Some training questions

[ajh]

Hello, forgive me if this has been asked before, as I'm only halfway through reading the 26 pages this subforum has <_<

 

I'm currently working front of house in a west end theatre, I left school in 2005 with my A levels and decided not to go to uni just then as I wasn't sure what to do, in the recent months I've been very interested in stage management and the whole backstage area of the theatre, and have decided that I would like to do a course in technical theatre, I think it's too late to go for 2007 entry, especially with no experience etc.

 

So I was wondering if it was worth doing this part time evening course for a year http://www.citylit.ac.uk/multicourseshow.p...amp;datefilter= and possibly the 2 week summer course lamda has to offer, as I see many of the theatres require a portfolio of your work in an interview, would either of these courses benefit me when it comes to applying for a degree level tech theatre course?

 

Many Thanks

[paulears]

It is likely to be a very acceptable intro if you want to extend study there, but appears to be a leisure course, offering no recognised qualification. As such, other institutions won't be able to tell the level or understand any grades, as the criteria will be held in-house and probably not published.

 

The web site doesn't show it as an acredited course.

 

This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it means the tutors can pretty well do what they like and not have to conform to an outside set of standards or content.

 

So for skills building it could be great - best way is to find somebody who has been on it before. How expensive is it, and how many people will be on the course?

[ajh]

Yeah my main worry is that it isn't acredited and may be a waste of time, I'm also not sure how much it exactly costs.

 

I'm not really sure how to get into doing a stage management course any other way though really, well at least I can't seem to find any courses that run for about a year that would give me some solid experience, so I could go onto further study. I guess my main interest lies in theatre lighting, and would ultimately like to work in that area in theatre. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Simon Lewis]

AJH,

 

If you have A levels and have an interest in stage management, I would have thought that you could still apply for September 2007 entry? You could even apply as late as the clearing period after the A level results are made known in the summer - although places may have been filled by then.

 

Why not look at the courses shown at the UCAS website and make enquires?

 

Simon

[ajh]

Hi, I had considered that, but I'm thinking my lack of experience in the subject would put me at a big disadvantage, as most places seem to require a portfolio of work...

 

Just had a further look on the city lit website and it says that it is accredited by the London Open College Network...

[w/robe]

Just had a further look on the city lit website and it says that it is accredited by the London Open College Network...

 

but has anyone ever heard of the London Open College Network and what exactly do they accredit?

[paulears]

As far as I know, they became the Open College Network (OCN) in 2005 and now cover a much bigger area - The london bit is now OCNLR - London region.

 

They are quite well established and most of their programmes are used as kind of access courses - often by older people who want to go to uni. They do a course that covers broad ground, gets assessed in a similar(ish) way to uni work and the universities accept them as proof that the person is up to their standards and will be able to do well, one there. I'm not certain, but my feeling is that they may not be suitable for people straight from full time education, as they have always seemed to me to be built around the common sense and life experience only age gives you?