Postgraduate Prospectus

Acting | www.east15.ac.uk
Why study at East 15?
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State-of-the-art technical resources
and facilities, including studios and
innovative new theatre spaces
Wide access to a substantial
network of respected industry
practitioners
Opportunities for collaborative
projects between actors, theatre
directors and filmmakers
Easy access to Central London and
West End theatres via the London
Underground Central line
Vibrant international community,
with staff and students from all
over the world
Career prospects
Our graduates are equipped to
pursue acting careers in theatre,
film, TV and radio in an increasingly
global industry, while our
filmmaking graduates go on to have
their work screened at festivals.
All our graduates gain an
understanding of how to create
their own work, including how to
form companies and get funding,
as well as developing their own
artistic practice.
Our Loughton Campus
About our School
For 50 years, we have produced actors,
directors, theatre practitioners and
technicians for the international stage,
TV, film and radio. We were founded by
Margaret Bury, growing from the work of
Joan Littlewood’s famed Theatre Workshop
which broke new ground, re-interpreting the
classics for a modern age, commissioning
new plays from socially committed writers,
and creating an ensemble capable of
inventing new work. This evolved into
an outstanding ensemble that combined
inspired, improvisational brilliance with
method, technique, research, text analysis
and the intense expression of truthful
emotion. Much of our original approach
was based upon the theories of
Stanislavsky and, over the years, our
new training methods have embraced
approaches from diverse practitioners, such
as Michael Chekhov, Rudolf Laban, Jerzy
Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq, Peter Brook
and other important contemporary trainers.
In 2000, we became a department
of the University of Essex, opening an
exciting new chapter and offering more
opportunities to our students. Since then,
more than £13 million has been spent on
new buildings and facilities for our students
at Loughton (on the edge of east London)
and Southend-on-Sea, including the
Clifftown Studios, once a Victorian gothic
church which now enjoys a new lease
of life following conversion into studios,
workshops and a state-of-the-art theatre
and performance space. We have also
developed new programmes that take our
students into the new era of internationally
and culturally diverse theatre, film and
physical theatre performance territories.
We are a member of the leading group
of UK conservatoires, the Conference of
Drama Schools, which grants our students
automatic entry to Equity, the actor’s union.
We are accredited by the National Council
for Drama Training and are now one of the
largest specialist theatre schools in the
UK, with distinguished international
teaching staff.
Taught courses
Our taught courses are offered at our
Loughton Campus, with application and
selection based on your experience and
personal outlook. A BA or suitable previous
life, professional, or academic experience
is normally required. Whilst there is no
minimum age limit, we find it unlikely that
someone under the age of 21 will have
gained the academic qualifications required
for entry.
If you wish to apply for our acting courses,
you must prepare two contrasting
speeches:
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one from a Shakespearean or Jacobean
play, lasting not more than one and a
half minutes; and
one from a contemporary (post-1950)
play, lasting no more than two minutes.
Our audition process includes a workshop
and lasts up to six hours. Some of our
international students are able to audition
via video tape.
If you wish to apply for MA Filmmaking
or MA/MFA Theatre Directing, then you
do not have to audition but must provide
a CV and/or additional media, along with
your supporting statement.
MA Acting
Our MA Acting is accredited by the NCDT
and should interest you if you wish to
become a professional actor. You may
already have a degree, or you may have
established yourself in other professions
and now seek to change towards that of a
professional actor. If you are a professional
actor and want to understand more about
your technique, extend your range and gain
academic recognition, then our MA Acting
would also help.
We conclude this course with a showcase
held in a major West End venue, to which
we invite agents, casting directors, film,
television and theatre directors and other
industry professionals. On graduation, you
are qualified as an actor and have an
understanding of how to create your own
work, including how to form companies and
gain funding.
52 | Postgraduate Prospectus 2012