical Theatre institutions.

It is directed at those students who intend pursuing a vocational training but who either don’t quite yet have the skills required to audition successfully, or who do not have the required academic qualifications to start a Bachelor of Arts qualification.

The course is designed to thoroughly prepare you for the process of auditioning and the rigours of taking up a three-year place at a Drama School, expanding your skill set and enabling you to realise your full potential in your future training.

MGA Foundation students have gone on to study at, among others, the American Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Arts Educational Schools, Bird College, Guildford School of Acting, Laine Theatre Arts, Mountview Academy, Performers College, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama – and, of course, The MGA Academy of Performing Arts.

The Foundation schedule runs for one whole academic year over three full-time terms of training and an HNC qualification is awarded to those who successfully complete all the required modules.

The course is technique orientated, giving you a solid foundation in the three key disciplines of Acting, Singing and Dance that can then be built upon in future studies.

Specialist classes and training workshops include:

- Singing Skills For Musical Theatre
- Jazz Dance For Musical Theatre
- Ballet Dance For Musical Theatre
- Acting: Developing Skills
- Vocal Techniques for Musical Theatre
- Performance 1: Developing Skills
- Graded Unit: Musical Theatre
- Audition Technique and Performance for Musical Theatre
- Personal Development
- Individual Singing Lesson
- Group/Ensemble Singing
MGA’s unique focus on audition technique and professional development will ensure that students are best placed to gain entry into any of the UK’s distinguished drama schools.

Though MGA has an excellent track record, given the nature and level of competition for Drama School places, we cannot guarantee that foundation students will be accepted at their chosen full-time provider and successful completion of the MGA foundation course does not automatically mean that students will progress onto MGA’s own three-year programmes.

Our one-year Foundation Course prepares students aged 17 years and over for auditions and study in further vocational training.

Performance technique and ability make up a large component of this course with tailored, actionable feedback which is an important part of each individual’s development. The course also includes the Urdang Dance & Theatre Syllabus Level 4 Diploma in Musical Theatre (Performance) [subject to validation] which enables the students to develop their academic skills within the subject in preparation for higher education study.

This course is for talented students who are keen to enhance their technical proficiency so they can successfully audition for further studies in musical theatre and dance, whilst also continuing their full time education to gain a qualification to aid in their application to study. Since its introduction in 2009, our one year Foundation Course has proved to be highly successful as a stepping stone for students into further training at a vocational college or university.

Would you like to develop the practical and intellectual skills required to be a creative, critical and reflective arts practitioner?
Acting as a gateway to degree-level study, the Drama Foundation Year course allows you to study a broad range of creative arts disciplines, with a key focus on drama and performance. You will also acquire key transferable skills such as effective communication, team work, time and project management, research and digital literacy, all of which can prove vital to achieving at University and gaining employment after graduation.

Taught by a team of world-leading artists and academics, you will be equipped to successfully take your learning to the next level.

Ranked 26th for Drama, Dance and Cinematics in the Times Good University Guide 2021
This course is delivered through a mix of classroom and studio-based learning, with engagement with the cultural centres in the region available to further enhance your learning. You will be studying together with students on the Fine Art foundation year programme.

This course is in the School of Arts and Creative Industries

The course develops diverse skills in the world of make-up and hair to produce flexible creative make-up artists able to work in a variety of areas of the industry from special effects to fashion and from live events to film TV and stage productions.

This course prepares you for a career as a make-up artist in television film theatre prosthetics advertising and fashion with a special focus on creating convincing and realistic special effects. It gives you the techniques craft skills and specialist knowledge employers are looking for.

You learn to research and realise characters through hair and wig setting; postiche; costume; prop design; prosthetics; and designing effects make-up.

You benefit from working within our high-spec media facilities alongside student actors producers scriptwriters and presenters as well as collaborating with local theatres TV productions and performances at the University’s professional theatre