Mountview’s MA Acting course delivers vocational, culturally engaged and practical performance training.
Over an intensive one-year programme of study, students will be thoroughly prepared for a career in theatre, TV, film and recorded arts. The MA is delivered through workshops and classes designed to expand the skillset and develop the individual strengths of each student.
COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY
Students receive over 30 hours of direct teaching time each week, with a maximum of 17 students per class.
Over the first two terms you will undertake rigorous skills training in all areas of an actor’s professional practice, including acting technique, voice, movement, singing, stage combat and acting for camera and recorded media. In each term, the skills work is then applied to performance projects, working with contemporary and classical texts.
There will be additional lectures and seminars on devising, autobiographical and solo performance, as well as on concepts such as intersectional feminist, post dramatic, queer and critical race theories, socio/political theatre practices and the performance of knowledge.
Through the first and second term, all students undertake the Creative Project, creating an original piece of theatre or film, performed at the end of term two. The Creative Project is supported and developed by one-to-one tutorials and influenced by the concepts discussed in the seminar/lecture programme.
Designed for professional performers from all genres of dance looking to transition in their careers, the programme envisions the dance producer as a driving force to develop and shape the performing arts industry.
Learning from industry professionals, small and select cohorts will be equipped to take advantage of commercial and artistic opportunities and tackle complex challenges. Placements within dance and theatre organisations will develop their knowledge and skills in creating, producing, engaging audiences, marketing, business, finance and management. A strong emphasis on work-based learning through placements and projects will enable students to put their knowledge and skills into practice while building networks in the industry.
The programme was developed in collaboration with 25 industry partners, who represent the best of the artistic vibrancy of dance today, which has resulted in an ever growing pool of prospective placement providers from all areas of the field. This includes dance companies, independent dance artists, producers, and choreographers who work in a range of genres including ballet, contemporary dance, hip hop, music theatre, film and television. Based in artsdepot, students have access to two professional theatre spaces in which they can produce and stage work.
Contemporary and wide-ranging vocational postgraduate training for talented emerging directors.
In your first term, you will observe and participate in core LAMDA training alongside postgraduate acting students, working across the disciplines of acting, voice, movement and singing in order to develop an understanding of the actor’s process.
You will participate in seminars in text analysis and interpretation, and the aesthetics and processes particular to screen, as well as directing your fellow students in short scene studies.
In your second and third terms, you will assist professional directors on projects, onsite or digital productions, an original short film and an actors’ workshop at LAMDA. And during the spring holiday, you will collaborate with LAMDA actors to devise an original piece of theatre – an opportunity to put into practice what you have learned and develop your dramaturgical skills.
Your year will finish with you directing and realising a play of your choice in one of our performance spaces including invited industry. Over the past two years, these guests have included Natalie Abrahami, Ned Bennett, Giles Croft, Mike Longhurst, Roxanna Silbert and Lyndsey Turner.
Are you an international actor looking to deepen and develop your craft through an intensive exploration of classical plays?
This intensive masters degree in acting is delivered through an inspiring and exhilarating programme of classwork, scene study and workshop performances, culminating in a shared performance in our largest performance space, The Sainsbury Theatre.
Working on plays from the Shakespearean, Jacobean, Spanish Golden Age, French classical and Restoration periods you will discover how classical theatre translates across centuries, cultures and languages, and build an awareness of their historical, political and social context, and their impact on modern theatre.
You will take classes in craft skills to develop and strengthen your existing abilities and prepare you for the rehearsal process. Delivered throughout the year in long modules, these will include acting (voice, textual analysis and contextual studies), movement, music and singing.
You will progress through the application of your acquired knowledge of both theory and practice as it relates to the intelligent exploration and development of original characters. And you will also complete a thesis presentation reflecting on the relationship between your classical training and contemporary theatre practice.
Your intensive year will culminate in the staging of a Shakespeare production to which agents and casting directors are invited.
Mountview is currently the only UK drama school to offer Directing, Dramatic Writing and Producing as three distinct, specialised pathways within a single, unified Creative Practice MA framework. The course is designed for multi-hyphenate practitioners who are excited by collaboration and meeting the demands of the twenty-first century creative industries.
By bringing directors, writers and producers into one ecosystem, the course mirrors the professional world by fostering creative partnerships through shared engagement with modes of collaboration, creative enterprise, dramatic structures and critical contexts.
Students on the Directing pathway will develop professional-level directing technique through classes and seminars, as well as opportunities to work as an assistant director and to direct their own work.
The course concludes with the opportunity to put your learning into practice through the staging of a public facing, fully-realised festival of new work. VIEW Festival allows students to develop their pathway specific skills while also collaborating closely with the Dramatic Writing, Producing and Performance students.
Our MA Creative Practice graduates leave with an established network of industry contacts and prepared for high-impact careers as Directors, Creative Leaders, Theatre Makers, Artistic Directors, Commercial and Independent Producers, Venue Leaders, Playwrights, Screenwriters, and Dramaturgs.
STAFF AND PRACTITIONERS
The Creative Practice teaching team is led by Hamish Pirie and Dawn Ingleson as Joint Course Leaders, alongside Roy Williams as Distinguished Visiting Artist. Dawn worked extensively at the National Theatre as a creative producer and has also taught at LSBU, while Hamish’s directing credits include work at the Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Paines Plough and Traverse Theatre. Roy is a multi-award winning writer whose credits include Death of England: The Plays (National Theatre), The Lonely Londoners (Kiln and Jermyn Street Theatre) and Sucker Punch (Royal Court, Olivier Award nomination).
In addition to working alongside the core teaching team, MA Creative Practice students also benefit from industry masterclasses specific to their pathway, led by the world’s most prestigious creative powerhouses. Recent MA Creative Practice sessions have featured:
Emily Aboud Award-winning director, Tender and Lady Dealer (Bush Theatre)
Sean Holmes Associate Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe; former Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith
Denzel Westley-Sanderson Winner of the RTST Sir Peter Hall Directing Award
Ned Bennett The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Birmingham Rep)
Ola Ince Director of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (International Associate Director, London/Hamburg/Broadway/Utrecht) and Appropriate (Donmar)
Lucy Morrison Director of Hope Has A Happy Meal and This Is Not Who I Am (Royal Court)
This Musical Direction course has a 1-year MA or 2-year MFA option, offering students a more in-depth training experience. The course is an intensive for skilled musicians with ambitions to work in music leadership roles within theatre and beyond.
We have a strong reputation in the industry for rigour and quality, and previous students on the course can be found working on a diverse range of musical theatre productions across the West End, UK and internationally. The course is suited to experienced pianists, accompanists and conductors who have worked with singers, actors and instrumentalists, or would like to develop their skills in this area.
Mountview has developed an internationally renowned reputation for its commitment to musical theatre. Our state-of-the-art facilities in South London and the network of industry professionals who contribute to the teaching provide the ideal springboard for a career in music direction.
COURSE CONTENT AND DELIVERY
Teaching and contact time vary at different times of the year and depending on assignments. Each student has a bespoke timetable typically receiving between 15 and 25 hours each week. These comprise of core components and cross-course classes combined with allocated roles on projects and productions.
Across the year students will attend classes and seminars with leading practitioners and industry specialists; receive individual tutorials; assist professional musical directors on in-house and public productions; and lead musically on selected projects.
Assessment is ongoing and based on work throughout the course, culminating in summative assessment points in the second and third terms.
Transform your career with our postgraduate qualification in acting. Designed to advance your practical and professional progress, our MA Acting course provides intense training from staff with rich industry experience. Previous graduates of this course have gone on to succeed as established performers, including roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company....
Transform your career with our postgraduate qualification in acting. Designed to advance your practical and professional progress, our MA Acting course provides intense training from staff with rich industry experience.
Previous graduates of this course have gone on to succeed as established performers, including roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The intensive one-year MA programme trains postgraduate (or equivalent) students for a career in musical theatre.
It provides a direct link into the profession by combining regular class work and one-to-one tuition with practical opportunities.
The course has been highly successful in providing a multi-skilled training programme at the highest level in a professional environment. Graduates enjoy outstanding success in major West End shows and international productions.
Exploring techniques applicable to both interpretative and original work, the MA Theatre Lab expands your ability to work collaboratively and independently in various contexts. Working rigorously with expert practitioners, you will experiment with a range of practices empowering you to play a revitalising role in today’s theatre-making landscape.
The MA Theatre Lab is a four-term course, running from January to January each year. The course is ideally for applicants who already have strong experience in performance, extending existing training with rigorous experimentation. Instead of replicating RADA's three-year training in one year, it aims to build on applicants’ experience, giving them the tools to further both their independence and their ability to collaborate in the creative process.
Each term, learning and assessment will be focused on practical exploration, followed by written assignments reflecting on your experience.
In your third term, you will work over the summer as an ensemble (in one group or more where appropriate) alongside a professional director to create a full-length piece of work for public performance. The rehearsal process, performance and accompanying reflective document will together constitute your MA dissertation project.
Whilst continuing your training and study in a fourth term, you will make small-scale, original performances as a part of the Development of Performance module (either in companies or as solo makers) for an end of year Lab Festival. Supervised and mentored by members of staff and people from the industry, you’ll be able to develop these pieces through research and development ‘sharings’ in the autumn, as a part of the New Wave section of the Bloomsbury Festival.
Throughout the year there will be further opportunities to share your work and receive extensive feedback from staff and visiting professionals.
MA/MFA Classical and Contemporary Text is for actors and directors who find themselves looking beyond traditional and contemporary artistic approaches as they seek to broaden and deepen their individual practice.
Individuality is at the core of this postgraduate programme. We work with artists who use their social, moral, and ethical values to animate their practice. This is a course where you will have agency over your own work, and be responsible for driving your learning and creativity forward.
It is this agency which makes the programme different from undergraduate study. With support from the staff team, you will write your own learning outcomes, determining your trajectory and ultimately, we hope, you will flourish as both a learner and a creative practitioner.
It’s an intense programme where actors and directors work together, creating a dynamic community rooted in creative collaboration. Highlights include developing new text in partnership with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, performing or directing contemporary performance working in proto-professional ensembles and completing a month’s residency at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London.
At the end of this residency, after undertaking classes with the educational team at the Globe, you will perform or direct sharings on the mainstage of Shakespeare’s Globe, a unique and iconic playing space.
If this narrative excites or inspires you, please get in touch with us to discuss how you can begin your artistic journey with us.
