Experience one of the best and newly re-imagined Performing Arts Foundation courses in the UK, with world-class training and incredible opportunities.
Introducing our newly designed Performing Arts Foundation Diploma Course.
Whether it’s acting, making, writing, film, music theatre, movement theatre, directing or producing you are interested in – this course can be your springboard into the performing arts. The course offers you the opportunity to experience first-hand the industry leading actor training at LAMDA, as well as expand your creative horizon in helping you identify who you want to be as an artist. It can act both as preparation for a degree or as a standalone course, providing the tools and connections to step into the creative industries.
Ever-evolving and responding to the current demands of a changing industry, this course focuses on YOU and what you want your creative identity to be. It helps you identify how you want to express yourself as an artist and it will empower you to trust your unique path, training the actors and artists of the future! You will connect with exciting theatre makers and directors from across the UK and London, giving you an opportunity to make connections beyond LAMDA, as well as learn from LAMDA practitioners and alumni who are making their own work and will share their experiences as artists with you
Every Module has been conceived in collaboration with associated artists, LAMDA practitioners and LAMDA alumni. Our approach to the training is to create equitable, non hierarchical and empowering rehearsal rooms in which it is safe to challenge each other, challenge pre-conceived ideas of what the responsibility of actors as artists and storytellers might be, whilst always championing accountability, professionalism and discipline within the ensemble.
Each module within the course will have its own structure, depending on the specialism you’ll be exploring. Throughout the intensive six months, you will receive core skills training in voice, acting, movement and music until you begin your final rehearsal to performance module.
Are you an international actor looking to deepen and develop your craft through an intensive exploration of classical plays?
This intensive masters degree in acting is delivered through an inspiring and exhilarating programme of classwork, scene study and workshop performances, culminating in a shared performance in our largest performance space, The Sainsbury Theatre.
Working on plays from the Shakespearean, Jacobean, Spanish Golden Age, French classical and Restoration periods you will discover how classical theatre translates across centuries, cultures and languages, and build an awareness of their historical, political and social context, and their impact on modern theatre.
You will take classes in craft skills to develop and strengthen your existing abilities and prepare you for the rehearsal process. Delivered throughout the year in long modules, these will include acting (voice, textual analysis and contextual studies), movement, music and singing.
You will progress through the application of your acquired knowledge of both theory and practice as it relates to the intelligent exploration and development of original characters. And you will also complete a thesis presentation reflecting on the relationship between your classical training and contemporary theatre practice.
Your intensive year will culminate in the staging of a Shakespeare production to which agents and casting directors are invited.
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
Reasons to study Actor Musicianship
• Conservatoire actor musicianship training for stage, television, radio and screen led by professional staff and established practitioners.
• A practical actor training degree for actors who play musical instruments, actor musicians are in high demand in the industry. Over the years our students have signed with agents Eamonn Bedford Agency, Global Artists, Howard Cooke Associates, Olivia Bell to name a few.
• Learn to integrate and develop your musical skills in performance to create, lead and make music alongside your work as an actor.
• You will be guided by experienced staff, including industry professionals, who will help you to develop the skills of the actor musician though practical classes in movement, voice and approaches to text and character.
• You will be involved in a number of public productions in your final year, including a main house production and an industry showcase.
• Excellent studio and training facilities – purpose-built rehearsal, movement and performance spaces, the fully-equipped Rose Theatre and Barn Theatre, a flexible drama studio and a digital studio with motion capture and green-screen facilities.
Career opportunities
Our graduates can be found in a wide range of work; at leading regional theatres, in the West End, The Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. In television, film, radio, young people’s theatre and in small scale touring theatre companies in the UK and Europe.
You may also be interested in:
Acting, BA (Hons)
American Theate Arts, BA (Hons)
European Theatre Arts, BA (Hons)
“My degree really set me up for the industry.” Rosalie Craig, Actor Musicianship Alumna
Location: Sidcup
The intensive one-year MA programme trains postgraduate (or equivalent) students for a career in musical theatre.
It provides a direct link into the profession by combining regular class work and one-to-one tuition with practical opportunities.
The course has been highly successful in providing a multi-skilled training programme at the highest level in a professional environment. Graduates enjoy outstanding success in major West End shows and international productions.
Tailor your studies to suit your musical interests on our four-year Bachelor of Music (BMus) degree course.
THIS COURSE IS RIGHT FOR YOU IF…
You’re passionate about music and your specialism (or instrument). The BMus provides a solid foundation for a career in music, whether you’d like to be a performer, composer, teacher or to work in another related field.
CORE ELEMENTS OF THE BMUS
1. Principal study
This is the focal point of your musical development and includes individual lessons as well as a combination of masterclasses, performance classes, chamber music, concerts and everything else you do in your specialism. The focus for performers is on gaining experience in public concerts.
2. Artist development
We offer a wide range of activities, events and modules for you to hone your skills in studio recording and editing techniques, self-promotion and marketing, writing CVs, making funding applications, understanding the music business and working in arts management.
You can also get involved in Open Academy, which has an active programme aimed at helping people in the community. If you want to develop your teaching skills, you can study for the Academy’s teaching licence (LRAM), too.
3. Academic study
Academic study is essential to your creative and intellectual development. Core modules in Aural, Analysis and History reinforce your awareness as a listener, develop your interpretative abilities and extend your knowledge and imagination.
ONE YEAR COURSES – THE OPTIONS
The BMus is our main undergraduate course, but it isn’t the only one. We also offer three one-year options, which let you study at the Academy as an enrolled member of the student body without committing to a full degree course with us.
This means you’ll benefit from all the facilities offered to our degree students, including the library, computers and practice rooms, as well as enjoying a variety of performance opportunities.
1. Gap year course
This course is right for you if you love music but know you want to study something else for your main degree in future. It’s the ideal fit if you’re finishing secondary school (high school) and are looking for a gap-year opportunity, enabling you to reach a high level of achievement in music, while also allowing you to pursue another career path.
2. Organ foundation course
This is for gap-year students preparing for an organ scholarship at Oxford or Cambridge, or for those who want to develop organ and choral direction skills before starting formal university or conservatoire training.
3. Exchanges and study abroad schemes
The Academy has exchange and study-abroad agreements with conservatoires across the world. Placements are normally for a full academic year, although shorter times may be possible. This allows non-UK students studying for a music degree elsewhere to benefit from a conservatoire education as part of their degree studies at their ‘home’ institution.
This course is vocational and practice-based, using our state-of-the-art workshops, studios and theatres, and making use of the extensive opportunities to work on our many public productions and showcases.
Choosing from one or two areas of technical theatre or stage management, you will build on your skills and experience from your foundation degree to gain specialist knowledge and replicate working at high-level industry standards. Alongside our experienced teaching faculty, you will be introduced to practitioners from across the industry who provide additional insights into the variety of careers open to you and the skills and experience your future employers will be looking for.
You will graduate from the course ready to take on a range of roles across theatre, film, television, radio and live events.
You will also benefit from a professional development programme, as well as the RADA Buddy mentoring scheme, which supports your transition from student to professional with graduate ‘buddies’ providing professional advice, feedback and networking opportunities.
Students who successfully complete the FdA in Technical Theatre and Stage Management with a Merit or above at RADA will now automatically be considered for the BA (Hons) progression year. We also welcome applicants with a foundation degree or equivalent from elsewhere to apply for this course.
Places are available in a number of subject areas:
- Costume supervision
- Lighting (design and/or production lighting)
- Production management
- Sound (design and/or production sound)
- Property making
- Scenic art
- Scenic construction
- Stage management
- Technical management
- Video (design and/or production video)
Combinations of subjects may also be considered, for example:
- Property making and stage management
- Technical and production management
- Scenic construction and technical management
- Scenic art and property making
The MGA one-year Foundation course in Musical Theatre offers a pre-vocational year designed to prepare you for the demands of professional, full-time training and provides you with the skills required to audition successfully for the country’s leading Musical Theatre institutions.
It is directed at those students who intend pursuing a vocational training but who either don’t quite yet have the skills required to audition successfully, or who do not have the required academic qualifications to start a Bachelor of Arts qualification.
The course is designed to thoroughly prepare you for the process of auditioning and the rigours of taking up a three-year place at a Drama School, expanding your skill set and enabling you to realise your full potential in your future training.
MGA Foundation students have gone on to study at, among others, the American Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Arts Educational Schools, Bird College, Guildford School of Acting, Laine Theatre Arts, Mountview Academy, Performers College, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama – and, of course, The MGA Academy of Performing Arts.
The Foundation schedule runs for one whole academic year over three full-time terms of training and an HNC qualification is awarded to those who successfully complete all the required modules.
The course is technique orientated, giving you a solid foundation in the three key disciplines of Acting, Singing and Dance that can then be built upon in future studies.
Specialist classes and training workshops include:
- Singing Skills For Musical Theatre
- Jazz Dance For Musical Theatre
- Ballet Dance For Musical Theatre
- Acting: Developing Skills
- Vocal Techniques for Musical Theatre
- Performance 1: Developing Skills
- Graded Unit: Musical Theatre
- Audition Technique and Performance for Musical Theatre
- Personal Development
- Individual Singing Lesson
- Group/Ensemble Singing
MGA’s unique focus on audition technique and professional development will ensure that students are best placed to gain entry into any of the UK’s distinguished drama schools.
Though MGA has an excellent track record, given the nature and level of competition for Drama School places, we cannot guarantee that foundation students will be accepted at their chosen full-time provider and successful completion of the MGA foundation course does not automatically mean that students will progress onto MGA’s own three-year programmes.
