This 2-year, part-time MA Theatre for Community and Education is a creative and challenging exploration into the power of socially engaged arts. We aim to develop the next generation of cultural leaders and interdisciplinary theatre practitioners. Graduates will lead the way in providing meaningful, inclusive arts experiences that address social, political and educational issues in a broad range of settings.
The course offers a holistic programme that invites creative reflection on the power of storytelling for social transformation. Students address complex issues in critical and creative ways, considering the role of arts in education, migration and exile, health and building communities. You’ll engage with course learning through practical exploration, collaboration, group discussion, independent study and reflective practice.
Delivered part-time, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds, including professionals working in youth, community and/or education settings as well as performers looking to develop and diversify their practice.
COURSE DELIVERY
There is one day of in-person teaching each week, with one additional Friday and Saturday each term.
Throughout the course students develop skills in critical thinking, facilitating, devising, leading, producing, discussing and teaching creatively and imaginatively. Study involves workshops, lectures and seminars as well as independent collaborative and solo practice/research. Students are assigned weekly reading materials to digest course themes and engage in learning through independent study.
Reciprocal and collaborative learning is embedded into course practice. Students are provided with opportunities to design and lead practical workshops for one another, to bring topics for facilitated discussion with their Course Leader and to choose areas of focus for specific assessments, based on their interests and experiences.
Practical areas of study include collaborative and ensemble techniques, forum theatre, arts for wellbeing, devised theatre, inclusive and trauma informed practices, arts and money, decolonial feminist approaches, facilitating in multilingual and multifaith spaces, and ethics in artistic practice.
Students gain practical experience running workshops in schools, both in Peckham and further afield – previous locations include Spain and Nigeria.
Students engage in a wide range of texts such as Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks and Theatre for Living: The Art and Science of Community-Based Dialogue by David Diamond.
Assessments are varied and include essays, talks, education packs, presentations, and workshop samples.
STAFF AND PRACTITIONERS
In addition to the core Mountview team, students work with visiting lecturers and practitioners from a range world-class organisations. These include Turtle Key Arts, Punchdrunk Enrichment, Complicité, Clod Ensemble, Unicorn Theatre, Clean Break, Theatre Peckham, Candoco Dance Company, Brixton House, Wales Millenium Centre, Tate Modern, Glasshouse Theatre and Access All Areas.
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.
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:
Mountview produces around 26 plays and musicals in theatres across London, the UK and internationally each year, giving Stage Management students a vast array of learning experiences.
We offer three training levels: a two-year Foundation Degree (FdA) which provides a fast-track training and a three-year BA (Hons) with greater experience. For students with previous experience who are looking to formalise their skills and develop industry contacts we also offers a one-year Diploma specialising in stage management.
Our vocational, hands-on course has seen graduates go on to work with many diverse companies including National Theatre,
London Olympics/Paralympics and Matilda The Musical.
Our practical training runs with a minimum of 30 hours per week, 36 weeks per year. It begins with workshops covering core skills in all areas of production arts with training from experienced industry professionals. Students then move quickly on to practical show roles in stage management.
Stage Management training covers:
Prompt book and show calling
Creative research including period-specific work
Working with pyrotechnics and blank firing weapons
Co-ordination and project management
Cueing to music
Prop making and sourcing
Stage managing musicals, classics and new writing
Working at some of London’s leading theatres
Reasons to study Stage and Events Management
• Experience a variety of roles on a range of productions and events both in College and in London venues.
• Develop relationships with, and an understanding of, other disciplines; including lighting, sound, set construction, costume and prop-making, marketing, outreach, venue and site management, administration and finance.
• Sharpen your creativity and management skills whilst collaborating with students from other programmes to deliver diverse performances and events.
• Extend your learning through research, secondments, work placements in the industry or a period of study abroad.
• Share classes and projects with students from other programmes to learn about the cultural, performance, arts and events industries and how to use experimentation, enquiry and creative research in your work as you prepare to build a successful career.
Career opportunities
Adaptable and creative practitioners, graduates from the Stage Management Programme, from which this programme has been developed, have gone on to work in a wide range of fields: theatre, dance, opera, television, festivals and corporate events. They have also moved into sound and video for live performance alongside arts and venue management roles.
“It prepares you very much for the industry and the way they’ve built it as a technical course, your level of training is like no other.” Anthony Norris-Watson
Deputy Production Manager, The Old Vic Theatre
Location: Sidcup
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.
- For students wishing to specialise in stage management for the theatre, live events and film & television production.
- A 24-month programme of taught modules followed by internal and external placement opportunities to suit the individual's career progression. Where approved, external placements may be paid or unpaid.
- Tuition and supervision from a team of established industry practitioners.
- Masterclasses and seminars from leading industry experts.
- Training in the full range of skills required to be a professional stage manager or event manager or film and television professional.
- Core skills module covering job roles, budgets, health and safety, essential technical skills, scheduling and CAD.
- Management in Context module covering planning, problem-solving, management theory, logistics, team working and career planning.
- Up to four six-week placements on productions/events, up to two of these with professional companies.
- The final component involves either writing a dissertation or creating a Professional Practice Portfolio, with support and mentoring from College tutors.
Our arts management training equips students with the skills and experience needed for a career in the creative sector. This unique programme develops resilient, work-ready and sought-after graduates that can succeed in a fast-paced and ever-changing industry.
Why study arts management at RWCMD?
- Industry facing: our course reflects current practice as it is delivered by a team of professionals who all still work in the industry, as well as guest specialists who visit throughout the year.
- Employability: we are very proud to have maintained a 100% employment record since 2013, with students continuing to secure related jobs within three months of graduating.
- Focus on industry experience: you’ll have opportunities to gain that all-important work experience as it is a key course focus. We have a comprehensive work placement programme and arrange placements for all arts management students, both in our multi-venue arts centre + within one of our 30+ external partner organisations.
- Conservatoire-based training: you’ll learn within a music and drama conservatoire and world-class arts centre which provides unique opportunities for arts management students to collaborate on projects across the college and work with visiting artists/companies.
- Choice of three specialist pathways: choose from creative producing, orchestral management or general arts management as your area of specialism, depending on your interest and career aspirations.
