This new Master’s degree is designed to provide practical experience in directing and creating work for the theatre. Collaboration is at the heart of the programme to effectively replicate industry.

You will have the opportunity to work with students from other courses including acting, film, television and theatre production, set design, visual effects and costume – to deliver projects from start to finish.

Under guidance from experienced writers, directors and actors, you will explore and manage the entire directing process. From planning and prep work, through the rehearsal process to the final performance.

Working within the School’s Acting department you will have access to dedicated rehearsal rooms, our theatre and, where required, film & television studios.

The focus of this Master’s degree is the development of your directorial skill-set and style – whether that be in creating new work or in exciting and innovative interpretations of existing plays.

You will work on a wide range of approaches to directing, ranging from how to work with text to creating work through multi-media in performance. There are opportunities to look at ways of creating your own work with an ensemble and gain knowledge of funding applications so you are ready to set up your own company after graduation.

By the end of this intensive year-long programme, you have completed at least three contrasting and challenging projects. There will be opportunities to shadow directors and work as an assistant director on a range of projects to help inform your own practice.

This course, which is the first of its kind in the UK, provides individually tailored tuition that elevates your skills in readiness for a professional role as an opera director. 

Mentored by tutors who are professionals drawn from across industry, you’ll examine the key elements that will contribute to your artistic and creative development – including acting methodologies, rehearsal techniques, principal singing languages and movement. 

You’ll also explore different operatic forms, styles and conventions. Investigating artistic relationships – such as the design process and the conductor’s role – forms part of your tuition too. 

Practical directing experience in a collaborative setting is fundamental to your training. You’ll work across various creative disciplines involved in producing opera, immersing yourself in the many performances and projects that take place here at the College – with opportunities to direct in-house opera scenes as well. 

You’ll observe professional opera directors at work – both at the College and at the Welsh National Opera – to gain a better understanding of the industry in practice and build your network of contacts. 

Your course culminates with a fully negotiated industry placement in a professional UK opera company, focusing on the role of staff director and associated areas of expertise.

This dynamic and intensive course takes place across four terms in a full calendar year. It is designed for those aged 21 and over who can discover and realise their potential as a creative artist over a year of training. You will be taught in group classes, developing your professionalism, collaboration and technical skill through ensemble learning and individual tutorials.

We expect you to be bold and fearless in your willingness to understand yourself and be prepared to be open and curious whilst experimenting with new methods of working. Throughout your training you will have opportunities to collaborate with leading directors, writers and producers.

The year culminates in London where you will perform in London venues to the public and to an invited industry audience. On completion of the course, you will be awarded Equity membership.

Graduates of this course include Tanya Reynolds, Babou Ceesay, Jude Owusu, Claire Foy and Richard Gadd.

Are you committed to a career in an art practice that creatively engages with your community? If so, the MA Art and Social Practice is ideal.

Artists in the 21st century increasingly find themselves working in participatory settings where skills in creative and social engagement are essential. This programme addresses these changing needs and facilitates a shift in thinking away from conventional ideas about where art practices are located and how work is disseminated.

The course offers focused provision enabling you to develop an appropriate level of knowledge and research to inform practical work, together with the critical and analytical processes and technical skills required to effectively deliver a project in the public domain.

Special features
- Taught by an inter-disciplinary team of artists and specialists from social anthropology, social and collaborative art practices and sculpture, who work across a range of local, national and international contexts, from urban centres to remote and small communities
- You will have the option to meet in real life during the annual Winter School located in rotating locations in the Highlands and Islands
In the final stage of the module you will choose your own mentor from local, national or international specialists
- You will meet leading figures in the field, from Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally, through the annual Virtual Symposium, visiting Lecturers and guest speakers

The ArtsEd MA Acting course offers rigorous and intensive vocational actor training that enables you to harness your potential as a highly skilled, creative and autonomous actor.

You will be immersed in a dynamic and rigorous acting programme that is challenging and robust. Our team of experienced industry professionals will work with you to hone and develop your actor’s craft, enabling you to be prepared and resilient for the demands of the contemporary industry.

Inclusive and questioning, the course gives you techniques to work with classical and contemporary texts with imagination, truth and specificity. The course is vocational and highly practical where techniques are acquired through the year in classes, workshops and performances. Both theatre and screen acting is explored. The MA in Acting enables its graduates to have an autonomous, responsive process that is alive to the world around it, flexible to the needs of the industry, and full of the actor’s imagination and creative potential.

On our practice-based Stage and Production Management MA course, you’ll work closely with fellow GSA students to deliver stellar productions.

Through intensive seminars and workshops, you’ll be introduced to stage management and technical disciplines and begin your professional development planning. You’ll then work on a wide variety of production projects across performance spaces within the University and at external venues. There will also be opportunities to take on senior production-critical roles as deputy stage manager, stage manager or production manager on our public productions, under the guidance of our experienced and industry-connected staff.

You’ll also have the chance to complete an industry placement and your professional development planning will culminate in presenting your work at a London showcase event.

As a musical theatre performer you must be passionate, creative, and able to form a deep connection with your story, character and audience.

Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is one of the UK’s leading accredited drama schools, providing dedicated conservatoire training within a purpose-built environment.

Successful entry on to GSA’s MA Musical Theatre means you will be part of a carefully selected and committed ensemble of performers-in-training, equipped with the self-discipline and motivation to master new skills and refine existing capabilities. Building on our international reputation in musical theatre, this course will enhance your skills with opportunities to launch your career.

Our intensive MA Acting course offers you practical actor training focusing on technical skills in acting, voice and movement. These support a range of rehearsal projects, screen acting projects and public performances. You’ll also take professional development workshops and classes in audition techniques.

Your performance opportunities will include a devised project, a final public production led by a production team of industry professionals, and a Digital Screen Showcase.

We keep our cohorts small to ensure you get personal attention and contact from our expert teachers, who have extensive first-hand experience in professional theatre in the UK and the US. Our campus boasts great transport links to London, so you’ll be close to the heart of the UK theatre, London’s West End.

East 15 Acting School’s MA Acting is a challenging course that encourages the development of a personal methodology based upon East 15’s unique practices.

On one level, it is a thoroughly practical, highly intensive, vocational course. On another level, it is a thought-provoking, life-changing reflection on the function and art of the actor – exploring techniques from some of Europe’s most influential practitioners as well as innovative professional practice from the UK and internationally.

MA Acting is a specialist course of one academic year with additional work on marketing students to the industry with a showcase. You will need discipline and motivation to work at an advanced level. Beyond these, the requirements are abundant energy, insatiable curiosity and a robust sense of humour.

Some students may already possess a university degree (not necessarily in a related discipline) whilst others will have established themselves in other career paths and now seek to change the direction of their lives towards that of a professional actor.

This course also attracts professional actors who feel the need to reflect on their practice, extend their range and skills, refresh their creativity, increase their professional contacts and gain academic recognition.

This course is taught at our picturesque Loughton Campus.

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