Rose Bruford College
Encyclopedia
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance (originally called the Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama) is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA
and MA
degrees, based in Sidcup
, Southeast London
.
and related arts
in Western Europe." According to Rose Bruford College's official website, it provides innovative degree courses in drama
training, including degrees in performance like Acting, Actor Musicianship, and European and American Theatre Arts, plus offering courses in other practices and technoligies of theatre, such as Costume Production, Lighting Design, Lighting Control, Performance Sound, Scenic Arts, Theatre Design and Stage Management.
Principal and Chief Executive, Professor Michael Earley, was formerly Chief Producer of Plays for BBC Radio Drama and has headed theatre programmes at the University of Lincoln (UK) and Yale University (US). Director Sir Richard Eyre became the first President of Rose Bruford College in July 2010.
Rose Theatre, the intimate Barn Theatre or the two black box studio spaces. Third year undergraduate students present their shows in London
venues ranging from the Unicorn Theatre to the Leicester Square Theatre..
The college enjoys various international contacts with drama schools in both Europe and North America. It matriculates a substantial number of international students and places its students in high-ranking drama training institutions outside the United Kingdom
.
Rose Bruford College's vocational courses are accredited by the National Council for Drama Training
, and it is a member of The Conference of Drama Schools (CDS). The College's undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications and programmes are validated by the University of Manchester
.
Library; and the David Bolland Collection, which is devoted to material about Kathakali
. Members or former members of its faculty serve as editors and/or on the editorial boards of performing-arts journals like New Theatre Quarterly (Simon Trussler, co-editor) and Performance Prompt.
In partnership with the London V&A Theatre Collections Online
, the College also sponsors and supports the web-based
UK
theatre
audio-discussion site TheatreVoice.
Its material relating to research, knowledge transfer, and community outreach is featured online in TheatreFutures.
Rose Bruford College is not the only theatrical college to be based in Sidcup. Bird College
, which specialises in dance and musical theatre, is also based in the town.
House in Sidcup
in the Greater London
area by actress, drama tutor and author Rose Bruford. The current campus encompasses both the manor house and a modern set of buildings completed in 2002. For some time, there was also a campus situated in Deptford
, near Greenwich
in South East London, which was closed when the college incorporated all of its courses on the Sidcup campus.
Rose Bruford College serves as the setting for fictional drama school Salinger College in the 2007 TV drama series Nearly Famous
.
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
Online Distance Learning
Research degrees (validated by Goldsmiths, University of London)
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
degrees, based in Sidcup
Sidcup
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the London Borough of Greenwich.Located south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of...
, Southeast London
South East (London sub region)
The South East is a sub-region of the London Plan corresponding to the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark. The sub region was established in 2008. The south east has a population of 1,300,000 and is the location of 500,000 jobs...
.
History
Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree in 1976." It is "one of the largest, most comprehensive providers of vocational degrees in theatreTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and related arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
in Western Europe." According to Rose Bruford College's official website, it provides innovative degree courses in drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
training, including degrees in performance like Acting, Actor Musicianship, and European and American Theatre Arts, plus offering courses in other practices and technoligies of theatre, such as Costume Production, Lighting Design, Lighting Control, Performance Sound, Scenic Arts, Theatre Design and Stage Management.
Principal and Chief Executive, Professor Michael Earley, was formerly Chief Producer of Plays for BBC Radio Drama and has headed theatre programmes at the University of Lincoln (UK) and Yale University (US). Director Sir Richard Eyre became the first President of Rose Bruford College in July 2010.
Organisation
Joining vocational training programmes across disciplines, Rose Bruford College enables students of different professions in the performing arts to collaborate throughout their training. Students stage theatre productions in the four on-campus theatre performance spaces: the 300-seat theatre in the roundTheatre in the round
Theatre-in-the-round or arena theatre is any theatre space in which the audience surrounds the stage area...
Rose Theatre, the intimate Barn Theatre or the two black box studio spaces. Third year undergraduate students present their shows in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
venues ranging from the Unicorn Theatre to the Leicester Square Theatre..
The college enjoys various international contacts with drama schools in both Europe and North America. It matriculates a substantial number of international students and places its students in high-ranking drama training institutions outside the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Rose Bruford College's vocational courses are accredited by the National Council for Drama Training
National Council for Drama Training
The National Council for Drama Training is a partnership of employers in the theatre, broadcast and media industry, employee representatives and training providers....
, and it is a member of The Conference of Drama Schools (CDS). The College's undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications and programmes are validated by the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
.
Research and community outreach
The College's research facilities and archives include: the Stanislavski Centre; the Clive BarkerClive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
Library; and the David Bolland Collection, which is devoted to material about Kathakali
Kathakali
Kathakali is a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion...
. Members or former members of its faculty serve as editors and/or on the editorial boards of performing-arts journals like New Theatre Quarterly (Simon Trussler, co-editor) and Performance Prompt.
In partnership with the London V&A Theatre Collections Online
Theatre Museum
The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London, England, was the United Kingdom's national museum of the performing arts. It was a branch of the UK's national museum of applied arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum...
, the College also sponsors and supports the web-based
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
audio-discussion site TheatreVoice.
Its material relating to research, knowledge transfer, and community outreach is featured online in TheatreFutures.
Rose Bruford College is not the only theatrical college to be based in Sidcup. Bird College
Bird College
Bird College of Dance, Music & Theatre Performance is an independent performing arts school and college, based in the Greater London suburb of Sidcup...
, which specialises in dance and musical theatre, is also based in the town.
History
The college was founded in 1950 in an 18th-century Heritage-listed manor house LamorbeyLamorbey
Lamorbey is a small district of Sidcup, in the London Borough of Bexley. The area is north of Sidcup station. Perhaps the most significant buildings are Holy Trinity Church, Lamorbey House and some of the original surviving buildings of The Hollies children's home...
House in Sidcup
Sidcup
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the London Borough of Greenwich.Located south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of...
in the Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
area by actress, drama tutor and author Rose Bruford. The current campus encompasses both the manor house and a modern set of buildings completed in 2002. For some time, there was also a campus situated in Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
, near Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
in South East London, which was closed when the college incorporated all of its courses on the Sidcup campus.
Rose Bruford College serves as the setting for fictional drama school Salinger College in the 2007 TV drama series Nearly Famous
Nearly Famous
Nearly Famous is a television drama mini-series about a group of British teenagers at a top London school of the performing arts. It is shown in the UK and Ireland on E4. The show has been compared to other teen drama series such as The OC and Skins. The show debuted on E4 on 8 November 2007 and...
.
Degrees
The college currently offers courses in the following fields of performing arts training:Undergraduate
- BA(Hons) Acting
- BA(Hons) Actor Musicianship
- BA(Hons) American Theatre Arts
- BA(Hons) Costume Production
- BA(Hons) European Theatre Arts
- BA(Hons) Lighting Design
- BA(Hons) Creative Lighting Control
- BA(Hons) Performance Sound
- BA(Hons) Scenic Arts
- BA(Hons) Stage Management
- BA(Hons) Theatre Design
- International Foundation Course
Postgraduate
- MA Theatre for Young Audiences
- MA Ensemble Theatre
Online Distance Learning
- BA(Hons) Opera Studies
- BA(Hons) Theatre Studies
Research degrees (validated by Goldsmiths, University of London)
- MPhil
- PhD
External links
- Rose Bruford College – Official website
- Theatre Futures: Part of Rose Bruford College – Official website