MA Stage Management
Q & A with Antonia Collins, Course Leader
What are you looking for in potential MA
students?
Enthusiasm! Combined with some solid, practical, preferably
professional experience. The type of students we take have normally
been wanting to come to us for a while, either because they have
been at university doing a different subject and ‘discovered’ stage
management, or because they have been working in the theatre
professionally and can’t quite make the jump into a full time
career because they lack skills or contacts – both of which we can
deliver. A good old fashioned dose of common sense and a passion
for the theatre are also both essential.
How many places are available?
The short answer is around eight. The longer answer is that we
only take a small amount of students so that we can deliver each
person a very bespoke, individual course. Work placements are an
integral part of the programme and we want to secure absolutely the
best work placements for students, which will help advance their
career. We can only do that if we keep numbers small.
What makes this course different from other stage
management courses?
The college is relatively small which means we get to know our
students really well, helping shape their individual career
aspirations. Also, stage management has never been a secondary
programme here. The stage management and design students are as
vital as the acting students, and projects and plays are selected
on that basis. Students will get to work with amazing professional
directors in a fantastic array of venues in both Cardiff and also
much further away.
RWCMD’s MA Stage Management programme combines a great Masters
qualification with a really practical course that will get students
into work as soon as they are ready.
What is the actual structure of the course?
We start in January each year with a module that last six weeks
called Practical Skills. As it sounds, it is a basic grounding in
all the areas needed to be employed as a technical ASM. After this
students go onto a college show in the role of ASM. After Easter we
go back into the classroom with a module called Management Studies.
This will start to build up student’s managerial skills, getting
them ready to take on the ‘bigger’ roles. We also look at job
hunting, CV writing and mock interviews.
In the second half of the summer term students work on a second
college production but this time probably in a more senior role
such as DSM or SM. By the end of the summer term students will have
decided whether to complete a work placement at the college’s venue
at the Edinburgh Festival, or undertake an external work
placement.
After that, students will need to complete one more work
placement. In 2010 students undertook placements with the Royal
Court, Donmar Warehouse and the Almeida SM teams amongst
others.
Having completed this part of the course, students now begin
their career in the professional world whilst completing their
Professional Practice Journal (PPJ). This is a personal, reflective
piece of work written by the student about their working practice.
Each student has a college supervisor for this work and can liaise
with them using technologies such as Skype which means they can
undertake a position anywhere in the world.
The title of the course is ‘Stage Management’. What if
you are not exactly sure which part of the entertainment industry
you wish to go into?
The MA course works really well for people who already know what
they want to get out of it and the more precise you can be, the
better we can do our job. However, there is some room for
manoeuvre. For example you might come to us thinking you wanted to
work in plays and then fall in love with opera! What wouldn’t work
though is if someone was unsure between stage management and maybe
lighting or sound design. This course is too specialised. Potential
designers should look at the college’s MA Theatre Design, which
includes specialist pathways in lighting and sound.
When do you interview and how quickly after the
interview will students know?
We try and see everyone in the same week in October. You will be
informed within ten working days.
However if you are interested in the course then either come to
an Open Day or, if you can’t make one of those, just email and we
will see you for a chat. Sometimes we see people for years before
they actually make it onto the course!
Some people have never been to Cardiff before. What
opportunities does Cardiff offer stage management
students?
Yes indeed! Cardiff is a fantastic capital city that has lots
going on from the more conventional theatrical fare such as
musicals at the Wales Millennium Centre to more intimate theatre
shows at the arty Chapter Arts Centre. Most of our students go on
to work all over the UK and indeed over the world and if you want
to go to London to do a work placement, you can - lots of our
students do.
Ultimately if you think we offer the right course for you and
you have the experience and ambition that we are looking for, then
come visit and talk to us about how we can help you develop your
chosen career.