Skip navigation
Search
Search
Acting - Classical at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London - UCAS

Course options

2024 - 2025
Apply

Open days

22May
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London - Postgraduate Open Evening
Postgraduate

Course summary

MA Acting Classical 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 intensively on plays from the European classical repertoire. Perform in two professionally supported public productions and an industry showcase Hone the individual technical craft of the actor, and release your collaborative and imaginative creativity within a small and diverse ensemble company (typically 14-16 students) Learn through practical group classes in acting, movement, voice and stage combat; seminars on theatre history, dramatic theory and research skills; and individual tutorials and feedback panels. The Classical training follows the development of the theatrical art from its earliest ritual and political roots to the birth of psychological naturalism:

  • Greek Tragedy, Chorus and the Mask
  • Clowning and Commedia dell’arte
  • Shakespeare and early modern English drama
  • Stanislavsky, the Method, Realism and Expressionism.
The structure of the course draws on the hugely influential theories of the great French acting teacher Michel Saint-Denis, training the expressive body, voice and imagination. Methodologies are drawn from a range of European and other theatrical thinkers: from Stanislavsky and his inheritors Vakhtangov, Demidov, Adler, Hagen, Meisner and Strasberg; from the physical theatre, improvisation and mask work of Lecoq and Johnstone; from the psycho-physical expressionism of Laban and Meyerhold; from the post-Brechtian and post-Grotowskian experimental traditions; and from radical contemporary dramaturgical practices. Working with some of the greatest dramatic texts ever written, you are asked to consider what they mean now, and how their 21st century reinterpretation and re-imagining still holds a ‘mirror up to nature’. You are encouraged to understand the demands of both art and craft as participants in the European theatrical tradition; and to envision the recreation and reimagining of that tradition for the future. The course rests on three structural pillars, three key moments of dramatic innovation and social transition, encountered in chronological order: Greek theatre, early modern English theatre, and 19th/20th century Russian and European theatre.

Modules

Indicative course content includes: In the first term, the ensemble principle is nurtured through four weeks of practical work on the choruses of ancient Greek tragedy, neutral mask and intensive physical and vocal training. Texts may derive from adaptations of Greek plays from a variety of cultural traditions, and exercises from different experimental theatre methodologies; focus is on the physicality and musicality of dramatic text. Accompanying contextual seminars address the social and political histories and discourses of classical drama from antiquity to the present day, including those relating to identity, ownership, appropriation and colonialism. For the subsequent ten weeks, practical classes in commedia dell’arte, clowning and stage combat accompany Shakespearean scene studies. You will work on narrative structure and storytelling, textual form, heightened realism, character analysis, gesture and movement psychology, animal study, and the actor’s relationship to the audience and to space. Vocal and physical training and contextual and theoretical seminars continue throughout the term. Practical assessments, showings and feedback panels take place at the end of term, and individual personal guidance from tutors is available throughout the year. In the second term, the training focuses on the revolutionary Realist and Expressionist dramas of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and their contemporary legacy. Underpinning the work are the theories and practices of Stanislavsky and his Russian and American successors, and the psycho-physical methodologies of Rudolph Laban and Yat Malmgren. During the term students work on character preparation and transformation, developing one devised and one text-based character study, and undertaking a rehearsal exercise of scenes from a Chekhov or other realist play. Practical assessments, showings and feedback panels take place at the end of term. The course’s outward-facing work begins after the mid-session break with an industry showcase, either filmed or in a professional theatre venue. Screen acting classes help to prepare you for auditions for TV and film. The public productions season involves participation in two professionally-supported productions of classical plays either in Central’s theatres or external theatre spaces. One of these will usually be an early modern text; in recent years plays by Shakespeare, Aphra Behn, John Ford and Thomas Middleton have been produced. The other might be a play from the Realist, Expressionist, Greek, Restoration, Romantic or Modernist tradition; in recent years plays by Chekhov, Gorky, Schiller, Erdman, Whiting, Bond, Sophocles and Euripides have been produced. Both productions will be chosen and cast to suit the particular character of the cohort, and to both challenge and showcase the individual students. Throughout the practical training, you will work on a Sustained Independent Project (SIP), which may take the form of either: a solo performance with a 4000-word critical reflection; or a 12000-word dissertation.

Assessment method

Formative assessment is through a mixture of practical tasks, including showings of prepared scenes and structured improvisations, filmed performance, and theatre performance; in addition, continuous assessment is reflective of your effort, attitude and improvement in class. You will also undertake a Sustained Independent Project (SIP), which may include elements of solo performance and critical writing.

How to apply

International applicants

https://www.cssd.ac.uk/international-students/information-international-applicants

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.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £22750 Year 1
Northern Ireland £22750 Year 1
Scotland £22750 Year 1
Wales £22750 Year 1
Channel Islands £22750 Year 1
Republic of Ireland £22750 Year 1
EU £27500 Year 1
International £27500 Year 1

Additional fee information

Please note that the EU fee may not be applicable to students originating from an EU country who have settled/pre-settled status. Other criteria apply. See the gov.uk website for further details. Students who are applying for an equivalent or lower level qualification (ELQ) to one they already possess, will be charged full fees, unless they are exempt. Please see the Office for Students' website for details.

Sponsorship information

https://www.cssd.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/scholarships-bursaries-awards

Acting - Classical at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London - UCAS