Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: MA 1 year, full time
MA Acting Contemporary at Central is a creatively, physically and intellectually demanding, advanced-level conservatoire acting programme. It is designed primarily for students with previous training or performance experience who wish to focus on contemporary writing and the creation of new theatre.
This experiential and practical course will encourage your development as an embodied actor, able to work across a wide range of material from script-based rehearsals to personal writing and creation. It develops your collaborative skills by building a strong ensemble company and usually culminates in the development and production of a piece of new writing, specially commissioned for the course.
The Contemporary course has a thematic structure, working through the following areas of investigation:
The training engages with methodologies drawn from a wide range of theatrical artists and thinkers. Our teachers are inspired by Stanislavsky and his inheritors; physical theatre, improvisation and mask practitioners such as Lecoq, Gaulier, Wright and Johnstone; voice and movement pioneers Berry, Linklater, Laban, Bartenieff, Feldenkrais, and Roth; and modern traditions such as Viewpoints and Suzuki. The approach and content are intended to be embodied, inter-disciplinary and culturally inclusive.
You will work with exceptional plays from Chekhov to Kane and tucker green, and with the most contemporary writing possible, your words and the words of an established playwright writing for the company. You will be equipped to interpret, invent and perform and to have a full political and creative engagement with your work.
Applicants will normally have either undertaken conservatoire training, have professional acting experience, or have a degree in the broad field of performance and drama studies. Students from other disciplines may be considered if you have sufficient experience of theatre. An offer will normally only be made after audition and interview, and you may also be required to take part in a short practical workshop and/or submit a short piece of written work.
We particularly encourage applications from groups currently under-represented in higher education, such as students with disabilities and members of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. Find out more information on Central’s commitment to equality and diversity.
English Language Requirements
Applicants for whom English is not their first language are required to prove their English language proficiency by gaining an overall score of 7.0 in an IELTS test. We do accept equivalent English language qualifications. Applicants are advised to gain this certification as early as possible and more information can be found through the English Language Requirements page.
Auditions
We audition all applicants for MA Acting.
We will require you to submit a self-tape including the following elements:
Selected candidates will be invited to attend a recall audition and interview at a later date, and may also be asked to submit a short piece of written work (again at a later date) to demonstrate their aptitude for the course.
All candidates will be informed of the outcome of their audition at a later date.
International Auditions
Each year Central hosts a number of auditions outside of the UK, with a team of tutors from Central traveling to meet applicants. The international auditions are designed to replicate the London-based audition experience in every aspect (other than a tour of our site!).
International Students
Visit the International Students section to view details of English language requirements for Central’s courses.
For fees and funding options, please visit website to find out more
Our graduates have performed in leading theatre venues worldwide including national and international tours, West End and Broadway.
National Theatres: National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland. London Theatres: Royal Court, Shakespeare’s Globe, Old Vic, Young Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Hampstead Theatre, The Rose Theatre Kingston, Bush Theatre, Finborough, Gate, Theatre 503, Southwark Playhouse, Park Theatre, Kiln, Arcola, Bunker, the VAULTS Festival. Regional Theatres: Northern Stage, Manchester International Festival, West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Royal Exchange, Birmingham Rep, Bristol Old Vic, Clwyd Theatre Cymru, Chapter Arts Cardiff, Theatre Royal Bath. UK Theatre Companies: Frantic Assembly, Punchdrunk, The Factory. International: Old Globe (San Diego), ACT (San Francisco), Playwrights Horizon (New York), Pop-up Globe (Auckland/Sydney), Seattle Rep.
Screen includes: Universal, MGMM, BBC, ITV, HBO, Netflix, Amazon, S4C, Fox 21 Television Studios
Graduates have also worked as writers, directors, designers, filmmakers, producers, agents, musicians, singers, scholars, comedians, acting teachers, acrobats and dancers.
Indicative course content includes:
In the first term four weeks of practical work on building ensemble, neutral mask and intensive physical and vocal training is rooted in an exploration of personal story and contemporary, poetic language. Texts may be drawn from spoken-word poetry and imagistic theatre and will invite exploration of personal identity and narrative structure, storytelling, ensemble, audience and space. Accompanying contextual seminars address the social and political contexts that influence the creation of modern plays.
In the second term your focus will move to transformation and the psycho-physical creation of character. Animal studies, vocal transformation and dialect, and a range of étude work will allow you to develop your skills in observation and transformation. You will study textual form, including the use of fractured narratives, codified silence and stillness. You will begin the process of collaborating directly with writers and develop your own writing or creation of work. Practical assessments, showings and feedback panels take place at the end of term.
The course’s outward-facing work begins after the mid-session break with an industry showcase, either filmed or in a professional theatre venue. Screen acting classes help to prepare you for auditions for TV and film.
The public productions season involves participation in two professionally supported productions of modern plays either in Central’s theatres or external theatre spaces. One of these could include a devised piece or a fully realised 20th or 21st Century extant play. The other will usually be a play specially commissioned for the course from an established writer.
Throughout the practical training, you will work on a Sustained Independent Project (SIP), which may take the form of either: a solo performance with a 4,000-word critical reflection; or a 12,000-word dissertation.
The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama is a small specialist institution of the theatrical and performing arts within the University of London....
