The course is designed to support and further theatre design practice-based research at MA level over a one-year programme. Students will practice advanced level scenographic speculative methods, either collaboratively or as auteur. They will be expected to interrogate contemporary scenography in the establish modes of industrial practice in principally the fields of set and costume design, although students may also investigate the impact and effect of various specialisms in their studies, such as lighting, projection or sound.

Course Highlights:

• Specialist tutorial and technical support from across Wimbledon’s renowned Theatre Programme, focussing on the production and research (e.g. Shakespeare and other classical texts and narratives) in both industrial and academic contexts.

• WCA theatre space as a reference or resource ‘test bed’ for realisation.

• Established contacts with complementary London-based Director and Choreographic MA courses support the delivery of collaborative study components.

• Direct access to the Jocelyn Herbert Archive and engagement with the college’s theatre design-related special exhibitions and conferences e.g. Annual Jocelyn Herbert Lecture at the National Theatre and hosting the Association of Courses in Theatre Design (ACTD) ‘Scene Change’ at WCA (Sept ‘12).

• WCA’s outstanding profile for Theatre Design related training at an international level.

• Direct access to scenographic  curatorial practice at a national and international level (e.g. staff in a leading role for the Prague Quadrennial and the International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT)

Access to the professorial, post doctoral and PhD research community at Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon (CCW).

Course Structure:

The course is structured in three distinct but connected parts to give you incremental autonomy over your practice, whilst also acknowledging that collaborative skills will most likely be the ‘root and branch’ of your work.

Unit 1

In Unit 1 you will engage with field of Theatre Design through researching practitioners past and present, to form a distinctive view of your position in the discipline. You will have access to the wide range of expertise at Wimbledon in scenic and costume design to support your work. You and your peers will share opinions about bodies of generally held views and attitudes to Theatre Design in an attempt to reach a collective consensus or understood divergence. Synergies and differences between addressing bodies and spaces in digital and analogue contexts will be a focus for debate and provide a platform for discourse between both MA Theatre courses and the wider Post Grad communities at WCA and CCW.

Unit 2

In Unit 2 the course will structure a partnership between you and a PG student director, choreographer or other theatre maker to practice and test your abilities to negotiate, collaborate and communicate at an advanced level. This may lay a foundation of relationships that could extend beyond the span of study and represent an emergent creative partnership in professional life.  All students will be expected to engage with each other’s ideas and proposals through periodic supportive group critiques and formative peer assessment targeted specifically at Units 1 and 2. You will maintain a Research Folio on line that began in Unit 1 and develop a professional ‘shop window’ for your ideas, including reviews of study visits to events and performance environments.

Unit 3

In Unit 3, you and your tutor will be asked to identify a professional mentor who will both advise and challenge you when appropriate during your final self-motivated Action Research Project. Along with your tutor, your mentor can monitor the work’s conception, an intermediate stage of development and then provide an industry-based reaction to its

sophistication and effectiveness within negotiated parameters. You will be expected to make a research-motivated experiment in either real or virtual space to underpin your work. Innovative impact-driven methods of documenting and presenting ideas will be encouraged for a final proposal, usually in a combination of a web presence and an exhibition context.

Careers:

The course is intended to support you to define and develop your individual practices and prepare you for enthusiastic progression within the discipline of Theatre Design or professions associated with design for live events, such as environments for fashion shows or exhibitions. It is also the ambition of the course to foster possible further academic discoveries with progression to Doctoral degrees.

Involvement with national theatre collections and archives will give students an opportunity to identify museum curation or other forms of exhibition production as a realistic goal.

It is intended that graduates are fully equipped to take entry into various competitions and schemes that provide initial rungs on the professional ladder, such as the Linbury Prize for Stage Design or the RSC’s trainee scheme.

• A good honours degree in Theatre Design, Costume, Set or Lighting Design, Fine or Live Art, other forms of 3D Visual Design or making such Architecture or Interior Design

• Portfolio on DVD supported by outline study proposal.

• Applicants whose first language is not English must show proof of IELTS level 6.5 and a minimum of 5.5 in reading, listening, writing and speaking. The University also accepts other tests. Please see the University English tests page for the equivalent scores required in these tests.

• Those without formal academic qualifications may also be considered, provided that they can show evidence of relevant experience and a level of work appropriate to the demands of the programme.

How to Apply

Home/EU students

You can download an application form using the link below

CCW Graduate School MA application form 2013 (Word 85KB)

Completed forms, including your study proposal, reference & portfolio (if required) can be returned by post to:

CCW Graduate School Admissions

16 John Islip Street

London

SW1P 4JU

Or you can submit your form electronically to ccwgraduateschool@arts.ac.uk

‌International Students

If you are an international student from outside the European Economic area (EEA), there are two ways you can apply to our postgraduate courses:

Through our official representative in your country. Find the representative for your country: http://www.arts.ac.uk/international/your-country/

If we do not have a representative in your country or you prefer to apply independently, you can complete an application form and send it directly to us in London. 

Click here for CCW International Application Form Postgraduate 2013 - 2014

Completed forms can be returned by post to:

CCW International Office

16 John Islip Street

London

SW1P 4JU

United Kingdom

Or you can submit your form electronically by email to: ccwinternational.documents@arts.ac.uk

If you have any questions or need further advice please contact the CCW International Office:

T: +44 (0)20 7514 1852

E: ccwinternational@arts.ac.uk

Application Deadlines

UK & EU applicants: 1 July 2013

International: No official deadline, but you are advised to apply as soon as possible.

What happens next?

Applications will be reviewed against the entry requirements and selection criteria for the course. You may then be invited to attend an interview at the College on a set day, with your full portfolio if applicable.

If you are not in the UK you will need to send your portfolio with your application and a telephone interview will be conducted.

Where possible portfolios should be in digital format e.g. CD’s,(labelled with your name and birth-date in pen) flash-drives or web-links.

Please note that portfolios cannot be returned so please do not send original work.

Applicants have the right to ask for feedback if their application is unsuccessful. Requests must be made in writing to the Student Administrator, and we will respond within 20 working days. 

Scholarships and Bursaries

Please check the following website for details of application deadlines.

http://www.arts.ac.uk/fees-funding/funding/postgraduatestudents/mafunding/