Stage Management, BA

This course is no longer available

UCAS code

Institution
C35

About this course

The Stage Management course is no longer open for new applications and has been replaced with our Stage Management and Technical Theatre course.

You may also be interested in reading about what a stage manager undertakes as part of their role.

You can also find out more about all of our undergraduate courses.


  • Gain a general grounding in all aspects of theatre production with a focus on stage management
  • Develop the skills that place you at the organisational hub of all forms of live
    performance
  • Work with students on other theatre disciplines to develop an understanding
    of how each contributes to live 
    performance
  • Experience a broad range of live performance roles in the public and
    professional context within the industry
  • Learn skills including props sourcing, coordinating rehearsals and running the
    performance

Stage managers are at the organisational hub of all forms of live performance, serving as a principal conduit between the director and the production team throughout the rehearsal process and the performance itself. Professional theatre requires production personnel with a general knowledge of production and specialist knowledge and skills within their area of practice.

Today’s stage manager must have excellent people skills to bear responsibility for communicating developments as  they occur through rehearsals and negotiating solutions to  the production challenges identified. During your time as a student, you will develop a range of skills through working  in key roles on productions in collaboration with students on other Theatre Practice courses, with the Acting courses and with visiting professionals.

You will be introduced to a model of practice that underpins traditional British theatre as experienced in both commercial and subsidised sectors. Through production opportunities, you will also experience a breadth of contemporary methods of practice which may include
children’s, small-scale fringe, devised, physical, visual, site-responsive 
and immersive theatre.

Accordion

  • Course Detail

    Year 1

    Developing basic skills: for creating live performance, through workshops and realised projects, managing rehearsals and performance, blocking, marking up, show calling, props sourcing, costume supervision and sewing, basic lighting, sound and staging technology. Workshops focus on text analysis, group dynamics, communication and current legislation, including health and safety. In the final term, you will undertake the role of assistant stage manager on a realised, collaborative production.

    Year 2

    Further skills development: advanced aspects of stage management, including company management, score reading, pyrotechnics, firearms, stage blood effects, and event management. You will undertake a variety of roles, including assistant and deputy stage manager on a range of production projects from main house proscenium theatre shows to site-responsive fringe work, or projects outside Central, including young people’s theatre, immersive theatre and events.

    Year 3

    Focus on professional development: including largescale or challenging managerial responsibilities on one of Central’s public productions, enabling you to develop your management, negotiation and complex problem-solving skills in a ‘real world’ context. You will research and organise a placement, encouraging you to build a network of contacts, leading towards a career plan and portfolio outlining the areas of the entertainment industry in which you aspire to work.

  • Professional Focus

    The course has extensive links with the live performance industry on all scales in London and beyond, including the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Almeida and Royal Court Theatres and English National Opera. There are potential opportunities for students to work with companies such as Punchdrunk, Shunt and Nutkhut on contemporary immersive work and in nontraditional theatre making areas, such as street arts and outdoor theatre. This can include festivals such as London Mela, and companies such as Walk the Plank, The World
    Famous, Emergency Exit Arts
    and Kinetika.

    Through project work, formal visits to theatres and regular close contact with professionals, including recent graduates, you will be well prepared to enter the live performance industry.

Student Feedback Block (layout column)

‘Central gave me the knowledge and skill base that allowed me to start a career in production management. By experiencing all the Theatre Practice strands of the course in my first year, I gained a well-rounded knowledge and appreciation of how the theatrical industry works. The contacts I met, both tutors and fellow students, helped me to gain work whilst at Central and as soon as I graduated. It was through a placement that I gained my first professional West End job on Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.’

Sebastian Cannings

Graduated 2016, recent credits as Assistant Production Manager include La Strada UK tour, Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Palace Theatre and In With A Bang, Hull UK City of Culture, as Production Manager at the Tricycle Theatre on The Mother and as Assistant Production Manager on Ben Hur.

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