Introduction to the profession
French theatre has a long history, giving birth to many classic theatre masterpieces such as "Don Giovanni", "The Hypocrite", "Notre Dame de Paris", "The Red and the Black", "The Count of Monte Cristo", etc., and the top theater masters such as Molière, Hugo, Antonin Aalto, Boucé and Muse are all from France. Throughout the development and evolution of French drama over the past 1,000 years, the French national characteristics are extremely distinct. Classical drama showed the splendor of French feudal culture, and the drama of the Enlightenment period laid the foundation of bourgeois theater, and after the 19th century, there were various genres and competing for glory, which had a profound cultural impact on Britain, the United States and even many Asian countries.
If you want to be a good drama professional, it is important to choose the right course and school for you. We know that there are specialized drama schools in France, but their admission is relatively difficult, and there are also many public universities such as the Sorbonne nouvelle, the University of Avignon, the University of the Côte d'Azur, the University of Lille, etc., which offer drama-related majors, and the training mode and curriculum are also very distinctive, and even provide internships. Next, let's take a look at what treasure colleges and universities in France offer drama-related majors and how these majors are set up!
✅INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CREATION
AUDIOVISUAL & PRODUCTION
EICAR Paris International Film and Television School
Founded in 1972, the École Internatonal de Création Audiovisuelle et de réalisation has been around for 49 years and now has two campuses in Paris and Lyon. In the fall of 2021 moved into the new campus of the 92 department, a stone's throw from the 13th arrondissement of Petite Paris, with an artistic campus of 6,900 square meters, offering the latest equipment dedicated to the practice of audiovisual work: a recording studio with soundproof cabins, 30 workstations for sound post-production, image and VF, a cinema with a capacity of 200 people, 8 shooting locations.
In terms of drama-related majors, EICAR offers the following (post bac) majors:
Bachelor Acting
Campus: Paris/Lyon
Duration: 3 years
Employment direction: theater actor, film actor, voice actor/dubbing, stage director
Part of the timetable shows:
Bachelor's Degree in Screenwriting
Campus: Lyon
Duration: 3 years
Career direction: novel screenwriting, documentary, comic strip, animation and various audiovisual novels
Part of the timetable shows:
Portal: https://www.eicar.fr/domaines/cinema-audiovisuel/
✅Cours Florent
Florent Theatre and Film Academy, France
Founded in 1967, the Florent Theatre Academy is the largest private theatre art school in France. It is the cradle of world-famous actors. The Academy has produced many world-renowned stars, such as Guillaume Cannet, Sophie Marceau, Elisabeth Adjani, Audrey Tatu, etc. The college has a large number of professional teachers to guide students throughout the process. Examinations, performances, workshops and master classes are interspersed throughout the rigorous and rich curriculum, providing students with the opportunity to interact with professionals in the fields of film, drama, advertising and other fields, leading to the award of university diplomas. Over the past 50 years, the school has continued to reinvent itself. Currently, the school is headed by Simone Strickner and will continue to grow to train future artists.
In terms of theater-related courses, the Florent Theatre and Film School offers the following majors:
Theatre
Professional overview
Professional advantages
- Grasp the fundamentals of solid foundations: Drama is a traditional specialty of Cours Florent;
- In-depth study of stage performances and their characteristics;
- Flexible schedules, technical electives (improvisation, vocal exercises, etc.) make training more personalized.
Lesson plan
- The purpose of the first year of teaching is to help students systematically initiate the performing arts and build self-confidence through various performance exercises such as reading scripts, building character images, recitation, breathing exercises, improvisation, etc. After the first year of core acting studies, students can choose from three paths: Drama, Drama & Cinema or Film.
- In the second year, students will improve their performance practice skills by practising repertoire fragments (comedy, tragedy, 18th century drama, romantic drama, etc.).
- In the third year, students will engage in professional and targeted learning through thematic modules. Each semester, students will choose the topics they want to study intensively from a variety of thematic modules such as "Contemporary Drama, Shakespeare's Plays, and Colette Thomas's Plays" according to their own situation, and prepare for their graduation thesis and the "TFE" art festival.
Portal: https://www.coursflorent.fr/cursus/theatre-et-cinema
✅National Higher School of Theatre Arts and Techniques
École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Theatres de Lyon
With a history of more than 80 years, ENSATT was known as the "White Street School" in Paris until 1997 and then moved to the hill of Saint-Just in Lyon. ENSATT is committed to nurturing talent in the field of theatre, and the faculty are working theatre professionals who have a wealth of experience and problems and pass on what they themselves are striving for to students. At each stage of the training, students experience the collective elements that are inherent in theatre creation. At the same time, the school believes that each student is considered unique as an artist, and they are trained and planned accordingly. With modern art workshops, recording studios, sound studios and a large theater with a capacity of more than 200 people, the Academy provides artists with all the necessary skills to do so. At ENSATT, each course is led by one or more tutors, who are all professionals in the industry. The school has set up majors: acting, stage administration, costume designer, costume manager, technical director, playwright, stage director, lighting engineer, sound engineer, stage set.
In the courses of drama-related majors, ENSATT offers the following majors:
Game
Duration: 3 years (can be applied after obtaining the Bac diploma)
In the course of three years of professional study, students will train them to become qualified professional actors through the study of theoretical knowledge and the meeting and guidance of professional artists, so that they will not only serve the theater project themselves, but also artists with their own unique style.
Partial timetable (only the first-year timetable is shown here):
Playwriting
Duration: 3 years (Bac+2 diploma can be applied)
Over the course of three years of training, students will learn how to create for bodies, sounds, light, soundscapes, and spaces under the guidance of renowned contemporary artists.
Partial timetable (only the Master 2 timetable is shown here):
Portal: https://www.ensatt.fr/formations/
✅University of Lille
University of Lille
Located in the north of France, the University of Lille is a very well-known public university in France. Unlike the new Sorbonne, which has a very detailed specialization in theatre, theatre is a branch of the Master of Fine Arts: Théories et pratiques du théâtre contemporain, with a specialization related to the concept and distribution of theatrical performance. Students study the contemporary stage scene in France and abroad from the perspective of combining theory (aesthetics, theater, cultural policy, anthropology) and practice (performance, landscape and theatrical productions, stage setting, lighting design), and learn to analyze the problems of modern theater stage performance at home and abroad.
There are drama workshops and laboratories on campus, where students can create theories of drama and different forms of artistic situations. This major is more vocational skills, focusing on cultivating students' skills in the arts, technology, management and cultural communication, and provides students with additional vocational training. Students can volunteer for two months in the first year of research and three months in the second year of research.
In the field of theatre-related courses, the University of Lille offers the following courses:
Theories and Practices of Contemporary Theatre
Duration: 2 years
Credits: 120
Language of instruction: French
Teaching Mode:
- 2 years, 4 semesters, 9 to 12 weeks of classes per semester;
- The programme is divided into 3 knowledge and skills modules through which students acquire and master all aspects of knowledge, skills and attitudes that are expected to be part of a theatre professional;
- Each skills module consists of one or more teaching units that deepen and broaden your knowledge while mastering and developing new skills. By the end of the master's program, students will have more skills that will prepare them to enter the professional world;
- The master's program emphasizes learning to do research through research, thanks to a specialized, high-level level of teaching, which will enable learners to pursue a PhD, perfect a professional skill or enter the world of work, depending on the situation
- In addition to the theoretical courses, there are two months of internship per semester in the M1 phase and a three-month internship in the M2 phase.
Portal: https://www.univ-lille.fr/formations/fr-00002598
✅University of Côte d'Azur
University of the Côte d'Azur
The University of Nice does not have a specific Master of Theatre Studies, but the Theatre Performing Arts programme is a specialization in the Master of Fine Arts, which is more focused on the study of creativity, and the course revolves around theatrical performance, the creation and performance process of theatrical productions, using a combination of practical and theoretical methods, through co-teaching with cultural structures such as theatres, companies, associations and internationalization, so that students can fully understand theatre theory and obtain appropriate performance opportunities.
In addition, the course has a specific direction in terms of research creation. Each semester of the postgraduate programme has a different focus, providing students with generic equipment at the beginning of the training and encouraging students to undertake individual research projects. In the last semester of the second year of graduate school, there are no courses except for the graduation project.
UCA offers the following courses in drama-related majors:
Theatre in Creation
学制:2年(Master)
Language of instruction: French
校区：Campus Carlone / Nice
Some of the courses are showcased:
Portal: https://univ-cotedazur.fr/formation/offre-de-formation/parcours-arts-du-spectacle-theatre-recherche-et-creation#programme
✅University of Paris 8
Paris VIII
The Université Vincennes à Saint-Denis is located in the 93 departments of France, the premier educational and scientific institution of the humanities and sciences in the greater Paris region of France. The university has always been one of the birthplaces of democratic ideas in French educational institutions, and among the thirteen universities in Paris, it is known for its humanities and social sciences and interdisciplinary research. The University of Paris VIII offers 28 undergraduate majors in Performing Arts, Film Studies, Theatre Studies, Philosophy, Musicology, Linguistics, and Sociology, as well as master's and doctoral programs in five research directions: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Law, Economics and Management, Science and Technology and Health, and Language and Literature, as well as vocational bachelor's programs and two-year short-term training (DUT) in seven directions.
In terms of drama-related courses, the University of Paris VIII offers the following majors:
Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Studies
Educational Objectives: The Theatre Studies programme at the University of Paris VIII aims to train and support students who wish to pursue a career in the performing arts. Through this training, students can pursue various forms of specialization and a variety of careers, such as directors, playwrights, writers, set designers, critics, etc., as well as a variety of research and teaching jobs. The course complements courses such as acting or stage management, such as the School of Music or the School of Drama. The main objective of the theatre training at the University of Paris VIII is to train students in the basic theory and practice of live performance, to help them master and practice critical thinking and rigorous working methods.
Master's Degree in Theatre, Performance and Society
The course can lead to the following competencies:
- analysis of performance and aesthetic trends;
- consider the relationship between live performance and other arts;
- Knowledge of stage direction and set design;
- develop collaborative approaches to reflection, creation and project design;
- Examine the work, the creative process and the artistic career from a historical, ecological, aesthetic, socio-economic or anthropological point of view, thus understanding its ins and outs.
- Reflect on the evolution of performing arts forms and practices in the past and present;
- study the construction of the history of performing arts;
- Connecting creative practice with critical practice
......
Some of the courses are showcased:
Portal: https://www.univ-paris8.fr/-Etudes-diplomes-
✅University of Franche-Comté
University of Besançon
The University of Besançon, also known as the University of France-Comté (L'Université de France-Comté), is a well-known public comprehensive university in France, founded in 1432, with a complete range of majors and a strong faculty. With excellent faculty and good learning environment, the school has been serving as a pilot unit for the reform of the French higher education system and the improvement of teaching methods. The school's French Training Center is a well-known international training center for French teachers in France and Europe, where French teachers from all over the world train and exchange teaching experience every year.
In recent years, according to the education policy of the French government, the University of Besançon has set up a language and professional continuous study program for foreign students, which increases the language learning time and improves the quality of teaching, and adds professional preparatory courses, so as to ensure that more international students can successfully apply for professional study. The university is located in the four cities of Besançon, Belfour, Monteberil and Viso and the surrounding area, with nearly 2,000 professors, graduate students, engineers, technicians and administrators.
In terms of drama-related courses, the University of Besançon offers the following courses:
PERFORMING ARTS THEATRES OF THE WORLD
学制:2年(Master)
Credits: 120
Teaching Objectives:
- deepen the theoretical understanding of the different forms of interculturality in the practice of the performing arts;
- Develop theoretical and practical skills in the creative process, theatre creation and directing, dissemination of productions, and navigating the challenges of live performance in the context of globalization.
Part of the timetable shows:
Portal: https://formation.univ-fcomte.fr/master/master-arts-de-la-scene-et-du-spectacle-vivant-pratiques-sceniques-et-theatres-du-monde