Theatre Directing MA

University of Essex

East 15 Acting School’s MA/MFA Theatre Directing is a unique and renowned course designed specifically for those who are already practicing as or who wish to establish themselves as professional theatre directors.

It is open to emerging theatre directors from the UK and to students from around the world. Our teaching is driven by a wide range of leading directors and professional practitioners from the UK and overseas. The program benefits from its close ties with the London theatre world, which provides training expertise of the highest calibre and the professional networks that are vital to launching a Theatre Directing career.

The MA runs for one year on a full-time basis and the MFA for 24 months. For MA study, you take four modules during three consecutive terms, followed by a three-month period of independent study, at the end of which you present a Director’s Production Workbook (or, alternatively, your MA Dissertation). For the MFA, running over 24 months, you take eight modules during six consecutive terms, followed by independent study that results in a fully resourced practical project at one of East 15’s theatre performance spaces or in a London theatre venue (or, alternatively, an MFA Dissertation).

Each year you have the opportunity to choose four modules out of the seven or eight different options that we offer every year. The menu of modules rotates on a regular basis but always covers a range of directorial practice that is unrivalled in its diversity and will include several of the following: Shakespeare, Contemporary British Drama, Comedy, Musical Theatre and Opera, Physical Theatre, Brecht, Techniques of Adaptation, Improvisation and Devising Techniques, Contemporary Irish Drama, Rehearsal Processes and Workshops, Collaboration with Designers, Attachment (Assistant Director), The Artistic Director, Commedia dell’Arte and Directing for Camera.

East 15 also runs some modules overseas, most recently in Moscow and Bali, involving specialist practical study in an alternative cultural environment.

Overseas modules in Bali and Thailand include: World Theatre and Theatre of the East. In Moscow, at the GITIS Institute, modules include: Stanislavskian Acting Methodology, Meyerhold and Biomechanics, Michael Chekhov. MA/MFA Theatre Directing is open to applicants with a background in theatre directing or related fields and is specifically tailored to those seeking professional development in this area. Study is full time but some module choices enable periods of time away to pursue professional theatre work.

This course is taught at our picturesque Loughton Campus