Directing for Stage and Screen Ma

The MFA Directing for Stage and Screen is an intensive two-year programme designed for emerging directors who wish to develop a distinctive creative voice and build a sustainable professional career across theatre, film, and screen-based media. This advanced degree offers an extended period of practice-led learning, enabling students to deepen their artistic vision while acquiring the professional skills, industry insight, and networks required to succeed in today’s highly competitive creative industries.

The MFA builds upon the one-year MA by providing an additional year of focused study and creative production. This extended timeframe allows students to undertake more ambitious directing projects, refine their craft through sustained practice, and develop work of a professional standard suitable for public presentation, festivals, and industry engagement. The programme is particularly suited to students who are committed to pursuing directing as a long-term professional pathway.

Central to the programme is a practice-based learning approach, with students engaging in hands-on directing projects for both stage and screen. Through these projects, students apply theoretical knowledge to real-world creative contexts, working with actors, designers, writers, and production teams. The curriculum combines traditional and contemporary approaches to directing, encouraging experimentation across forms and genres while grounding practice in strong storytelling and visual language.

Students develop core directing skills, including storytelling, visual composition, actor-direction, script analysis, rehearsal processes, and production management. The programme also introduces elements of scriptwriting and filmmaking, enabling students to understand the full creative and production pipeline from concept to final performance or screen work. This interdisciplinary approach supports the development of versatile directors capable of working across theatre, film, and hybrid performance forms.