Memorandum 85
Submission from the Master of Fine Arts
in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I ask the Select Committee to consider granting
an exemption from the proposed Equal Learning Qualification funding
restrictions for the Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Directing
at Birkbeck on the grounds of its vocationality and the highly
specialised nature of the practice-based learning that makes it
a distinct progression from, and therefore not equal to, other
Masters degrees.
EVIDENCE FOR
THE VOCATIONALITY
AND DISTINCTIVENESS
OF THE
MASTER OF
FINE ARTS
IN THEATRE
DIRECTING
1.1 The Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Directing
was established in 2003 in response to two ACE-led and Gulbenkian
Foundation-funded reports about director training in the UK in
the late eighties and early nineties: "A Better Direction"
was written by Kenneth Rae in 1989 and revised by Andrew McKinnon
in 1996.
1.2 Having consulted Equity, TMA and ACE,
and a number of theatre directors and drama school Principals,
Peter Cheeseman, the then Chairman of the National Council for
Drama Training, approached Birkbeck to establish such a course
in conjunction with the NCDT, on behalf of the industry.
1.3 The Gulbenkian Reports believed that
a professionally acceptable course must
— be at postgraduate level
— derive from a collaboration between
the university, drama school and professional theatre sectors;
and
— incorporate a meaningful amount of
work for the student with professional actors in a professional
context.
1.4 The design of the Programme incorporates
these three specific points and takes account of many others that
were contained within these two Reports.
Its features therefore include
— a six-month secondment to a professional
theatre company or companies;
— specific production opportunities
under professional conditions within that secondment;
— an opportunity for students to establish
a relationship with one of the NCDT-accredited professional drama
schools;
— regular observation of the Programme
by a highly experienced group of professional directors under
the umbrella of NCDT;
— participation in the teaching of
the Programme by a substantial number of experienced theatre practitioners.
2.1 The programme has a separate relationship
with a number of drama schools that offer placements to trainee
directors on the MFA during the autumn term each year. Drama schools
that have offered placements thus far include: Arts Educational,
Bristol Old Vic, Central, Drama Centre London, Guildhall, LAMDA,
Manchester Metropolitan and RADA.
2.2 The programme has also received £320,000
in grants from ACE over the past four years to finance productions
by the trainee directors at their secondment theatres. SOLT, Channel
Four, the Mackintosh Foundation, Equity Trust, the Olivier Foundation
and Laurence Harbottle have provided bursaries for the trainee
directors.
2.3 Theatres currently offering six-month
secondments include: Theatre by the Lake Keswick, West Yorkshire
Playhouse, Royal Exchange Manchester, Lyric Theatre Hammersmith,
Soho Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East
and Theatre 503. Last year theatres included the Crucible Sheffield,
Tara Arts, the Unicorn, London Bubble, the Gate Notting Hill and
the Royal Court.
2.4 Regular contributors to the teaching
on the programme include: Mike Leigh, Mike Alfreds, Juliet Stevenson,
Patrick Marber, Simon Stephens, Alison Chitty, Vicki Mortimer,
Cicely Berry, Simon Usher, Irving Wardle and members of Complicite
and Frantic Assembly. The programme also has a yearly week of
workshops at the National Theatre Studio, regular workshops from
the RSC's voice department, and a month-long collaboration with
Motley Design School each year.
3.1 At its inception, this masters programme
was termed a master of fine arts, to denote that this programme
is a practice-based taught vocational degree, distinct from the
numerous academically-orientated master of arts programmes available
at other universities.
3.2 During the five years that the MFA Theatre
Directing has existed, several places have been offered to students
with masters degrees. Some of those students have masters degrees
in other arts subject, some in theatre-related subjects: these
degrees provide a valuable theoretical contextual knowledge for
embarking on the MFA Theatre Directing, but none of them offer
the unique practice-based learning, delivered by industry partners
and leading practitioners, that the MFA can provide and that the
theatre industry has so clearly indicated it believes is necessary
for the training of professional theatre directors, ready to take
their place in the industry.
3.3 The MFA Theatre Directing is not directly
comparable with any other masters degree: it offers a further
level of specialised study and practice and it is the terminal
qualification for professional practice as a theatre director.
January 2008
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