Disciplines
Production and Stage Management
Stage Managers play an integral role in the realisation and running of a production. It is a demanding but highly rewarding profession, for which the skills of communication, organisation and leadership need to be highly developed.
During the first year students will learn in great detail the role and responsibilities of the Assistant Stage Manager (ASM), Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) and the Stage Manager (SM). Students will also learn the core skills needed to undertake these roles to a high level, such as prop making, score reading, scheduling, budgeting, how to complete risk assessments, how to create a prompt book, how to prompt actors, block rehearsals and cue a show, how to run a technical rehearsal, and how to research, source and haggle for props, to name but a few.
In the second year students will get to put these skills into practice by undertaking show roles on Mountview's public student productions. Students will gain valuable experience working as an ASM, DSM or Stage Manager, alongside freelance professionals. Students also have the opportunity to gain experience in other related show roles such as Assistant Production Manager, Event Manager and Floor Manager.
Mountview presents over 20 productions a year. These vary from large to small scale, in different types of venues from proscenium arch theatres to in-the-round studio spaces. Students get a well-rounded knowledge of different types of theatre and the challenges faced through the various staging configurations and scale of the shows.
The course is fast-paced and challenging, reflecting the industry. Mountview students are given a lot of responsibility, preparing them for the demands of their chosen career.
Lighting, Sound and Digital Production
The last decade has seen tremendous innovation and creativity across the domains of live and recorded entertainment. The explosion in large scale, mass audience vehicles spanning everything from music to comedy has created a new skills demand to complement those traditionally found in theatre and 'housed' performance courses.
Creative collaboration across the specialisms of lighting, sound, and digital scenography are opening up new career opportunities for multi-skilled technicians to enter a new, emerging world of incredible opportunity. Mountview's Lighting Sound and Digital Production students will be at the forefront of this new landscape by undertaking a course of study that features industry standard skills supported by professional tutors, freelancers and guest lecturers who represent the best in contemporary practice.
Mountview offers a hands-on approach to training that sees students engage across the core disciplines within sound, lighting and areas of digital presentation and manipulation in both class and studio work. With a large output of public performances students will quickly find themselves experiencing a range of leading-edge lighting desks, sound consoles, automated lighting fixtures and media servers leading up to taking major areas of responsibility in their year two show roles.
There is much to learn in a busy first year of study and students can expect to explore the basic work underpinning safe and expert practice in the field, from rigging at height to gaining a knowledge of equipment and components that make up the lighting and sound response for a range of performance genres, be they musical theatre, plays, or devised and non-traditional production. Students will quickly gain a practical appreciation of the power and control required to implement performance design and explore the theory and process that forms it.
Mountview's public performances are presented in a variety of venues across London, meaning students are always offered the challenge presented by a range of logistics, allowing them to be the flexible, organised technicians that thrive on the opportunity to do something new, somewhere different.
Mountview's previous graduates in the field are represented all over the UK and abroad, in West End and commercial theatre, in holiday and themed entertainment sectors, in event and corporate presentation, on cruise ships and in arena presented performance, touring theatre, dance, opera and almost every other area of this dynamic industry.
Design and Applied Arts
Design and Applied Arts offers a wealth of opportunity for individuals to apply, extend and develop their abilities in order to provide flexible career routes within a range of creative industries. The course is designed to further students understanding of theatre design and contemporary issues in theatre practice and live performance. Some students aim to follow careers as set designers and assistant designers, whilst others are interested in working in the associated creative areas: scenic carpenters, scene painters, scenic prop makers or within costume design and wardrobe.
Mountview's aim is to provide students with core practical skills in order that individuals can become professionally competent within the component areas of Theatre Design and associated crafts: scenic carpentry, scene painting, scenic prop making, costume design and wardrobe production skills.
Within design, students will, for example, learn skills in both theory and practice: research processes, text analysis and design interpretation, model making, methods of 2D representation, Auto CAD and technical drawing. Scene painting explores the role of the scene painter: colour, canvas preparation, scale transference, faux techniques combined with skills in applied texture. Scenic prop making explores poly carving, sculpting and the use of specialist casting materials and making techniques, Costume design and production wardrobe explores historical and period costume interpretation, basic making and costume construction skills and the role of production wardrobe.
Within scenic carpentry, students learn woodworking and metalwork, technical drawing and computer-aided design. Students are also introduced to materials, techniques and equipment used in rigging, set construction and for developing stage machinery and effects. Alongside this, they will learn techniques for managing the factors necessary in organising an efficient set-build that meets the functional and aesthetic requirements of the production.
Students have the ideal opportunity to develop the many skills needed in a diverse creative industry. These transferable skills allow students to follow many career paths.
