This vocational MA/MFA programme builds on and extends the work developed on our ground-breaking BA (Hons) Actor Musicianship programme, drawing on our strong links to theatre makers, directors, choreographers, writers, musical directors and performers involved in the development of this innovative area of theatre practice.
Taught through vocational training, practice research and project work, it aims to develop interdisciplinarity as a core theatre making tool, with a focus on innovation and work that responds to audience, place and space.
Why choose this course?
• From Bradford to Broadway, actor-musicianship is now part of mainstream theatre culture, whilst remaining connected to its roots in the alternative theatre movement.
• This unique MA offers you the opportunity to explore how to integrate the skills of music-making and acting in performance. Equipping you to create and perform work that contains the visceral power and poetry synonymous with actor-musicianship.
• Rose Bruford College was the first to develop an actor-musician training course and is regarded as the world-leader in this field with a long history of graduates working at the forefront of this area of theatre practice.
• Explore how musical and acting processes can interrelate and feed each other.
• This course offers an intensive and in-depth exploration of how musical and acting processes can interrelate and feed each other. Creating work that is both music as theatre and theatre as music.
The programme’s strong ties to industry partners will be further enhanced by an exploration of place, space and community. Asking how this most inclusive of theatre forms can continue to engage audiences of all ages; developing and building on the origins of the actor-musician movement as an alternative and progressive theatre form, with a history of creating surprising and engaging live theatre experiences in all sorts of places and spaces.
Connected to London and Kent and with an international reputation, our Sidcup campus offers an ideal location to explore how actor-musicianship can continue to play a part in both international mainstream theatre and work that seeks to enrich and develop new and hard to reach audiences.
Location: Sidcup
Why choose this course?
The MA Actor and Performer Training is a practice-based programme for those seeking intensive advanced training as actors and performers alongside rigorous academic study and performance research. The programme focuses specifically on actor/performer training, theatre creation, performative writing, informed critical reflection and practice research. The uniqueness of the programme lies in the way it seeks to integrate traditional text-based conservatoire training and practices with the physical collaborative approach that has grown out of Eastern and Central Europe over the last 60 years.
The MA includes an expedition which offers a unique context for learning and ethnographic and cultural research.
Location: Lewisham
This two-year Master of Fine Arts in Acting is rooted in practice and designed with international graduates in mind. Studying here will help you develop a deeper understanding of the processes of acting through an exploration of play texts from the British and European traditions, providing you with a progression route to an acting career or to further study at MPhil or PhD level....
This conservatoire-level actor training has a research focus which enables graduates to develop high-level, innovative approaches to practice. The programme cultivates originality of thinking and self-direction in order to tackle technical, interpretive and scholarly problems within the field of acting and performance.
Reasons to study Theatre Studies
• Our unique online programme will provide you with a gateway to specialist provision regardless of your location.
• Developed by expert tutors in theatre and performance, the course has evolved to reflect the technological developments of the industry and online learning. It has also gained a reputation for rigour and excellence.
• Our Virtual Learning Environment gives you access to a wealth of learning resources and a comprehensive choice of modules focussing on theatre making as a practice.
• You will join an online community of enthusiasts, theatre professionals, teachers and returning learners and will be guided by expert practitioner-academics.
Career opportunities
Our graduates have gone on to work across a range of theatre-related roles and in education. Some continue on to further study on postgraduate programmes at the College and elsewhere.
“I love this course because I can fit it in with my busy full-time working schedule and because of the opportunities to collaborate with others who share a passion for theatre; nationally and internationally.” Abbie Riddell, Theatre Events Assistant, Salisbury Playhouse.
Two start dates: January and September.
PURSUE YOUR CREATIVE AND INTELLECTUAL PASSIONS WITH OUR MPHIL/PHD RESEARCH DEGREES.
Our research degrees are aimed at performers and composers with highly developed skills and focused career aspirations.
You will work with a supervisor and a team of creative staff on a substantial research project. This will normally be driven by your activity as a performer or composer, but will also require critical context and reflection.
The Academy offers an integrated PhD degree over four years, although students can exit with an MPhil after two years. MPhil students will usually apply to transfer to PhD in their second year of study. For both MPhil and PhD, you will be allocated 30 hours of supervision per year. You may apply for a further year to complete or write up your portfolio or dissertation at a reduced rate. Supervision hours are divided between academic and practical supervision, as negotiated with the Postgraduate Programmes Board and your supervisor.
Reasons to study European Theatre Arts (Training the Contemporary Performer)
• You will train intensively as a contemporary performer, shaping your ability to create exciting innovative performance. Build on your own interests to craft a personal artistic voice.
• Perform in small-scale and large-scale ensembles, exploring devised and text-based theatre. Collaborate with other performers, designers and technical specialists to present original work.
• Explore a wide range of European practices and techniques, closely tutored by an international team of theatre experts.
• Enjoy working in close collaboration with visiting industry professionals, investigating contemporary performance practices.
• Spend a period of your second year training at one of our European partner institutions or companies, developing your skills and enhancing your employment opportunities. (Visit our website for a list of current partner institutions).
• Graduate ready to work and build a successful portfolio career in the performing arts industry, in the UK and abroad, as a freelance performer and theatre maker.
Career opportunities
Graduates have gone on to perform with cutting-edge theatre companies, to form their own companies and work with established companies venues such as the Barbican Theatre, Forced Entertainment, Royal National Theatre and Icelandic National Theatre among others. Graduates produce work at a range of European & international festivals. Other career destinations include directing, writing, teaching, establishing theatre venues, producing and more.
You may also be interested in:
Acting, BA (Hons)
Actor Musicianship, BA (Hons)
American Theatre Arts, BA (Hons)
“ETA has changed me a lot as an artist and a person. It’s helped me see that I have a voice and potential.” Arianne Carless, ETA 2018 Graduate
Location: Sidcup
Reasons to study American Theatre Arts
• Our curriculum responds directly to events in the world beyond the campus, placing your creativity, social engagement and activism centre-stage.
• Your training by a diverse group of practitioners covers a comprehensive range of performance disciplines, including musical theatre, acting on camera, directing, playwriting, solo performance and theatre for young audiences.
• You will perform in public shows directed by professional American and British practitioners.
• Collaboration lies at the heart of our approach and you will work alongside designers and digital artists in the staging of unique immersive and multi-media productions.
• Our practical exploration of American ‘classics’ highlights their social and political contexts so that plays by writers such as Arthur Miller, Lorraine Hansberry, Tennessee Williams, Amiri Baraka, August Wilson and Suzan-Lori Parks complement a critical study of the history of the USA.
• You will participate in the creation and production of new material mentored by experienced playwrights, devisers and composers.
• And you will have a chance to study in the USA. We have partner institutions in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Kentucky, North & South Carolina and Texas.
Career opportunities
Our graduates have gone on to perform on stage and screen in the UK and US, to win awards as actors, playwrights and directors, to work for leading television and theatre producers and to create their own independent theatre companies. Agents our students have signed to include; MGA Management and Becky Barrett Management (BBM).
You may also be interested in:
Acting, BA (Hons)
Actor Musicianship, BA (Hons)
European Theatre Arts, BA (Hons)
“You become a well-rounded practitioner rather than just a straightforward actor.” Jeremy Cobb, ATA Alumnus
Location: Sidcup