MA Scenography

The MA Scenography is a dynamic course for highly motivated designers or artists looking to extend their practice. On this course, students will develop an appreciation of the trans-disciplinary spectrum of scenography through immersion in various design-led processes concerned with bodies, space, objects, materials, film, light and sound, within performative structures such as theatre, dance, opera, puppetry, performance and installation arts and exhibition.

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Course Detail

You will explore and engage with past and present approaches to performance design informed by a variety of disciplines. Your existing skills and practice will be challenged and extended as you investigate speculatively and operatively the creative use/misuse of tools and media. Uniquely concerned with the body, spatiality and temporality, the course includes a particular attention to and interrogation of the scenographer’s subjective and physical approach to the design process.

The course comprises a mix of collaborative and independent work, engaging in both conceptual and practical thinking. Drawing on the expertise of current staff and visiting fellow researchers and practitioners, MA Scenography students work within Central’s existing studio system alongside other courses and, through negotiated learning agreements, in professional contexts. They develop presentation techniques in a range of media and resulting from practical investigations of experimental and laboratory-based case studies, as well as studies of the histories and theories of perception, representation and aesthetics.

Each student draws on the diversity of cultures and experiences that is brought to each new year through the mix of international students. Skills, approaches and interests are exchanged on multiple levels through collaborations, seminars, field trips, exhibitions and initiatives that may extend beyond the course.

Online archive of previous MA Scenography students work

Assessment:

This is by practical conceptions and realisations, written assignments and research presentations.

Professional Focus

Industry links:

The course draws on existing and new collaborative opportunities each year. Students have collaborated with other courses within the School to create and design new performance work, including MA Music Theatre, Advanced Theatre Practice and Performance Practice as Research and MA Acting for Screen. Industry partners have included the V&A Museum, London Contemporary Dance School, Clerkenwell Design Week, English Touring Opera and National Theatre Studio. Students also work alongside a range of artists and designers, for example; Anthony MacDonald, Dick Bird, Helen Pynor and Pete Gomes.

Graduate Destinations:

The MA Scenography started in 2010. By the end of the course, students will join a growing number of design alumni that are at the forefront of performance design and scenographic research.

Graduates have gone on to work in: a range of innovative companies such as Shunt Collective, Grid Iron Theatre Company and New International Encouter: Visual Theatre. Some have transferred to PhD study. Graduates have been the recipients of awards such as Linbury Prize for Stage Design and the Protégé Arts Initiative. Alumni from the first graduate year are designing all over the world. Students have won fringe awards in Japan and Edinburgh. There is a new Arabic version of Richard II at The Globe Theatre, a new performance work for Northern Stage, and a new opera in Cyprus. Students are also assisting on productions in Munich, Nantes and Sweden.

Recent Visiting Staff:

Sophie Jump, Suzanne Thomas, Dick Bird, Gordana Novakovic, Dan Scott, Pete Gomes, Maddy Trigg, Helen Pynor, Nic Sandiland, Helen Storey, Jane Rendell, Thomas Pausz, Greer Crawley, Anthony McDonald, Scarlett Perdereau, Eve Katsouraki.

Admission

Entry Requirements:

You should normally have an undergraduate degree in the broad field of performance, drama studies or a design subject, although applications from students of other disciplines (e.g. visual arts, architecture, sonic arts) will be considered. Applications from those with at least two years' relevant experience will also be considered. In addition, you may be required to carry out work and/or research in advance of the interview. An offer will normally only be made after interview/audition.

English language

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.

For further information see the How to Apply section.

Application Details:

If you are selected for an interview for a place on the MA Scenography course, we will require you to bring with you some relevant examples of your scenographic work.

This portfolio will contribute to further discussion about your qualifications, experience, interest in the subject and your plans beyond this MA. Please be careful to edit and prepare your portfolio so that you can present and discuss the work with ease, and be prepared to leave it with the course team for further consideration. Preferably this portfolio will be in the form of a digital media (DVD, CD, etc). It should be no longer than four minutes in duration and should include at least two examples of your work. You will also be asked to submit evidence of your technical experience where appropriate to the nature of your chosen media.

Applicants will be seen individually and maybe be seen as part of a group, undertaking a number of activities as part of the interview process.

During the interview process you will have a chance to learn more about the course and the School.

International Auditions/Interviews

Central considers applicants for this course at its international auditions.

Distance Auditions/Interviews

Central does allow applicants to undertake a distance interview for this course. If you live abroad and are unable to attend an interview in person you may, at the discretion of the Admissions Tutor, be offered the opportunity of a distance interview. If you are selected for interview in this manner you will be contacted (normally by email) in order to arrange a suitable time for an interview. This will be conducted on Skype, telephone or by ‘live’ email exchange and will normally be based upon material you will have been asked to submit in advance. The interview will be conducted by the Admissions Tutor in liaison with a colleague who will have sight of your submitted materials.

Course Specification: