MA/MFA in Actor Musicianship

This course offers an intensive and in-depth exploration of how musical and acting processes can interrelate and feed each other. Creating work that is both music as theatre and theatre as music.

The program’s strong ties to industry partners are enhanced by an exploration of place, space, and community. You’ll explore how this most inclusive of theatre forms can continue to engage audiences of all ages; developing and building on the origins of the actor-musician movement as an alternative and progressive force, with a history of creating surprising and engaging live theatre experiences in all sorts of places and spaces.

Connected to London and Kent and with an international reputation, our Sidcup campus offers an ideal location to explore how actor-musicianship can continue to play a part in both international mainstream theatre and work that seeks to enrich and develop new and hard-to-reach audiences.

MA module breakdown

Module One: Approaches to Performance

The course begins with a foundational skills block, which includes classes in devising, movement, voice, acting, musicality, music-making, and ensemble practice. Following the skills block, students take part in two mini-projects that apply and develop the skills of the performer/maker: the sensory theatre project and Music Theatre LAB which look at applying actor-musicianship in performance.

Module Two: Actor-Musicianship in Performance

Students then create two fully realized projects. These vary depending on the interests and make-up of the cohort but include a collaborative project with students from the MA Theatre for Young Audiences course. Previous examples have included Adrift, an open-air musical adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey created with young refugees under the direction of Tony Graham (former Artistic Director of London’s Unicorn Theatre), a reworking of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Jekyll and Hyde directed by Watermill Associate Artists Abigail Pickard Price and Lucy Betts.

Module Three: Languages of Practice

Running alongside the practical, class work and early projects is a module that supports you in developing your own artistic voice. You will explore differing approaches to making, documenting, and reflecting on your work, culminating in the creation of a small or scratch piece of original material shared with your group, alongside a portfolio that documents how the piece was made. The module seeks to develop the skills of the artist as a practice researcher; modeling that idea on the way artists think about and share their ideas and work with audiences, producers, funders, and an academic audience.

Module Four: Independent Project

An opportunity for you to do the work you want to do, supported by mentors from the College and our industry partners. You might wish to work alone or in collaboration with students from other courses. The pieces are shared in a mini-festival format and accompanied by a portfolio or written submission that offers a glimpse into how the piece was made and the ideas and practices that have informed the journey.

Industry Showcase

The course ends with an industry showcase which is filmed and made available to our network of industry partners.

MFA Module Breakdown

Year 1

Module One: Approaches to Performance

The course begins with a foundational skills block, which includes classes in devising, movement, voice, acting, musicality, music-making, and ensemble practice. Following the skills block, students take part in two mini-projects that apply and develop the skills of the performer/maker: the sensory theatre project and Music Theatre LAB which look at applying actor-musicianship in performance.

Module Two: Actor-Musicianship in Performance

Students then create two fully realized projects. These vary depending on the interests and make-up of the cohort but include a collaborative project with students from the MA Theatre for Young Audiences course. Previous examples have included Adrift, an open-air musical adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey created with young refugees under the direction of Tony Graham (former Artistic Director of London’s Unicorn Theatre), a reworking of Brecht’s Mother Courage and Jekyll and Hyde directed by Watermill Associate Artists Abigail Pickard Price and Lucy Betts.

Module Three: Languages of Practice

Running alongside the practical, class work and early projects is a module that supports you in developing your own artistic voice. You will explore differing approaches to making, documenting, and reflecting on your work, culminating in the creation of a small or scratch piece of original material shared with your group, alongside a portfolio that documents how the piece was made. The module seeks to develop the skills of the artist as a practice researcher; modeling that idea on the way artists think about and share their ideas and work with audiences, producers, funders, and an academic audience.

Module Four: Independent Project

An opportunity for you to do the work you want to do, supported by mentors from the College and our industry partners. You might wish to work alone or in collaboration with students from other courses. The pieces are shared in a mini-festival format and accompanied by a portfolio or written submission that offers a glimpse into how the piece was made and the ideas and practices that have informed the journey.

Industry Showcase:

The course ends with an industry showcase which is filmed and made available to our network of industry partners.

Year 2

Module Five: The Widening Field

This module focuses on processes of research and development aimed at realizing individualized specialist practice with the view that it ultimately achieves professional validity and viability. The module is deliberately open and flexible as each student’s journey will develop its own pathway.

The module is based on self-directed study, research into the industry, and work-based learning through talks/presentations/ seminars throughout the year prior to the attachment. Students are supported in seeking appropriate work-based learning opportunities either with the College’s creative partners, their own contacts, new initiatives with appropriate organizations or ensemble companies, or working within appropriate internal placement opportunities.

There will be four taught weekends that offer the opportunity to test and trial the state of your practice with tutor/mentor/peer feedback and input. These weekends will be focused on supporting the progressive development of each student’s emerging project.

Module Six: Final Independent Project

The final module facilitates the creation of your original creative work. This may be a performance, a conceptual paper, or a multi-dimensional proposition of a project that you have developed, and pitched to professional organizations; it may be the practical articulation of your own practice or a model and vision for your future organization.

Teaching and Assessment Methods

MA: You will complete around 350 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 850 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements, or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, performances, presentations, assessed tutorials, and portfolios.

MFA: In year 1 you will complete around 350 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 850 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements, or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, performances, presentations, assessed tutorials, and portfolios.

In your second year, you will complete around 350 hours of indicative scheduled learning and teaching activities and 850 hours of independent learning on projects, productions, placements, or self-directed study. Assessment will be through Coursework, performances, presentations, assessed tutorials, and portfolios.