Program Overview

MFA Acting for Stage and Screen

Overview

Our 2-year MFA is a unique vocational training that offers you a full run in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the end of your first year and extensive screen acting work and showreel opportunities in your second year.

Mode of Study

• Full-time

Duration

• 2 years

Start date

• September

Course details

The MFA Acting for Stage & Screen is a unique 2-year degree that will reflect the challenge for most working actors today, which is to work confidently both in stage and screen acting. This is a practice-based course, and it aims to prepare students for an industry in which creative problem solving, advanced practical skills, business acumen, teamworking, and self-generated work are critical. We hope to train students who will graduate with all these abilities and can thrive as freelance performing artists across a range of opportunities within the creative arts industries.

Your first year focuses on stage acting. Alongside taught classes, you will be working with MFA Directors and Playwrights to workshop, develop and hone an original piece for production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The second year begins with both stage and screen acting, and in the final two trimesters you will be working with MA Film Directors and Screenwriters to work on short films that will be entered into festivals around the world. You will also have the chance to work with professional film directors and to create short films of your own devising.

How you’ll be taught

• This is a practical course, and will be taught in workshop settings, rehearsals, one-to-one tutorials, and through independent research and practice.

Assessments

• Your assessments will be based on a variety of practical performances and are the culmination of workshops and focused rehearsals, supported by tutorials.

Work placement

• Optional supervised work placement or overseas study module. Study modules mentioned above are indicative only. Some changes may occur between now and the time that you study.

Modules

• Acting: Contemporary Scenes (CLP11165)
• Acting: Heightened Text and Style (CLP11150)
• Advanced Acting for Stage & Screen (CLP11169)
• Festival Preview (CLP11178)
• Festival Production (CLP11179)
• Festival Workshop (CLP11166)
• Film Production I (CLP11170)
• Film Production II (CLP11171)
• Performance Skills (CLP11159)
• Professional Practice (CLP11172)
• Script Analysis For Actors (CLP11163)

Entry requirements

• The entry requirement for this course is a Bachelor (Honours) Degree at 2:2 or above in a Drama or Humanities subject.
• We may also consider lesser qualifications if you have sufficient professional work experience within the industry.
• The application process also includes an audition.

English language

• If your first language isn't English, you'll normally need to undertake an approved English language test. The English Language requirements for this programme are IELTS (Academic) with 7.0 with no individual component score less than 7.0.

International students

• We welcome applications from students studying a wide range of international qualifications.

Admissions policies

• We’re committed to admitting students who have the potential to succeed and benefit from our programmes of study.

Fees & funding

• The course fees you'll pay and the funding available to you will depend on a number of factors including your nationality, location, personal circumstances and the course you are studying.

Tuition fees for 2024/25

• Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland: £5,600
• Overseas and EU: £15,470

Careers

• This course will give you the skills necessary to work in a variety of areas within the performing arts industry, as well as a wide range of transferable skills (confident communication, leadership, collaborative team working skills, and creative problem solving) that can take you into employment in many other fields.
• Career opportunities include:
  • Stage and screen acting
  • Small-scale producing
  • Directing
  • Managing and launching small theatre companies
  • Theatre company management
  • Arts administration
  • Various roles in the entertainment industry which require initiative and creativity
  • Teaching