Because of its rigour, the school's nickname is "Trauma Center". Like most drama schools, Drama Centre places a particular emphasis on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski, also training students in improvisation through the Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Jacques Lecoq traditions. The school offers a theatre-based training incorporating both modern and classical texts, and also prepares actors for the demands of screen acting, for which it has a two-year postgraduate course. In September 2005, the school launched their MA Acting course (formerly 'European Classical Acting') which includes residencies at both the Vakhtangov Theatre Institute in Moscow and Imalis Center for Ancient Hellenic Theatre in Epidaurus, Greece.