MA Advanced Professional Theatre Practice

This course will launch in September 2022.

East 15 Acting School’s Advanced Professional Theatre Practice course is a blended learning course designed specifically for established professionals currently working or teaching in the performing arts. Our unique program allows you to continue to work on professional projects whilst integrating your professional practice and knowledge with academic and practical learning.

The degree is delivered through a combination of online study with intensive live workshops and uses your existing professional and teaching practice as a medium for development and exploration. This flexible approach means that you can live abroad or study with us alongside your personal or professional commitments whilst developing your practice as a theatre practitioner, teacher, director, designer, dancer or interdisciplinary artist with a specific interest in theatre and performance.

Applicants must either have an established professional profile (including formal or informal training) in live performance; i.e. actors and other performers, directors, designers, stage and production managers, or practitioners holding a Diploma from an accredited conservatoire or hold a BA degree and experience in a relevant field.

View more Masters courses from East 15 Acting School, including Actor training and Theatre Directing.

Our expert staff

Our training is by professionals and for professionals, allowing our graduates to work successfully across the globe.

Our international, outstanding teaching faculty is made up of professionals from all areas of live and recorded performance.

Learn more about our staff here.

Specialist facilities

The blended learning approach used for this program is unique amongst courses taught at East 15 and will consist of 2x two-week teaching blocks in Terms 2 and 3 which will take place at our picturesque Loughton Campus.

We are just a five-minute walk from London Underground station, Debden, where you can travel in only thirty minutes to Central London, West End theatres and mainline train stations including the Eurostar.

We have three sites at our Loughton Campus – Hatfields, Roding House and Unit Four. Hatfields is a beautiful Georgian dower house, set in five acres of lawns with orchards, flowerbeds and a small lake, providing an idyllic atmosphere for study, relaxation and performance.

Just a short walk from Hatfields is Roding House, a £1.3 million facility containing 10 rehearsal rooms, a green room/café, a sound recording studio and a video editing suite, and our costume department.

Next to Roding House, Unit Four is a £1.5 million facility which is home to the Stage & Production Management department. The Unit contains a large workshop, paint shop, prop shop, prop storage facilities and teaching spaces.

Our on-site Corbett Theatre is named in honour of Harry H Corbett, a key member of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop and early benefactor of East 15. It is used extensively for student productions and is a practical training hub for our BA Stage and Production Management students.

The building is a medieval tithe barn that was dismantled and transported to Hatfields in the 1960s. These unusual origins create a unique performance space with a special atmosphere. Renovated to include full technical facilities, tiered seating for 130 people and fitted dressing rooms, the theatre provides an excellent resource for public productions, while the adjacent Bar and Café provides a social meeting point for students and staff.

Your future

On completion of the MA Advanced Professional Theatre Practice program, you are recognised as a graduate of East 15 conservatoire training, equipped with the ability to build on your existing professional knowledge and further identify and develop your skills through research in a professional environment moving forward.

UK entry requirements

A 2:2 degree, or equivalent, in a relevant field such as acting, directing, dance, design, producing, performance or theatre and relevant professional experience;

An established professional profile (including formal or informal training) in live performance which may include: actors and other performers, directors, designers, stage and production managers;

Practitioners holding a Diploma in any subject from an accredited conservatoire (FDS membership) and relevant professional experience.

English language requirements

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Additional Notes

The University uses academic selection criteria to determine an applicant’s ability to successfully complete a course at the University of Essex. Where appropriate, we may ask for specific information relating to previous modules studied or work experience.

Course structure

We offer dynamic and unique courses for actors, directors and students of theatre practice. Training at East 15 draws upon 50 years of tradition combined with a keen sense of the world of stage and screen today.

Our carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore and develop your specialist training.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, or in response to COVID-19, we’ll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

Term 1

In the first term you will:

• Reflect on your previous experience as a preparation for study and development planning
• Identify and respond critically to a range of theories relevant to contemporary performance practice and develop an individual appreciation of how they can enhance and enrich your own practice
• Locate your own professional work in the context of contemporary and recent practitioners in a variety of theatrical forms

Term 2

Based on ideas and processes explored in Term 1, this term will see you collaborate with your cohort to create and perform a short piece of original devised theatre or film.

Alternatively, you have the option to be assessed through a professional theatre project produced off-Campus, providing that you can submit documentary evidence.

In this term you will also consider the professional skills and knowledge you can offer as a teacher and facilitator and translate your own creative practice into engaging and effective learning sessions.

Term 3

In your third term, you will apply a range of the knowledge, skills and approaches explored during taught modules to develop and present a substantial written or practical project.