This is a unique and industry led London-based programme delivered by leading professional practitioners. The training also includes European and International residences to further enhance skills and industry contacts.
The aim of the MFA is to produce highly skilled, versatile and independently thinking professional actors who can confidently shape a sustainable career in the diverse and continually evolving Performing Arts industries including stage, screen and audio. It includes modules in Independent Production in recognition that today’s actor must create work as well as be in it.
The course is practical, in-depth and industry informed in its design and delivery. You will be taught throughout the two years by current professional practitioners and working directors in all the specialist training areas of voice, movement and acting for stage, screen and audio; providing you with advanced actor training, alongside rigorous academic study and performance research. Regular contact is also maintained with leading producers, directors, casting directors and agents to ensure that you emerge confident, capable and industry ready.
The course includes two international residencies. Year 1 will include a one-week, intensive training workshop with a European partner organisation. Year 2 will include a substantial training residency which last year took place in the USA, at a leading performing arts conservatory. Both these residencies will extend your understanding of specialist areas and explore creative possibilities across cultural landscapes. Please note that the travel and accommodation for these residencies will be covered at your own expense. We will give you an estimation of the costs as soon as possible at the start of the course but please make sure you budget for this.
Our full-time courses are vocational and practical. We will guide you through Spotlight and Equity membership and provide an industry career launch to present you to professional agents and casting directors. You will leave the MFA with a professionally shot filmed scenes a voice clips. You will be given the opportunity to showcase your talent in events for the public, agents and casting directors, as well as emerging with your own fully realised production that is ready for touring, viewing or listening.
The MFA is validated and awarded by the University of West London which prides itself as the Career University. Drama Studio London is also accredited by the Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre (CDMT), a governing body which accredits excellent professional training in the leading drama schools. It is an integral member of the Federation of Drama Schools (FDS), an organisation dedicated to good practice in conservatoire training.
This course will give you the physical, critical and authorship skills to create performances that are relevant to our time. You will become a versatile performer who can make their own work and own their own stage, taking inspiration from live art, cabaret, circus skills, drag, spoken word, burlesque, stand-comedy, stage magic, immersive performance and festivals.
This course focuses on practical performance skills like magic, clowning, burlesque and wrestling, taught by cutting-edge practitioners. It is not a traditional Acting course; you will not learn classical texts; instead, you will create your own new, performances which engage with the audience and provoke thought.
You will benefit from the opportunity to do industry placements, network with professional practitioners and learn a wide range of practical skills to serve you in your practice (such as event management and collaboration). You will be taught at our Sidcup campus and also at the Tramshed in their new fully equipped premises, immersing you in the industry in the heart of inner London.
You will study with award-winning Marisa Carnesky – a renowned live artist and show-woman who has been helping both emerging and established artists evolve ideas, develop their practices and make new work for over 20 years. She also heads up the creative production, performance and theatre company Carnesky Productions (founded in 2004).
Location: Sidcup
This two year course will provide you with realistic yet demanding training in all areas of production for theatre.
You will follow a generic course that looks at lighting, sound, stage management and design. Areas of study also cover arts administration and a theoretical study of the performing arts. It will offer you a range of performance project work, both at College and in external venues. This practical work is underpinned with theory and skills-based training in technical, management and design.
The course focuses mainly on practical assessments with evidence generated through research and development log books. Classroom assessments will be, where possible, linked to production work carried out during your course of study.
Possible progression opportunities include entry into specialist drama colleges including Guildford School of Acting and RADA. Careers in stage management, costume design, lighting/sound design or technical.
If you want to pursue a career in theatre production then this is an excellent place to start. This course will provide you with the underpinning skills and knowledge to progress through the levels of theatre production. You will gain practical experience as you work through a series of projects. You will work on several performances and events during the year, keeping a reflective journal of your progress. Upon successful completion, you will be able to seek employment within the performing arts industry or progress onto Higher Education. During this course, you will explore, both theoretically and practically, the following topics: working as part of a crew to realise small and large scale productions which include music gigs, pantomimes, plays, musicals, exhibitions, pubic and corporate events and understanding the history of the performing arts business. Certification is awarded by the prestigious UAL Awarding Body, widely regarded as the best university for the Creative Arts in Europe.
You will be based in our own dedicated performance space which has a 180 seater theatre, dressing rooms, dance studios, rehearsal rooms, MAC suite and technical theatre workshop.
Foundation: BTEC Foundation Diploma in Production Arts Practice (with Performing) 1 year. Accredited full time gap-year and vocational prep performing arts training for actors, musical theatre performers and producers/events managers aged 16-19.
This blended course is designed for performers who already have a Level 3 Performing Arts Qualification and/or who would like to learn to form their own companies and create shows, as well as still working on their own performing skills. You must be able to either act, sing or dance to a high level as you will be performing some or all of in the shows you produce.
Each term has a different focus - giving you the chance to stretch and improve your skills. It is intensive and requires a full commitment. The 2021 year ends in a big public show at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell (Disney's Beauty and the Beast). You will also produce and appear in (or direct) a National Theatre Connections play, which will perform in Bracknell and London, with the chance of being chosen to perform again at the National Theatre.
The college specialises in Musical Theatre, but the course is blended and also offers Acting, Singing, Screen Acting, Dance and technical aspects.
You will work on real productions as producers and organisers, including cabaret shows in a club, studio theatre shows (National Theatre Connections or a Festival piece), and other real events for paying customers at both South Hill Park and Hounslow Arts Centre. As well as producing the shows, you will appear and perform in them OR choose to run tech and production.
Your principal tutor is Jonathan Ashby Rock - Artistic Director of Hounslow Arts Centre (London) and professional producer. Other teachers include Sam Spencer-Lane (West End choreographer, musical theatre specialist and former department head at Mountview), Adrian McDougall (Artistic Director and Producer Blackeyed Theatre), Brad Clapson of Omni Theatre (writer and producer) and many more. ALL our teachers are practicing professional artists and well thought of in their field.
Units will include (but are not limited to): Understanding the Events Industry; Understanding how to Research and Report Information to Plan and Organise an Event; Understanding Operational Event Planning; Understanding Health, Safety and Security at Events Sites.
This course is accredited (you will get L3 qualifications if you complete it), and it is for students who want to prepare for university courses, or have a university place already but would like a years intensive vocational training first.
The course is taught at second year Level 3/professional prep. It is designed for young people with experience of performing who have a deferred university place, or would like to re-apply to vocational higher education, but do not feel prepared or ready currently, or who have maybe chosen a different career pathway and would like one last full year doing what they love.
Our graduates have gone on to Russell Group universities, Mountview, GSA, Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, UAL, PPA, and more (including scholarships!).
Establishing the foundations for connected, imaginative artists, who are employable, knowledgeable and ready to take the next step in their training journey.
Fourth Monkey’s CertHE Acting & Theatre Making is a one-year professional, vocational actor training course aimed primarily (but not exclusively) at post-A Level or equivalent students who are embarking on the very first steps in their drama school training journey.
The CertHE Acting & Theatre Making course aims to establish the foundations for fearless, connected and imaginative artists who are employable, knowledgeable and ready as both actors and theatre makers to take the next steps in professional vocational training.
The CertHE Acting & Theatre Making course offers innovative and inclusive training to empower and develop those embarking on their creative journey through experiential acting technique, movement, voice and collaborative theatre making.
The CertHE Acting & Theatre Making is validated by Falmouth University. This means that our students are able to access Student Finance to pay the fees, making Fourth Monkey training accessible and affordable to those who wish to explore life at a drama school, in advance of further vocational training at a higher level.
Training on the CertHE encourages connections between training disciplines, practices and activities within the field of performance and creation. There is no academic written work, instead students “learn by doing” in a range of professional vocational classes, workshops, performance projects and presentations using Fourth Monkey’s unique thematic training structure of ACT, MAKE, MOVE, COLLABORATE.
Below is an outline of the key features of the CertHE Acting & Theatre Making course:
• Foundation-level training for post-A Level or equivalent performers and theatre makers
• “Learn through doing” – professional vocational classes, workshops, performance projects and presentations, rather than academic written work
• Accredited by Fourth Monkey’s degree awarding partner, Falmouth University
• Access to Student Finance to pay course fees
“I loved it, found myself as an artist and person, … I’ve changed so much and I can’t stress how important that was for me.” – Simrita Khela, Fourth Monkey Alumnus 2020.
Digital and social media is an exciting and fast-growing sphere of marketing. If you want to be a part of it, our BA/BSc (Hons) Digital Marketing & Social Media course will make you an expert in this evolving industry.
On this course, taught at UCA Epsom's Business School for the Creative Industries, you will discover the constantly moving nature of digital marketing and social media, and gain the tools to think quickly and creatively to meet the demands of both technology and customer behaviour.
You will become an expert marketeer and a highly effective social media user, able to understand the role of the influencer and how to target your core audiences.
You have the option to complete a Professional Practice Year as part of this course. If you choose this route, you’ll spend two years learning in our Business School for the Creative Industries, before putting what you’ve learned into practice as part of a year-long work placement, and then returning to the Business School for your fourth and final year of study.
This full time course is designed for 16-18 year olds who aspire to make musical theatre their professional career; be it working in the West End, performing for companies, cruises, cabaret shows, the list goes on. There are many options for a professional career in musical theatre and this two-year course will predominantly focus on singing and acting skills for Musical theatre (both ensemble and one to one lessons) but will also provide the high quality dance training needed to set solid foundations in commercial dance, street dance, jazz, ballet, contemporary, tap, Latin, choreography, and much more.
Working in partnership with Stamford College we place teaching and learning at the heart of what we do, all of our staff are still working in the industry to ensure our students get current training that is relevant and effective. Our staff work in many areas in the industry including choreographing for X Factor, West End and The Royal Ballet and have performed in all areas of the industry, including West End musicals such as 42nd Street, Wicked, Chicago, Sweet Charity, along with many commercial artists like Anne-Marie, Zara Larsson, Rita Ora, and Camila Cabello.
During each year of training our dancers can audition to take part in main stage and showcase performances at Move It London (UK biggest dance convention attracting an audience of 70,000), CYD? Super Convention, Mass Movement and perform in a variety of UK venues as part of our Winter Tour. All students will also take part in termly shows. Alongside these performances throughout the course, students will study four mandatory modules as follows:
- Performing arts skills development
- The performing arts industry
- Personal performing arts profile
- Collaborative performing arts project
Once the BTEC Extended Diploma qualification is completed the students then have the opportunity to audition for a Higher Education course; enabling the performers to complete their training fully qualified and ready for the industry.
Our BTEC in Dance is run in partnership with Stamford College therefore course fees are fully funded and the awarding body for the qualification is Pearson.
