MA PERFORMANCE – MUSICAL THEATRE

Validated by University of East Anglia

Duration: 1 year (full-time)
Application Deadline: May 9 2025 at 9:00AM

2025/26 Course Fees

Audition Fee (in-person) : £50
Audition Fee (online) : £40
UK/ ROI students : £20,605
International students : £23,965
APPLY FOR THIS COURSE

Explore the course:

Course Overview
Course Content
Graduates
Entry
Fees
Auditions and interviews

Course Overview

Mountview is recognised as one of the best places in the world to train for a career in musical theatre, and our alumni dominate the industry.

Our intensive 1-year MA programme delivers focused, culturally engaged, practical performer training. The course enables graduates to confidently enter the industry, fully prepared with the skillset to assuredly navigate the demands of any performance space.

With a strictly limited number of places available each year, early application is strongly encouraged.

Course Content

Students receive over 30 hours of direct teaching time each week, with a maximum of 17 students per class.

Over the first two terms you will undertake skills training split equally between the three essential musical theatre skills – acting, singing and dance – including one-to-one singing lessons and classes in acting for camera in term two. In each term, the skills work is then applied to performance projects. These projects include work on non-musical contemporary texts, and classic and contemporary book musicals.

There will be additional lectures and seminars on devising, autobiographical and solo performance, as well as on concepts such as intersectional feminist, post dramatic, queer and critical race theories, socio/political theatre practices and the performance of knowledge.

Through the first and second term, all students undertake the Creative Project, creating an original piece of theatre or film, performed at the end of term two. The Creative Project is supported and developed by one-to-one tutorials and influenced by the concepts discussed in the seminar/lecture programme.

In the third term, students perform in a professional showcase for agents, casting directors and other prominent industry professionals, as well as a fully staged public production of a musical.

Students also work closely with Mountview’s Industry Liaison Manager to prepare for life as a working performer.

2025/26 Term Dates
Autumn term 8 September – 14 December 2025
Spring term 5 January – 29 March 2026
Summer term 7 April – 7 August 2026

Skills
  • Acting
  • Improvisation
  • Approaches to text
  • Voice
  • Acting through song
  • Dance & movement
  • Singing & music

Performance
  • Open space
  • Modern text
  • Book musical 1

MA Creative Project
  • Seminars
  • Lectures
  • One-to-one tutorials

2025/26 Term Dates
Autumn term 8 September – 14 December 2025
Spring term 5 January – 29 March 2026
Summer term 7 April – 7 August 2026

Skills
  • Acting
  • Acting for camera
  • Recorded voice
  • Classical text
  • Improvisation
  • Voice
  • Acting through song
  • Dance & movement
  • Singing & music

Performance
  • Scene into song
  • Book musical 2

MA Creative Project
  • Seminars
  • Lectures
  • One-to-one tutorials
  • Creative project
  • Performance

2025/26 Term Dates
Autumn term 8 September – 14 December 2025
Spring term 5 January – 29 March 2026
Summer term 7 April – 7 August 2026

Skills
  • Industry engagement
  • Career development

Performance
  • Showcase
  • Public production
  • Devised musical project

MA Creative Project
  • Written submission

Our Graduates

Recent graduates of MA Performance have gone on to work for the National Theatre, National Theatre of Wales, National Theatre of Scotland, Donmar Warehouse, Globe, Royal Court, Edinburgh Lyceum, Lyric Belfast, Turun Kaupunginteatteri Finland, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Foro Shakespeare Mexico, Shanghai Grand Theatre and across the West End.

On screen, recent graduates have worked for BBC, ITV, Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros and Disney. Many have also created their own work, for companies including Bush Theatre, Royal Court, Soho Theatre, Theatre Peckham and Lyric Belfast.

"My year in Mountview was a big turning point in my life. The MA Musical Theatre course not only taught me the performance skills I needed to navigate through the industry but also provided me a diverse community of creatives who I still collaborate and work with until today."

- Melisa Camba, Mountview Alumna

Entry Information

Admission onto the course is by audition. Applicants must be aged 21 years or over at the start of the course. Students who do not hold an undergraduate degree will need to undertake an access assignment to establish suitability for undertaking the MA.

If an applicant requires a student visa and their first language is not English, they will need to prove their knowledge of the English language before applying for their student visa. This must be demonstrated by passing a Secure English Language Test (SELT) from an approved provider or having a GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English, gained through study at a UK school that they began when they were under 18.

Mountview welcomes applications from people with disabilities and is keen to support all applicants to achieve their best. If applicants have any special requirements or access needs, these should be discussed with the course leader/administrator.

Mountview is committed to a comprehensive policy of equal opportunities for students in which individuals are selected and treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities. No applicant will receive less or more favourable treatment on grounds of sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnic origin, disability, religion and marital/parental status or any comparable grounds.

Fees

Audition Fee (in-person)£50
Audition Fee (online)£40
UK/ ROI students£20,605
International students £23,965

All fees listed are for 2025/26 entry. 

Additional costs include grey palette active wear for workshops, dance shoes and dancewear – allow around £250. Headshots and Spotlight membership – allow around £350.

Please note that at this stage, Student Finance Scotland and NI do not currently fund Mountview’s postgraduate programmes.

Funding and Scholarships

Auditions Info

MA Performance auditions will take place in-person over a full day, with the first round taking place in the morning and successful candidates being invited to stay for their recall the same afternoon.

For international candidates and those with exceptional circumstances, the option of an online audition is available.

There is a £50 audition fee for in-person MA Performance auditions and a £40 audition fee for online MA Performance auditions, with waivers and reductions available for candidates with a household income of less than £21,000.

For detailed information on what you need to prepare for auditions and for audition dates visit: 

Auditions and Interviews