Theatre Directing

Birkbeck, University of London
Postgraduate MFA (PG) Full-time 2 Years Drama

About this course

This MFA Theatre Directing offers you professionally recognised training. The result of a collaboration between Birkbeck and the Arts Council England, Equity and UK Theatre, it gives you a unique opportunity to work with theatre directors, actors, writers and designers, while also preparing you for the realities of working as a director in the industry. To pursue this MFA, you will have directed one or two university or professional-level productions and be focused on becoming a professional theatre director.

Why choose this course?

  • This course benefits from unique partnerships with industry bodies and leading practitioners.

  • It offers you a three-month secondment to a drama school learning how actors are trained for today’s theatre.

  • It also offers you a six-to-nine-month secondment with a theatre company where you will have the opportunity to assist on at least three productions. Collaborators include the Royal Exchange Manchester, Leicester Curve, Octagon Theatre Bolton and Mercury Theatre Colchester.

  • You will engage in workshops run by expert professionals, including Mike Leigh, Mike Alfreds, David Eldridge, Natalie Abrahami and Lyndsey Turner. These concentrate on the director’s relationship with the designer and the writer, to equip you with a practical understanding of how theatre companies and pieces of work are funded and managed.

    What you will learn

    On this course you will examine the director’s relationship with key collaborators: the actor, the writer, the designer, the industry and the production.

    You will be introduced to a wide range of methodologies and the approaches of leading practitioners to encourage you to develop your own toolkit and unique artistic vision for the work you wish to create. The emphasis throughout is on your creative and intellectual development as an independent artist.

    How you will learn

    This is a full-time two-year course with classes and sessions that mostly take place during the day, but with the expectation that you will regularly attend theatre productions.

    As well as the secondments at a drama school and a producing theatre, you will attend practical workshops and seminars with leading directors, writers, designers, casting, movement, intimacy and fight directors, who will share their work with you. You will also undertake two design projects with designers in training at Wimbledon College of Arts.

    Highlights

  • Our Centre for Contemporary Theatre runs a postgraduate reading group and offers opportunities to show work in progress as part of our summer festival, Arts Week.

  • Birkbeck was ranked 2nd in the UK for its English Language and Literature research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

  • We offer a number of bursaries for postgraduate students.

    Careers and employability

    On graduating, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including:

  • the skills, knowledge and ability to work as a professional-level theatre director

  • the ability to critically reflect on and to evolve your practice as an independent creative artist

  • communication and presentation skills

  • an ability to work independently and collaboratively.

    Possible career paths for graduates include:

  • theatre director

  • artistic director

  • associate director

  • opera director

  • theatre producer

  • literary manager

  • dramaturg.

    Recent graduates have directed productions at prestigious theatres including:

  • The National Theatre

  • The RSC

  • The Globe

  • The Royal Court

  • English National Opera

  • The Almeida

  • The Young Vic

  • The Old Vic

  • The Lyric Hammersmith

  • The Gate

  • Sheffield Theatres

  • The Royal Exchange Manchester.

    Many of our graduates have won awards such as: the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Director; the James Menzies-Kitchin Award in 2021, 2015 and 2012; the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme Award; the Stage Debut Award in 2019; and the Stage Award for Best Fringe Theatre.

    • Career Prospects

    Graduates from this course typically go into the following occupations:

    3417 Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators
    3416 Arts officers, producers and directors
    3413 Actors, entertainers and presenters

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    Course Details

    Qualification
    Master of Fine Arts - MFA (PG)
    Study Mode
    Full-time
    Duration
    2 Years
    Start Date
    2025
    Academic Year
    2025
    Campus / Location
    London
    Scheme
    Postgraduate
    Subjects
    Drama

    Offered by

    Birkbeck, University of London

    London

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