Theatre Directing (MFA) - 2013/2014 entry

This programme offers a professionally recognised training for theatre directors. It is the result of a unique collaboration between Birkbeck and the National Council for Drama Training, Arts Council England, Equity and the Theatrical Management Association. The programme has been planned in close co-operation with a wide range of distinguished theatre practitioners.

Find out about the work of recently graduated directors, about Birkbeck directors graduating in 2011, and read our guide for applicants 2013–2014.

• The programme is practice-centred and predominantly practice-based.
• Direct input of professional theatre practitioners: Mike Leigh, Vicki Mortimer, Simon Stephens and Sam West have been recent contributors.
• Includes a six-month secondment with a theatre company, providing the opportunity to direct and work with professional actors.
• Extended mentoring relationships between students and professional directors.

Year 1

Enables you to acquire an informed experience, knowledge and understanding of the work of the professional director with key collaborators such as actors, writers and designers. You will also be introduced to the current structural and financial realities of working as directors in the industry. One term is spent at a leading drama school, learning how actors are trained for today’s theatre. Intensive units with leading professionals, including members of the RSC’s voice and movement departments, and leading practitioners such as Mike Leigh, Mike Alfreds, Vicki Mortimer and Simon Stephens, will concentrate on the director’s relationship with the designer and the writer; and offer a practical understanding of how theatre companies and pieces of work are funded and managed.

Year 2

Enables you to develop your skills as a director through secondment to a theatre company or companies. During the secondment you are given a number of opportunities to work as a director with actors and other appropriate collaborators in the creation of theatre pieces. In the final term of the degree, students reassemble as a group to acquire practical knowledge and skills that will enable them to begin their careers as independent artists.

Collaborating theatre companies will be drawn from a group of committed organisations. This group currently includes: the Royal Exchange Manchester, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Sheffield Theatres, the Citizens Theatre Glasgow, the Library Theatre Manchester, the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith and the Finborough Theatre.

We have a range of world-class research resources.

This is the terminal qualification for practice-based learning as a theatre director. It equips students to develop careers as theatre directors in the UK, although some graduates successfully work abroad and in a range of media.

Recent graduates have directed productions at prestigious theatres including: the National Theatre, the Royal Court, English National Opera, The Gate, and in the West End. Others have established their own companies, such as Coney, Curious Directive, Rough Fiction, commonpractice, and Red Herring.

Others have won awards such as the James Menzies-Kitchin Award (the JMK), the Leverhulme bursary at the National Theatre Studio, the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme (RTYDS) Award, and The Stage Award for Best Fringe Theatre.

Many have assisted on productions at the RSC, the National Theatre and in the West End. Many have directed at regional theatres including Sheffield Theatres, the Royal Exchange, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Nottingham Playhouse.

On successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

• demonstrate critical understanding of the work of the professional theatre director and an understanding of all key aspects of that work, including: the professional director's role as interpreter and co-ordinator; the relationship between the professional director and other essential professional collaborators, including the actor, the author (and the text), the designer and the manager; the relationship between the professional director and the audience
• display informed knowledge of strategic, policy and financial/business issues that affect and impinge upon the work of the professional director
• critically evaluate arguments, claims and statements so as to arrive at a reasoned and sustainable conclusion
• analyse complex concepts through considered assessment of their origins, developments and ramifications
• research broadly, laterally and in depth and synthesise the results of that research so as to draw conclusions that are appropriately effective and productive
  execute in practice the range of skills required of a theatre director at a professionally acceptable level, taking a professional theatre production through its entire cycle, from initial conception to final public performance.

• A six-month industrial secondment to a professional theatre company or companies.
• Specific production opportunities under professional conditions within that secondment.
• An extended mentoring relationship between the student and a professional director centring on that professional secondment.
• An opportunity for the student to establish a relationship with a professional drama school offering a course or courses accredited by NCDT.
• Regular observation of the course by a highly experienced group of professional directors under the umbrella of NCDT.
• Participation in the teaching of the course by a substantial number of experienced theatre practitioners.

The admissions process

We want to secure the most talented, qualified and appropriate students for this course. There will be a maximum of 10 places on the course each year, and competition is expected to be considerable.

During the admission process we are concerned above all to assess your potential both to cope with the considerable demands of the course and to achieve the necessarily high standard required on completion. It is also equally important that we assess the suitability of the course for each candidate's wants and needs, since the philosophy and content of the course may not be appropriate for every aspiring director.

The admission process is therefore designed to allow us to be satisfied that candidates:

• have the necessary abilities to undertake and cope with the demands of this course
• show evidence of the skills and understanding needed for a course at this level of expectation and rigour
• demonstrate the personal qualities and commitment essential for the completion of this course.

Application guidelines

If you decide to apply for the course you should note that in addition to completing the online application, you must answer some specific questions designed to supply additional information about your experience of - and commitment to - theatre, as well as about your aspirations. Your responses are considered to be significant and will be taken into account in assessing your suitability for the course.

You must also supply details of two referees, whom the College will contact. At least one of these referees must be able to supply information about your experience of professional or professional-level theatre.

Overseas candidates

Candidates from overseas must attend the selection process in person. If your first language is not English, you should note that certified evidence of your proficiency in spoken and written English is required prior to admission to the course. The minimum level of proficiency required to undertake this course is 7.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please note that the admission of successful candidates whose first language is not English will be made conditional on their achievement of certified attainment of this IELTS level or its equivalent.

Selection process

After the consideration of all written applications, those applicants who are considered to be suitably qualified will be invited to participate as candidates in the course's selection process. During that process, each candidate's potential to become a professional director will be scrutinised and assessed. Details of the selection process will be supplied to candidates in due course.

Notes on making an application 

You should supply us with the following three items, the latter two of which should be sent to Anne-Marie Taylor, Department of English and Humanities, Birkbeck, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX) – you are strongly recommended to keep a copy of all three parts of your application for future reference:

• A completed copy of the online application. With regard to the section on Professional Experience, please remember that your CV will supplement the brief summary details you give here. With regard to your Referees, please note that at least one of these referees must be able to supply information about your experience of professional or professional-level theatre. This Referee must be able to give an informed view of your professional or professional-level theatre experience in general, which may or may not include directing. Selection Panels will be well aware that some appropriate candidates will only have quite minor, if any, experience of directing, and the Course does not prescribe a minimum level of directing experience before admission. The status or job-title of this Referee is very much less important than her/his ability to describe and testify to your professional or professional-level experience of theatre. You should supply telephone numbers for both your referees.
• A copy of your up-to-date curriculum vitae. Your CV should include details of your professional or professional-level experience of theatre (not just of theatre directing) and in addition should include details of any theatre directing experience you have had, whether at professional level or not.
• A 'supporting statement' consisting of some reasonably short written answers (each of 500 words or less) to the questions supplied below. This should consist of your answers to each one of the following questions, which we have designed to provide us with additional information, both about your experience of (and commitment to) theatre and about your aims, interests and concerns as a director. Your responses to these questions are considered to be significant and will be taken into account by selection panels in assessing your potential suitability for the course.

The supporting statement

Please note that each question should be answered in not more than 500 words. Of course your answers can be shorter than this if you wish. Please also note that, contrary to the statement on the application form, you are not expected to confine this 'supporting statement' to one sheet!

• What do you believe to be the role of the theatre director in relation to actors and other creative collaborators?
• Describe how you might approach directing a particular play or theatre piece (of your choice).
• What kind of theatre or theatre company do you want to direct and why, and what kind of work would you programme and why? (Please note: you can name and/or describe the work as you wish.)

It is very important to remember that there are no 'correct' answers to these questions! We have designed them to allow you to reveal as frankly as possible your present views of theatre and of what your potential or possible work as a director might be. We will expect our applicants to reveal a wide range of experience, opinions, interests and ambitions. Feel free to be candid; we will be interested to read your honest opinions and beliefs.

• There are two rounds of interviews: one in the middle of February 2013 (closing date for applications 14 January 2013), and one in June 2013 (closing date for applications 29 April 2013).