Stage Management courses

[terri]

Hello, I am new to the blue room forum!!! And I am finding a great help so thanks!! :)

 

I was just wondering whether anyone could tell me any could straight Stage Management courses that they may know as I have found some but I am now struggling to find other courses, can any help me?

[andy_s]

For drama schools with stage management degrees or diploma course (usually for students aged 18 plus) see if you can find a copy of "Contacts" in your local library. this has a section about drama schools.

 

Most of them (but not all) are in London. Your closest would be Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

 

In my opinion, the advantage of a drama school training is that there are generally better resources available for the practical work that is essential (including actors, some of whom may be very good indeed, to practice on)

 

in the past I've worked with (and given jobs to) former students from GSMD, Guildford, Mountview, CSSD, RADA, LAMDA, Rose Bruford, Welsh, E15, ALRA, RSAMD (in Glasgow) and others, and there are differences of approach from all these places, but generally speaking I think they all produce reasonably good stage managers. I would hesitate to recommend one over the others as it is over 25 years since I actually attended one of them, but look them up in "Contacts", check out the websites, get the prospectus from each one and see if any suit you.

 

Outside the drama school set-up, lots of performing arts course have stage management modules as part of a broader course, but I'm assuming from your post that you want to specialize? (I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "could straight stage management" ... ) and personally I think the drama school route may offer better options. But I don't know a lot about the multitude of universities and courses available now, for tertiary education, and I expect someone with more knowledge will be along soon to fill us in ....

[Tom]

Never mind Contacts, the Conference of Drama Schools lists to top drama schools here

 

T

[andy_s]

good link, but it doesn't have lots of amusing piccies of actors to advertise the portrait photographers to while away the boredom :) .... or a useful list of rehearsal rooms and props suppliers. production companies and other useful information. So quite handy to know about anyway. I quite like having my copy of contacts close to hand ....

 

doesn't appear to have much of an online presence, however.... somewhat old-fashioned I suppose.

[kerry davies]

There you go Terri, Andy doesn't realise that getting to Cardiff from Rhos means Liverpool, Birmingham and even London are closer by most modes of transport. Good advice though.

 

A few weeks ago I was talking to Coleg Meirionydd who are running NSA Creative Skills apprenticeships which may be of interest. Not sure what they are up to but I know event management is one scheme they are into. Worth a phone call unless you have sufficient funds for the academic route.

[andy_s]

There you go Terri, Andy doesn't realise that getting to Cardiff from Rhos means Liverpool, Birmingham and even London are closer by most modes of transport. Good advice though.

 

A few weeks ago I was talking to Coleg Meirionydd who are running NSA Creative Skills apprenticeships which may be of interest. Not sure what they are up to but I know event management is one scheme they are into. Worth a phone call unless you have sufficient funds for the academic route.

 

it's a fair cop I'm English.

 

Is Llandrillo near Rhos?

[robhall3192]

the NDCT accredited courses are the only SM course that are really worth going down if you want to do a degree.

Im at RWCMD at the moment in Cardiff and loving it. Make sure you get as much experience as you can, have the right work ethic and attitude etc.

If you want to ask anything more specific then just message me, I applied and interviewed at Mountview, CSSD and RWCMD.

Also just visit on the open days.

If you only want straight SM course than RWCMD may not be the place for you as you have to do tech, but its not a tough thing to do, and you can focus very early on .

[elvenprince]

I'd be cautious about going for a straight Stage Management course; even though that may be all you want to do, I would expect a Stage Manager to know how to run up a tallescope and be able to change the lamp on a PARcan, or to operate a sound mixer to an adequate level. It's why I avoided Central; while I was looking at the Lighting Design course, the same reasons apply; you learn about lighting design, and nothing else, which I feel is detrimental to your employability afterwards. To work in this industry, which is built on teamwork, you need to be able to lend a hand here and there, and have a competency in all areas of backstage work, not just the one you specialise in.

 

To echo what's been said above; look through prospectuses, visit open days, e-mail tutors, and try to research as much as possible. Talk to past students, employers, that sort of thing :)

[Junior8]

The last poster is right.

and by the way both shows were top class. Mind you I don't know about running up a wretched tallescope - they've always frightened me witless or something that rhymes.

[erroneousblack]

The last poster is right.

and by the way both shows were top class. Mind you I don't know about running up a wretched tallescope - they've always frightened me witless or something that rhymes.

 

Try being in a fully extended one that's falling over! Honestly thought I was off to meet my maker.

 

Being an aethiest, obviously I don't believe I have a maker, but you know what I mean!

 

Apart from my parents that is, I'll stop digging!

[terri]

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has replyed, your comments have been really helpful and I am now going to look into some of the things you have all mentioned, so thank you :)

[bigdave1407]

Hi Terri

 

I work at GSA (Guildford School of Acting) we run an acredited Technical theatre course in which you can specialise in SM but you do other minor roles aswell - any questions give me a shout

 

Cheers ;)

 

Dave

[Claire]

I'm doing postgrad SM at Mountview and although we specialise from the beginning, the idea is that we finish with a good all round knowledge of the basics of all areas. I mean, if you're a SM you'll need to know about everything from fitups to calling a show, but also basic sound and lighting opping, and it's good to be able to understand things like design and construction (which is BRILLIANT and really useful). By understanding what everyone else does it also means that you have a better appreciation of the pressures and constraints so you can be diplomatic :) and know why one department might want to do something a particular way even though it mightn't immediately seem logical to you.