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 Producing pathway develop a robust and practical understanding of producing, across both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors. You will expand your understanding and critical awareness of current practices through extensive engagement with leading industry practitioners and academics.
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, Directing and Performance students.
Our MA Creative Practice graduates leave with an established network of industry contacts and prepared for high-impact careers as Commercial and Independent Producers, Creative Leaders, Theatre Makers, Artistic Directors, 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).
Recent guest tutors on the Producing pathway have included Alison King (Turtle Key Arts), Daniel Cooper (The Yard), Joseph Smith (Stage One), Will Bridgeland (Candoco Dance Company), Katie Town (Theatre Royal Wakefield), Jo Crowley (Aakash Odedra Company), India Crawford (Arts Council), Belinda Clark (Brixton House), Ed McGovern (Crossroads Live), Davy Berryman (The Lost Estate) and David Ralf (Theatre Deli).
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:
For over 25 years Mountview has been internationally renowned for the quality of its musical theatre tuition and our alumni continue to influence and shape the industry.
Our intensive 1-year MA programme delivers focused, culturally engaged, practical performer training. The course enables graduates to confidently enter the industry, fully prepared with the skillset to assuredly navigate the demands of any performance space.
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 skills training split equally between the three essential musical theatre skills – acting, singing and dance – including one-to-one singing lessons and classes in acting for camera in term two. In each term, the skills work is then applied to performance projects. These projects include work on non-musical contemporary texts, and classic and contemporary book musicals.
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.
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.
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 course integrates acting, dance, movement, singing and spoken voice within a framework of relevant theory and research, in order to train students to a professional level. Specialist lecturers and professional artists deliver classes and workshops that complement Central’s experienced teaching staff. Emphasis is placed on acquiring and practising skills through creativity, collaboration and performance within all aspects of music theatre. Imagination and creativity are valued, and are explored from many different perspectives.
Where students demonstrate skill and interest, there are opportunities to create original work and to pursue related activities, such as composing, writing, choreography and acting with instruments.
On the Writing for Performance course, you can:
- Develop skills for writing for performance practices
- Create new performance work and explore innovative forms of writing for solo performance, verbatim theatre and devised theatre
- Work with award-winning playwrights, arts practitioners and directors
- Position yourself as a writer within the performance process
- Explore a broad curriculum that is centred around socially engaged performance practices and the dramaturgical skills of writing
- Develop your writing skills in different community contexts in the UK and abroad
- Study alongside students on the BA DATE and BA Performance Arts programmes, offering a vibrant meshing of writing and live performance art at undergraduate level at Central.
You will work with a variety of high profile writers, arts practitioners and directors, encountering a diverse range of innovative performance practices that use writing for performance in different ways.
These courses provide the opportunity for students to develop the core competencies and skills of the dramatist and scriptwriter, to explore their own ‘voice’ and develop their confidence as dramatists and scriptwriters, and to appreciate the specific media contexts within which professional writers work.
Key features are:
• Practice-based enquiry into techniques and processes for writing for stage and screen
• A series of scriptwriting projects to engage with different styles and formats of production
• Associated study of writing techniques and issues of performance in relation to theatre, cinema, television and other relevant contexts.
These courses provide the opportunity for students to develop the core competencies and skills of the dramatist and scriptwriter, to explore their own ‘voice’ and develop their confidence as dramatists and scriptwriters, and to appreciate the specific media contexts within which professional writers work.
Key features are:
• Practice-based enquiry into techniques and processes for writing for stage and screen
• A series of scriptwriting projects to engage with different styles and formats of production
• Associated study of writing techniques and issues of performance in relation to theatre, cinema, television and other relevant contexts.
BA Contemporary Theatre and Performance at Wimbledon College of Arts is for students who are interested in making performance.
BA Contemporary Theatre and Performance will give you the opportunity to develop as a collaborative theatre-maker, creative entrepreneur and innovative performance practitioner. You will work collaboratively to create contemporary theatre productions and to develop innovative forms of performance.
The course will enable you to work in an ensemble and to form a company or collective. You will plan, design, develop and deliver performance projects for a range of theatrical and non-theatrical locations and contexts, ensuring your work is engaged with contemporary culture.
