Acting - Contemporary

Entry requirements

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.

Months of entry

October

Course content

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.

• Perform in two professionally supported public productions and an industry showcase.
• Hone your individual technical craft, and release your collaborative and imaginative creativity within a diverse ensemble company (typically 14-16 students)
• Learn through practical group classes in acting, movement, voice and stage combat; seminars on identity, dramatic theory and research skills; and individual tutorials and feedback panels

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:

> Storytelling, embodiment and the ensemble

> Textual analysis and the psychophysical process

> Transformation into character

> The playwright and the actor-creator

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.

Information for international students

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

Find out more about international students at Central

Fees and funding

View Central's current range of Scholarships and Bursaries