This course provides an opportunity to explore applied theatre via one of two specialist pathways: Drama in the Community and Drama Education or Drama and the Criminal Justice System. Each pathway is designed to support current practice at work, or a particular field of interest in applied theatre and drama.
Students will develop their own practice and scholarship, learn key practices in applied theatre, engage with new ideas in the field, undertake project-based study examining specific professional work with a range of client groups, or specialise in working with people whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system.
The course receives substantial support from The Leverhulme Trust. This unique funding of over £138,000 a year for the next three years (from 2019) is specifically to enable both MA and BA applied theatre students to undertake projects and placements in the UK and abroad.
As an active participant in the MA or MFA Advanced Theatre Practice, you will:
Participate in workshops with leading professionals;
Learn to research and extend your own practice;
Launch a company, make new work, and take this to an audience beyond Central;
Extend the roles of performer, director, writer, designer, dramaturg, puppeteer, musician, artist, or creative thinker in new and unexpected ways;
Build on the tradition of theatre-making as a communicative medium of exchange, i.e. through working with digital media.
If an MFA student, you will have excellent opportunities to work for an extended period with a number of distinguished external companies.
As an active participant in the MA or MFA Advanced Theatre Practice, you will:
Participate in workshops with leading professionals;
Learn to research and extend your own practice;
Launch a company, make new work, and take this to an audience beyond Central;
Extend the roles of performer, director, writer, designer, dramaturg, puppeteer, musician, artist, or creative thinker in new and unexpected ways;
Build on the tradition of theatre-making as a communicative medium of exchange, i.e. through working with digital media.
This course does not train actors, but develops a practical understanding of what it is to act, enabling graduates to work as actor trainers and coaches, drama and theatre practitioners, and directors of actors. Students are introduced to the principles and practices behind the training, education and support of actors and performers developing their practice.
Teaching methods include tutorials, group seminars and workshops. Practical sessions are designed to enhance understanding of acting processes and skills in pedagogy, together with associated study of contemporary issues of performance including theatre, film and television.
This course does not train actors, but develops a practical understanding of what it is to act, enabling graduates to work as actor trainers and coaches, drama and theatre practitioners, and directors of actors. Students are introduced to the principles and practices behind the training, education and support of actors and performers developing their practice.
Teaching methods include tutorials, group seminars and workshops. Practical sessions are designed to enhance understanding of acting processes and skills in pedagogy, together with associated study of contemporary issues of performance including theatre, film and television.
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.
On the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (DATE) course, you can:
Perform in, direct and devise theatre, explore performance that takes place outside traditional theatre environments. Make theatre to change lives and inspire change in communities . Build industry contacts worldwide through placements and outreach projects. Develop skills in areas such as facilitating, devising, directing, performing, playwriting and filmmaking.
Applied Theatre at Central is highly regarded internationally and the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education (DATE) is a world leading course that will train you as a highly adaptable theatre maker. You will focus on performance making in diverse settings such as community centres, parks, prisons, pupil referral units, refugee camps, hospitals, playgrounds, schools and nursing homes, in the UK and abroad. Such innovative work aims to bring about change in communities and participants from all walks of life.
We believe that excellent professional applied drama theatre makers are skilled practically, intellectually and come from a diverse set of backgrounds themselves. We work with you to help you meet the challenge of developing your practice and intellectual abilities. You will have the opportunity to develop skills in areas such as facilitating, devising, directing, performing, playwriting and filmmaking.
You will be introduced to theoretical knowledge and essential practical skills needed for a career as a theatre director.
Through practical workshops, working with other short course students (e.g. Acting - Working with Text and/or Acting - Shakespeare), group sharing and critiquing you will explore:
• how the actor’s process works
• ways to realise text in performance
• critical analysis of the work of other directors
• developing, planning and delivering your own directing exercise.
This course is designed to provide a qualification based on work undertaken in partnership with external theatre organisations in facilitating, or directing theatre and drama with young people (up to the age of 25 years).
There are currently two routes available:
Directing Text at the National Theatre
Facilitation at the Almeida Theatre.
Students on either route follow the same teaching schedule at Central. Practical specialisms are undertaken within the schedule of the external theatre organisation. For the second unit students join Central’s MA Applied Theatre students for ‘Critical Contexts’, a theoretical unit engaging them with contemporary issues in applied theatre discourses.
The Voice courses at Central are nationally and internationally renowned, giving a specialised education in the study and practice of the spoken voice. These courses are for graduates of appropriate disciplines who wish to follow a career in voice teaching and who seek specialised study and practice in voice and speech.
• Study with internationally renowned voice tutors and professionals
• Learn pedagogical skills for the teaching of voice on this world-leading course
• Network with actors, accent coaches, speech therapists and singers and undertake education and industry placements.
