MA
Directing

Opportunities for you

• The programme supports you in developing creative and ethical working methods that avoid discriminatory practices concerning your actors and collaborators, ensuring you can meet your duty of care in future roles such as director or artistic director of a theatre company or arts organisation.
• You will in various contexts as a director, be trained to lead workshops and have the opportunity to work as either an assistant director or assistant dramaturg to a professional director in the spring term.
• The programme will prepare you for a career in the cultural sector and a wide range of industry guests will visit over the year to deliver lectures, masterclasses and networking opportunities.
• On the Approaches to Direction I and II modules, you'll benefit from studio-based LAB work on direction in addition to seminars, talks from a wide range of professional directors, one-to-one tutorials and observation of your rehearsals throughout the year.
• You'll have the opportunity to work towards a final Independent Research Project which will include a public performance you have directed as part of the graduate festival and a written reflection on your practice research.
• MA Directing has been designed to work in synergy with MA Acting and you'll work closely with MA Acting students on several modules and projects over the year.
• As an MA Directing student, you'll have the opportunity to audit two major modules taken by MA Acting students to learn to embody methods you may wish to employ as a director, to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the actor's process.
• The training model used on the programme will place you, your identity, agency and well-being at the centre of the learning process.
• You'll be encouraged to develop critical, self-reflective, technical and professional strategies for driving an independent career path while working collaboratively.
• You'll also work alongside those studying MA Performance Making, MA Screen Acting and MA Dramaturgy and Writing for Performance programmes in a dynamic postgraduate community.
• Goldsmiths is a small and welcoming university which provides the intimacy needed for training in theatre, combined with a long history of intellectual and creative dynamism and critical enquiry.
• You'll benefit from the dynamic environment at Goldsmiths within reach of the imaginative and theatrical stimulus of London's cultural and creative locations.

Academic support

• Support for your learning and well-being is provided in a number of ways by the department and university support services who work collaboratively to ensure you get the right help to reach your best potential both academically and personally.
• You will be allocated a personal tutor who has overall responsibility for your individual progress and welfare. You will meet frequently with your personal tutor, either face-to-face, as part of a group, or electronically. The first meeting will take place at the start of the autumn term. In your meetings, you'll discuss progress on modules and discuss the academic discipline you are studying. This provides an opportunity for progress, personal goal setting, attendance checking and review of assessment marks in an informed discussion, strengthening your individual learning and success.
• The Department of Theatre and performance has a senior tutor who can support you with any issues that are negatively impacting your academic study and are beyond the normal scope of issues handled by your programme director or personal tutor.

How to apply

Apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system.

Before submitting your application you’ll need to have:

• Details of your academic qualifications
• The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
• Copies of your educational transcripts or certificates
• A personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online. Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement
• One short self-taped piece of directed performance with an accompanying statement. You are permitted to direct yourself in this self-taped performance, or direct 1-2 actors. - Please read our guidance for your self-tape and accompanying statement.

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Please note: the deadline for applications is 25 April. Selected candidates are interviewed by the programme director and the results are processed within four weeks of the interview. If you need an earlier interview due to scholarship applications, please contact the Admissions Team.

When to apply

We accept applications from the beginning of October until 25 April for students wanting to start the following September.

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place that is conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. Late applications will only be considered if there are spaces available.

Selection process

Admissions to this programme is via a two stage process. Stage one requires the successful submission of a self-taped directed performance that meet the specific conditions outlined in our audition requirements with an accompanying statement, in addition to your application form and transcripts.

If you are successful at stage one, you will then be invited to an online interview which is stage two of our application process. Interviews will take place between November to May.

Find out more about applying.

Facilities

The Department of Theatre and Performance delivers teaching in five theatre studios and houses the technically-supported George Wood Theatre. Further facilities include a voice recording booth, media editing suite, scenographic workshop areas and a costume design studio. Find out more about our facilities.