As a musical theatre performer you must be passionate, creative, and able to form a deep connection with your story, character and audience.
Guildford School of Acting (GSA) is one of the UK’s leading accredited drama schools, providing dedicated conservatoire training within a purpose-built environment.
Successful entry on to GSA’s MA Musical Theatre means you will be part of a carefully selected and committed ensemble of performers-in-training, equipped with the self-discipline and motivation to master new skills and refine existing capabilities. Building on our international reputation in musical theatre, this course will enhance your skills with opportunities to launch your career.
On our BA Theatre Production course, you‘ll work on a variety of productions including plays, musicals, devised projects and events.
Beginning with a comprehensive introduction to all core subjects relating to professional theatre production, you’ll build experience in a range of skills including sound, lighting, stage management and construction and Scenic Arts. You will also get an overview introduction to video and theatre design. We are proud to have strong industry links, and teaching current industry standards linked and integrated with key organisations is at the heart of our vocational training.
As you progress through the course, you’ll be able to select one dedicated area for specialist development, eventually taking senior Head of Department production-critical responsibility across a range of public performances. Industry placement and professional development modules are also a core part of this course and you’ll have the opportunity to present your work at a final year showcase.
Our BA Musical Theatre course will develop your professional and collaborative sensibilities through a rigorous programme of training. You’ll gain individual technical, critical and evaluative skills, with practical classes in a range of core disciplines.
On this course, your skills are continually developed through integration exercises, scene work, project rehearsals and productions of classic and contemporary musicals. Classes in dance and singing are highly-prioritised alongside acting classes and projects, which will enable you to become multi-skilled and highly versatile, ensuring your appeal to the industry and a flying start to your career.
On our BA Actor-Musician course, you’ll develop performance skills in acting, musicianship, dance and singing, alongside essential critical and evaluative skills.
In your first year, you’ll strengthen core skills in acting, dance, singing and music. In your second year, you’ll work on texts as diverse as Shakespeare, Lloyd Webber, Sondheim, Chekhov and Ibsen, with musicianship skills integrated within your studies. In your third year, you’ll work on three main projects: a play, a musical and a devised piece, alongside a showcase for industry, performed in London.
By developing your skills as an actor-musician, you’ll be able to take advantage of the ever-growing demand for versatile professional performers who can combine superb acting ability with a high standard of musicianship.
The University operates a credit framework for all taught programmes based on a 15-credit tariff. Modules can be either 15, 30, 45 or 60 credits.
The Guildford School of Acting (GSA) delivers its provision across three teaching blocks, within the University of Surrey’s existing semester structure.
This is a unique and renowned course designed specifically for those who are already practising as or who wish to establish themselves as professional theatre directors.
MA/MFA Theatre Directing is open to emerging theatre directors from the UK and to students from around the world. Teaching is by a wide range of leading directors and professional practitioners from the UK and overseas. The programme benefits from its close ties with the London theatre world, which provides training expertise of the highest calibre and the professional networks that are vital to launching a career.
East 15 also runs some modules overseas, most recently in Moscow and Bali, involving specialist practical study in an alternative cultural environment.
The MA runs for one year on a full-time basis and the MFA for 24 months. For the MA, you take four modules during three consecutive terms, followed by a three-month period of independent study, at the end of which you present your Director’s Production Workbook (or, alternatively, your MA Dissertation).
For the MFA, running over 24 months, you take eight modules during six consecutive terms, followed by independent study that results in a fully resourced practical project at one of East 15’s spaces or in a London theatre (or, alternatively, an MFA Dissertation).
Each year you have the opportunity to choose four modules out of the seven or eight different options that we offer every year. The menu of modules rotates on a regular basis but always covers a range of directorial practice that is unrivalled in its diversity and will include several of the following:Shakespeare, Contemporary British Drama, Comedy, Musical Theatre and Opera, Physical Theatre, Brecht, Techniques of Adaptation, Improvisation and Devising Techniques, Contemporary Irish Drama, Rehearsal Processes and Workshops, Collaboration with Designers, Attachment (Assistant Director), The Artistic Director, Commedia dell’Arte and Directing for Camera.
Overseas modules in Bali and Thailand include: World Theatre and Theatre of the East. In Moscow, at the GITIS Institute, modules include: Stanislavskian Acting Methodology, Meyerhold and Biomechanics, Michael Chekhov.
MA/MFA Theatre Directing is open to applicants with a background in theatre directing or related fields and is specifically tailored to those seeking professional development in this area. Study is full time but some module choices enable periods of time away to pursue professional theatre work.
East 15 Acting School’s BA Creative Producing (Theatre and Short Film) course is a full-time, industry-focused training aimed at entrepreneurial artists with an interest in creating, producing, administrating and promoting theatre and film.
This three-year practical course draws together the broad disciplines of theatre and film (such as writing for performance, lighting & sound, theatre directing & directing for camera, screenwriting, film editing, location management, dramaturgy, and digital set design) with business-focused aspects of the creative arts and associated industries (including marketing, web-design, social media, fundraising, and arts management). It prepares you for a career in the creative industries working as producers and facilitators, and develops transferable skills in communication, presentation, administration, leadership and critical analysis.
Based at our vibrant and modern Southend Campus, you will have direct access to our state-of-the-art Clifftown Theatre and the opportunity to work alongside further East 15 students studying on our actor training programs.
The three year D&B Diploma in Musical Theatre is the perfect start for professional performers, providing a strong grounding in practical technique and performance skills. We boast an incredible number of contact teaching hours and students can expect to have at least 33hours per week of in-person tuition from our incredible faculty.
Accredited by the Council for Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre (CDMT), our three year course is balanced equally between singing, dancing and acting. Our goal is to develop our students to be triple threats, equally as confident to tackle lead roles in TV, Film and Theatre and finding their passion on stage, on set or in the studio.
The course is entirely practical with no academic pre-requisites. Students are all expected to take an external examination with either the London College of Music or the UDO in order to qualify as teachers of Acting, Singing or Street Dance before they graduate.
Develop your performance talents in a friendly and inspiring atmosphere.
This course provides students with a strong grounding in performing arts and introduces a broad range of topics that support progression to further study.
Our aim is to encourage you to develop a knowledge and understanding of performing arts, and to grow in confidence across a range of disciplines. Students will build upon existing skills, and learn new acting and dance techniques for rehearsals and performances – all within a highly creative arts college environment.
Our performing arts students benefit from the College’s partnerships and links to:
- Hay Festival
- Pentabus Theatre
- The Courtyard Centre for the Arts
- Dancefest
- Aerial Dance Hereford Performing Arts
Key Areas
Acting skills and techniques.
Employment opportunities and skills.
Dance skills and techniques.
Production roles and opportunities.
Musical theatre performance.
Studying Composition at Guildhall Artist Masters level prepares you for professional life as a composer. It allows you to explore and refine your individual artistic voice within the collaborative atmosphere of a busy, modern conservatoire, while also giving you the space for self-reflection. The MMus/MComp can also be studied as a purely electronic specialism.
Guildhall School offers some of the most stimulating and creative training for composers in the UK. Studying Composition at Guildhall Artist Masters level prepares you for professional life as a composer. It allows you to explore and refine your individual artistic voice within the collaborative atmosphere of a busy, modern conservatoire, while also giving you the space for self-reflection.
The programme centres around weekly one-to-one Principal Study lessons. You will be allocated to one of the Department’s distinguished Faculty of composers, who will guide your creative participation on core projects across the year. The outcomes of core projects are all workshopped, rehearsed, publicly performed and recorded. Weekly composition seminars and open sessions support technical, aesthetic and professional development, and a choice of elective modules support specific aspects of your development.
This programme is for advanced students with exceptional aptitude in their specialism, and strong professional and artistic ambitions. It provides specialist, professional training if you are looking to embark on a national and international career.
The Artist Diploma represents post-Masters progression, and is designed to meet the specialised needs and aspirations of outstanding performance students, and to support them with the competence and sensitivity required.
