New Courses Announced for 2015/16

Central is pleased to announce a number of updates to course offerings which will come into effect from the 2015-16 Academic Year. Among the changes are four new MFA options for existing MA courses, as well as a new pathway option in Writing for Performance on the Drama, Applied Theatre and Education BA. 

The Actor Training and Coaching, MA/MFA expose the student to high-level training practice. The courses do not train actors, but develop a practical understanding of what it is to act, enabling graduates to work as actor trainers, coaches, theatre practitioners and directors of actors. Students are introduced to the principles and practices behind the training, education and support of actors developing their practice. In the first year, students of the MA and MFA combine for terms one to three of their course. The newly established MFA extends into a second year that involves workplace attachments, mentorships and practice, in close liaison with members of related industries.

Movement: Directing And Teaching, MA/MFA offer specialist, vocational teaching in movement for actors, production practice for movement directors and bespoke movement placements at Central and in professional theatre settings in Britain and internationally. The courses capitalise on Central’s creative community, its resources and innovations, as well as history in the field of actor movement from Litz Pisk to the present. In the first year students of the MA and MFA combine for terms one to three. The newly established MFA extends into a second year that involves workplace attachments, mentorship and practice.

The Scenography, MA/MFA draw from past and present approaches to performance design, and are concerned with exploring dynamic and innovative interplay between the body, space and time, further informed by a variety of disciplines including sculpture, digital media, puppetry, choreography, film, architecture and sound. Students of the MA and MFA combine for terms one to three of their course. The newly established MFA extends into a second year that prolongs key practical and theoretical findings from the first year through independent and/or collaborative research, workplace/professional attachments and mentorships.

MA/MFA Performance Practice as Research provides a laboratory for study and experimentation in the area of contemporary performance, through both practical and conceptual work. Throughout, emphasis is placed on a reciprocal relationship between theory and practice, where one always feeds into and enlivens the other. Students interrogate, test and apply the most recent thinking and practices within their particular fields, and are encouraged to experiment and innovate by developing their own work, work that is presented as part of the Brink Festival. A second MFA year can be undertaken deepening the work of the first year while gaining a critical expertise in a wider array of Practice as Research models.

Finally, sharing teaching with Central’s highly-regarded Drama, Applied Theatre and Education, BA, the Writing for Performance pathway enables students to explore key elements of dramaturgy, playwriting and contemporary approaches to writing for performance, combining the practical and theoretical study of theatre, performance and applied theatre practices.  Students will engage with professional writers and theatre practitioners to create and interrogate their own work, and the practices of others, as well as experimenting with writing for a variety of contexts. This includes documentary and verbatim theatre, solo and devised performance and writing for live art and digital channels/settings.

For further details, including information about making an application, please visit the individual course pages linked above.