This MA addresses the historical, political, theoretical and ethical issues of applied theatre and develops your ability to contextualise, critique and create.
Our aim is to prepare students to be collaborative, responsive, imaginative, politically engaged and culturally aware artist practitioners. The course is aimed at newly-emerging practitioners with a background in theatre, education, activism or social change, as well as at more established practitioners who want to reflect, refresh and develop their skills. We actively encourage the sharing of skills and expertise among our multi-national group of students. We prioritise applicants with some experience in the arts, education, activism or social care, and it is rare that we take applicants directly from their first degree.
Together we explore the ways in which theatre and performance is created by diverse groups of people in a variety of community, social and educational settings: in schools or on the streets, in children’s homes and elderly care, in conflict zones, conferences, crèches and youth clubs, pupil referral units and prisons, women’s refuges and refugee centres, hospitals and hostels – anywhere groups of people meet and interact.
Applied theatre is an umbrella term for a range of exciting worldwide performance forms concerned with personal and social change.
The term embraces: theatre of the oppressed, community theatre, theatre-in-education, drama in education, theatre for development, prison theatre, intercultural arts, intergenerational arts, theatre in museums, archives and heritage sites, story-telling, reminiscence theatre, conflict resolution. The work often moves across art forms. This is not a definitive list, as it is a field that is dynamic and changing.
The MA considers case studies from the UK and from across the globe. Central to this investigation are: questions of identity; representation; discrimination; health; equality; human rights; opportunity; access; social inclusion/exclusion; participation; ethics; evaluation and documentation; aesthetics and the role of the artist.
The course is structured so that practice and theory constantly respond to one another, through practical classes and seminars. All students undertake a placement in a recognised host organisation where you'll work with experienced practitioners, and learn from the inside how participatory arts organisations function.
We have active partnerships with many companies, and the majority of the tutors, including the convenor, are active artists, with a variety of arts practices in performance, community and social settings.
Practical workshops
In the autumn term we look at the roots of Applied Theatre in Education, in Social and Political Change, and in Community. Classes include work with Geese Theatre on their use of mask in Prisons, Drama and Theatre in Education techniques with Gail Babb of Talawa Theatre, intergenerational arts practices with Convenor Sue Mayo, and the use of Drama to explore Domestic Violence, with Tender. Throughout this term students are also engaged in skills-sharing sessions in order to pool their knowledge and expertise.
In the Spring Term Tutor Raj Bhari, from Talk for Change, leads a module on creative approaches to Community Cohesion, Conflict Resolution, and the artist as activist. We have a short festival of art forms, with classes in song, puppetry and dance- and a residency shared with students of the MA in performance making, working across modules with artists of distinction from within the Goldsmith’s staff and beyond.
Throughout the practical sessions we work with students to develop their facilitation, devising,- project planning and management skills with attention to issues such as group dynamics; power and leadership; inclusion; accessibility; equality; conflict; intercultural practice; safe space and the ethics of touch.
In the summer term students design and lead a weekend of workshops for a public audience.
Histories, Theories and Contexts seminars
This contextual strand enables us consider the thinking behind our embodied knowledge. Through a series of seminars, we consider: the development of applied methods from political theatre; radical and celebratory arts; drama and theatre-in-education; community theatre; prison theatre; therapeutic creative practices and the legacy of Augusto Boal. We study the growing body of writing on applied theatre and its practitioners, and theatre theory. We consider local and international case studies; we read, discuss, watch videos and experience live performances.
Complementary Contextual lectures
Students also choose a lecture based Option module from one of the other exciting MA programmes. Previous modules have included, African Theatre, Performance Praxis, Radical Performance, and The Reflecxtive Practitioner. Our students can also take a specialist applied module led by Danny Braverman, on Disability Theatre, examining the scope and radical nature of disability theatre.
Placement
The Convenor, Sue Mayo, supports students to locate and develop a placement in a recognised host organisation. On the placement students further the skills they have practiced on the programme, whilst dealing with the challenges of a professional context. Placement hosts include London Bubble, Magic Me, Resonate. Greenwich & Lewisham Young People's Theatre, Talawa Theatre, Pan-arts, Crisis, Ovalhouse, Green Shoes Arts, The Young Vic, MIND, CEN8, Lewisham Youth Theatre and Spare Tyre.
Professional development
As part of our commitment to student’s employability, we offer up to five workshops covering various areas directly relevant to workplaces where drama may be applied; for example: planning and managing projects, child protection and working with vulnerable adults, ethics, evaluation, setting up a theatre company or working as an independent artist.
The MA Applied Theatre has five points of assessment:
These assessments count towards 80% of the final mark.
The remaining 20% is derived from assessment of the two shared complementary/contextual modules, which include Disability Theatre, Performance Praxis, African Theatre, Musical Theatre and Cultural Theory.
Study your specialist subject in detail and take the opportunity to contribute to the world's knowledge in that area. Enhance your critical thinking, communication and problem-solving abilities and learn to create and assess new ideas.
Working alongside some of New Zealand’s leading academic staff, you'll complete a research thesis of up to 40,000 words and emerge as an expert in your subject with highly developed research skills.
Victoria's MA is offered in more than 40 subjects. Most programmes are by thesis only but some include coursework and require a shorter thesis, and others you can complete doing mainly coursework and a research project.
A Master of Arts will give your career prospects a boost and open doors to new opportunities. Be a leader in a humanities or social science field and help make New Zealand a better place.
If you are doing an MA by thesis you'll normally need to complete it within 12 months, or two years if you're studying part time.
If you are doing your MA by coursework and thesis you'll normally be able to complete your degree within 12 months, but you can take up to one year and six months. Part-time students can take up to four years to complete this MA.
If you are studying full time you can expect a workload of a minimum of 30 hours a week for much of the year. If you can't commit this many hours you should enrol as a part-time student.
Learn the art of teaching—and the teaching of art—with our Master of Arts in Theatre Education. As one of the largest programs in the country, we’ll prepare you to create both theatre and learning experiences that transform lives and communities. With two tracks of study, Theatre Teacher Education or Theatre and Community, our courses integrate theory and reflective practice and give you the opportunity to develop skills and expand your knowledge in the art of theatre, the principles of teaching and learning in the arts, and the practices of applied drama and theatre. As a part of the program, any student can earn initial licensure in Massachusetts as a theatre teacher for Pre-K through Grade 12.
Graduates of our MA in Theatre Education go on to:
The MA in Theatre Education program provides professional training in the uses of theater and drama as vehicles of education. The program also serves as preparation for doctoral work in theater, education, or related fields.
Offering two streams of study for students, the Theatre Education program allows you to explore yourself as both an artist and an educator. We help you prepare for a successful career by offering areas of emphasis in Theatre Teacher Education as well as Theatre and Community.
Learn about our program requirements and our Theatre Education curriculum »
As you cultivate your own talent, you will be joined by world-renowned Emerson faculty–distinguished directors, producers, writers, actors, performance artists, and educators with national and international experience. You will be given the chance to work hand-in-hand with these professionals; Emerson faculty members serve not only as your teachers, but as your mentors and peers as well.
Located in the heart of Boston's Theatre District, Emerson's campus includes:
With the addition of the Paramount Center and its theaters, Emerson now owns more performance spaces than any other institution in Boston.
Learn more about our theaters and production spaces »
Emerson Theatre Education graduates are in demand nationwide. A large majority of our graduates seeking employment as theater educators find positions within months of completing the program, becoming theater teachers in public and private grade schools and high schools, directors and producers of community theater, and coordinators of educational outreach programs. Graduates seeking an MFA or PhD also have a high acceptance rate into further educational study.
Learn about our connections to local schools, community organizations, and theatre companies »
The MA in Theatre Making at Kent offers an opportunity to develop an advanced knowledge of practices, traditions and professional contexts of theatre making. Students have the opportunity to advance their skills in their chosen area of directing, devising, playwriting, dramaturgy, or applied theatre.
This MA is intended for graduates from theatre and performing arts degrees and other subjects as well as emerging theatre artists who want to further pursue their experimentation with a range of advanced theatre-making practices.
During the Autumn Term, you initially work in a varied range of artistic approaches, while also getting an insight into key key critical discourses as well as into practical theatre production concerns. You then work collaboratively as a theatre ensemble during the Spring Term, focusing on your chosen area while realising a range of projects. Throughout the year, the research-led teaching by Kent’s world-leading specialists is complemented by a sustained engagement with professional theatre-makers in workshops and guest sessions. We also work closely with the Canterbury theatres (Marlowe and Gulbenkian), who have mentored and supported many previous graduates to further develop their artistic work.
In this course, you learn how to make and think about theatre in a way that challenges conventional assumptions and boundaries. We also prepare you for the world of work by giving you opportunities to network with professionals and practise how to raise funding and market your portfolio. Over the course of the year, you will be taught by academics who are international experts in their fields.
Postgraduate Drama and Theatre studies at Kent has a very strong reputation for research and supervision in contemporary theatre and performance. We are the home of two renowned international research centres, the European Theatre Research Network (ETRN) and the Centre for Cognition, Kinesthetics and Performance (CKP).
The wide-ranging interests of our international team of leading and emerging researchers (from the UK, Australia, Greece, Germany, France and other countries) include research strengths in contemporary performance, applied theatre, Shakespeare, 18th-century theatre, multimedia performance, popular performance, theatre directing and dramaturgy, and physical acting.
Our distinctive focus at Kent is on theatre as practice, whatever the topic, area, mode and methodology of research. We were the first department in the country to offer, since the late 1990s, MA and PhD degrees by practice-as-research. We encourage postgraduate students to make use of our close links and contacts with local, national and international (especially European) theatre companies, venues, schools and artists, both for research and to encourage professional development.
The School of Arts’ award-winning Jarman Building offers professional standard drama facilities, along with social spaces and a dedicated centre for postgraduate students. In addition to the two performance studios and the Gallery in the Jarman Building, Drama & Theatre facilities across the Canterbury campus include two further theatre spaces – the 113-seat Aphra Theatre (a courtyard-type gallery theatre space) and the Lumley Theatre, which is a flexible and adaptable studio space – as well as further rehearsal facilities in Eliot College, a sound and simulation suite, and an extensively equipped construction workshop and costume collection.
https://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/whychooseus/resources/
The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take modules from other programmes so that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas that interest you.
Modules may include:
https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/1222/theatre-making#structure
Assessment consists of 100% coursework, including essays, performances, funding budgets, reviews, written reflections on own practice, analysis of professional practice, presentations, reports, placements, practice-as-research portfolios.
Graduates of Kent's comprehensive theatre studies curriculum are suited to work as freelance artists, directors, teachers, and theatre makers, as theatre managers and managers for educational projects, and in other theatre-related roles. Kent Drama & Theatre graduates have also formed their own companies (Little Bulb, The Noise Next Door, The Three Half Pints, White Slate, Accidental Collective), joined existing companies, and developed careers as innovative and influential theatre practitioners.
https://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/whychooseus/employability/index.html
A practical, community-focused programme, this MA allows you to explore how theatre can be made in a range of settings. Studying at Hull, you'll have the opportunity to make theatre for a variety of audiences, including in community, applied, and public venues, as well as receiving training in setting up and running theatre companies. The relationship between the theory and practice of theatre making is at the heart of the programme, allowing you to develop as a thinking theatre artist.
Drama at Hull has a strong reputation and a unique history as one of the UK’s first specialist drama departments. Our broad range of staff expertise has enabled us to design a programme that is challenging, varied, and at the forefront of research in the field of theatre making in local and community contexts. We have a reputation for international theatre research with connections to world theatres.
Our excellent dedicated facilities, including the recently listed Gulbenkian Centre and the Middleton Hall, make Hull a clear choice for students wishing to study with unrivalled access to theatre and rehearsal space. The investment will see some of the best facilities of their kind in the UK at the University of Hull, including a concert hall, surround-sound cinema, an ambisonic sound studio and industry-standard recording and rehearsing facilities. The refurbishment will include a new entrance and café with a 400-plus seater concert hall forming the centre-piece of the development. The versatile space is ideal for classical and popular music concerts. With adaptable acoustics, it will also be used for music, theatre and cinema screenings.
Hull has a long tradition of both established arts venues and grassroots and community arts practice. Theatre Making students have opportunities to present their work at annual arts events including Assemblefest, Freedom Festival, and Vista, and to bring work to venues including Hull’s alternative performance space, Fruit. Students also benefit from links with Hull Truck Theatre, the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough and with nationally renowned companies including Opera North, New Diorama Theatre and Out of Joint. From 2017, the National Student Drama Festival will be based in Hull, a further opportunity for students to present work at one of the country’s most significant student theatre events.
The MA Theatre Making is designed to connect the theory and practice of theatre and performance, to facilitate collaboration, and to explore and interrogate the interdisciplinary connections between different modes of theatre making.
The programme focuses on the relationship between theatre and performance, place, space and community.
Modules are core for all students and arranged across three strands:
The flexible programme allows students to study for a PG Certificate, PG Diploma, or MA.
* All modules are subject to availability.
The MA Theatre Making is intended to prepare students equally well for further study or for a career in the theatre industry.
Hands-on experience in making theatre in local and regional settings gives students a chance to demonstrate advanced skills and practical experience when seeking employment. Students also have the opportunity to establish their own theatre companies, either during the programme or on graduation.
The programme integrates practice and theory, developing graduates who are ready to engage with either the world of professional theatre making, social and applied theatre, or further postgraduate study.
If you’re passionate about using theatre to help stimulate processes of change in the lives of individuals and communities then this is the course for you.
You’ll gain the skills to become an applied theatre practitioner. Through practice and theory you will explore applied theatre in all of its forms including community theatre, theatre-in-education, theatre and health, prison theatre, theatre for development and the arts therapies.
You’ll gain a broad understanding of some of the wider issues faced by applied theatre practitioners including ethics, boundaries, evaluation, policy and funding and have the opportunity to apply your learning in a placement context.
Core modules will look at practice-based workshop techniques and the development of facilitation skills; concepts and theories underpinning applied theatre and interventionist practice; and research training. You will also choose from optional modules that will allow you to pursue your personal interests.
Our purpose-built landmark building [email protected] houses two professional-standard and publicly licensed theatres that regularly host work by both students and visiting theatre companies – one of which is a technically advanced research facility.
Find out more about [email protected].
Our School includes rehearsal rooms, two black-box studios, costume construction and wardrobe stores, a design studio and scenic workshop, video editing and sound recording suits as well as computer aided design.
Our links with external organisations are among our biggest strengths, giving you the chance to take performance to different environments outside of the university context. We’re always developing new relationships with partners in different contexts to offer you more opportunities to participate.
Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, the National Media Museum, Leeds City Council, Red Ladder Theatre Company, Limehouse Productions, Phoenix Dance Theatre, the National Coal Mining Museum for England, HMP New Hall, Blah Blah Blah Theatre Company, the BBC and HMP Wetherby are all among our partners.
Core modules allow you to develop the skills to facilitate workshops with different groups of people in a variety of contexts, along with an understanding of the historical and philosophical underpinnings of applied theatre practice, the key ideas within this practice and some of the complex issues that can arise.
As you progress through the course you will have the opportunity to apply your practical and theoretical learning within an applied theatre context through a placement. This may be with an established applied theatre organisation or in a setting where applied theatre is practiced such as a hospital, school or young offenders’ institute.
Alongside these modules you will develop research skills through a core module alongside students on other programmes within the school. You’ll explore a range of research methods and consider the roles and responsibilities of the researcher, ethics, data gathering and analysis. You are also able to choose an optional module to further pursue your own personal areas of interest.
In the latter part of the programme you will work closely with your supervisor to undertake a research project on a topic of your choice, allowing you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you’ve gained. This could be a conventional written dissertation or a piece of practice-led research with a written commentary.
If you choose to study part-time, you will study over a longer period and take fewer modules in each year.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
We use a range of teaching and learning methods including practical workshops, group learning, lectures, seminars, tutorials and fieldwork. Independent learning is central to this programme, allowing you to integrate your learning and develop your understanding and skills.
You’ll be assessed using a range of methods including practical assessments, written work, presentations and reflective logs. This diversity allows you to begin to integrate theory and practice, develop a range of skills and become a reflective practitioner.
Applied theatre is a wide field, which is constantly developing in response to social and economic changes.
This programme will equip you with a range of skills within the area of applied theatre. You’ll have an understanding of applied theatre and its use as an intervention as well as advanced skills in communication, collaboration, presentation, analysis and research. You’ll be able to set up, lead and facilitate workshops as an applied theatre practitioner with diverse groups of people in a variety of health, social and community contexts.
You may decide to apply your learning in the context of arts administration or arts policy work. You may wish to further your understanding by undertaking specialist professional training in areas like the arts therapies (dramatherapy, dance movement psychotherapy, music therapy or art psychotherapy), play therapy, teaching; or pursue your research interests at PhD level.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
The aim of the MA in Musical Theatre course is to provide you with the advanced skills to prepare you for work in a diverse industry. The course reflects the varied nature of working in musical theatre; it will provide you with the opportunity to focus on professional practice, whilst enabling you to learn how to promote both yourself (as practitioner, academic and/or performer) and the work you create. More importantly, it creates an environment where you have to work collaboratively.
The MA in Musical Theatre provides you with the unique opportunity of a residency, designed to help you create, prepare and stage work in a theatre. Working closely with industry specialists, you will nurture the skills required to help you make a contribution to contemporary musical theatre. You will also foster flexible skills which can be applied to a wide range of career opportunities in the musical theatre industry and beyond, including; teamwork skills, problem solving, self-promotion, working to deadlines and critical thinking.
You will experience a wide variety of learning activities in Musical Theatre to ensure your professional development as an emerging practitioner in your chosen specialist areas. Contact hours are tailored to both full-time and part time delivery; part time delivery allows you to study alongside full-time employment.
Teaching and learning will normally take place in a variety of continually evolving contexts, including an appropriate balance of the following kinds of activity:
a) Workshops, rehearsals, productions, practical classes, laboratory or studio-based practice, screenings, lectures, discussions (both online and in class), seminars, and tutorials. You will be encouraged to apply your knowledge and understanding of critical theory to case studies within regional, national and international contexts;
b) Group and individual learning;
c) Residency in Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton with a view to creating an annual festival of musical theatre (especial relevance in enhancing your employability and ability to be enterprising)
d) There will be the opportunity to participate in and contribute to Musical Theatre West Midlands Writers’ Hub, regular monthly composer/writer hubs to showcase new writing.
Each semester students are invited to attend optional musical theatre productions in the local area and nationally. We suggest budgeting £100 for these trips if you wish to participate.
Most years, students take an optional international field trip to a major city of musical theatre production. Future visits may include New York, Washington D.C or Bochum, Germany. We suggest budgeting around £1000 for the trip if you wish to participate.
We continue to develop state of the art facilities which will greatly enhance your learning experience. Our state-of-the-art performing arts and learning centre; The Performance Hub, opened in 2011 and is the home for all of our performance courses. The hub features five performance studios with semi-sprung floors that are ideal for rehearsals and small performances. . The studios feature state of the art audio/visual equipment. As well as several music rehearsal rooms, The Performance Hub has recording facilities, with two computer suites equipped with iMacs running Protools, Logic, Cubase and Sibelius software and two recording studios with analogue and digital recording equipment. The university is proud to be an All Steinway School and home to 17 Steinway pianos, five of which are in rehearsal studio spaces. Our 108 seat Black Box Theatre is one of the most technically advanced small theatres in the country and is ideal for a range of performing arts activities.
We are a thriving department of research active academics in musical theatre, teaching is research led. Journals we have published in include Studies in Musical Theatre and Journal of Bisexuality; with forthcoming book chapters in Routledge’s Twenty First Century Musicals: From Stage to Screen (2017), Oxford Press’s The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical (2016) and Bloomsbury Methuen’s The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen: Critical Approaches from 'Snow White' to 'Frozen' (2017). We have presented our research nationally and internationally at leading conferences in the field.
Current research specialisms include: gender and racial politics in musical theatre of the 1960s, the film musical and the female spectator, subsidised revivals of the American canon, queer theory, reception theory, contemporary musicals and masculinity, the British musical.
Further Information
Dr Sarah Whitfield: Course Leader MA Musical Theatre, Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre
BA (hons), MA, PGCHE, PhD, fHEA
Dramaturg, lyricist/librettist, director, theatre historian, education, course development.
Sarah Browne: Principal Lecturer in Musical Theatre, Head of Department of Music
BA (hons), MPhil, PGCE
Conducting, arranging, orchestral and vocal arrangements, musicology, vocal tuition, education, course development.
James Lovelock: Lecturer in Musical Theatre
BMus (hons), MPhil, PGCE
Composer, lyricist/librettist, director, dramaturg, vocal coach, improvised musical, musicology,
Upon completion of the course you may consider a number of potential employment routes, depending on the path chosen. These may include, but are not limited to, for example; writer/composer/choreographer or musical director, teacher or workshop facilitator, marketing administrator, or work in production and promotion. Alternatively, you may also consider further study at doctorate level.
Graduates of the MA in Musical Theatre will exhibit;
• a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of musical theatre practice
• a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship
• originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in musical theatre
• conceptual understanding that enables the student:
- to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in musical theatre
- to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.
The MA in Arts Management, Policy and Practice enables students to develop their knowledge and understanding of the history, theory and practice of arts management; to gain an insight into the range of professional opportunities in the creative and cultural sector; and to acquire direct experience of the many areas of arts management. The programme has a strong practical, hands-on element. At the same time it offers a solid theoretical grounding, exploring cultural policy in its historical context and encouraging critical engagement with the philosophical, political, social and economic imperatives informing contemporary practice. Above all, we aim to produce pioneers rather than bureaucrats.
Lecturers from the Centre for Arts Management teach the MA with considerable input from arts professionals including staff from the Martin Harris Centre, Contact Theatre, the Royal Exchange, Whitworth Art Gallery and many other local cultural organisations. We also work closely with our sister programme, the highly regarded MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies.
The programme is designed to serve as an entry-level qualification for recent graduates as well as offering professional development for mid-career practitioners. It offers flexibility and opportunities for specialisation, while ensuring a thorough grounding in essential principles and methodology. It provides a solid foundation for careers in different areas of the arts and creative industries, and caters for arts practitioners as well as aspiring managers.
The siting of the programme close to a range of leading arts venues offers a unique opportunity for students to engage with the practical considerations of arts management. The Martin Harris Centre is a hub of cutting edge research and interdisciplinary investigation: in addition to the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall and John Thaw Theatre, it is home to the Tipp Centre (Theatre in Prisons and Probation), the Centre for Screen Studies, Centre for Applied Theatre Research, Manchester Theatre in Sound (MANTIS), Manchester Centre for Music in Culture (MC2), and the NOVARS Research Centre for Electroacoustic Composition, Performance and Sound-Art. Other cultural organisations based at the university - Manchester Academy, Contact Theatre, Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery - are only a few minutes' walk away.
The programme also benefits from the exceptionally rich grouping of arts-based institutions and agencies in Manchester and the North West - an area celebrated for containing more theatres than any other region outside London and now hosting the BBC at the new Media City at Salford Quays. Liverpool (European Capital of Culture 2008), Leeds and Sheffield are all within easy reach. A wide range of regional arts venues and organisations contribute to the programme by providing guest lecturers, site visits and work placements.
The programme is based within the School or Arts, Languages and Cultures. The core of the School's interest is the field of human cultures, beliefs and institutions. Its work embraces the material, visual, creative and performative dimensions of culture, and as such fosters a rich interdisciplinary culture led by world-renowned scholars with a diversity of expertise, from analysts to creative artists, from historians of ideas to cultural theorists. We work particularly closely with staff from the highly-rated departments of Music and Drama.
All students take two core modules (Arts Management: Principles and Practice, and Cultural Policy) and write a dissertation (15,000 words, or for a practice-based dissertation 8,000-10,000 words plus project documentation). The remaining credits (two or three additional modules) are taken from a range of options including:
All modules include a programme of guest lectures and/or practical seminars by experienced professionals based in cultural institutions in and around Manchester. The programme also features visits to a selection of key sites and venues in the North West.
Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: [email protected]
This programme prepares graduates for a diverse range of career opportunities as managers, administrators, policy-makers or practitioners in various branches of the arts and cultural and creative industries. Opportunities exist in the public, private, and voluntary sectors; in theatres, opera houses, concert halls, arts centres, museums and galleries, and the media; with orchestras, theatre companies, dance companies, etc.; or with the Arts Council, British Council, Local Authority, Tourist Board and various funding bodies. Discrete posts include: programming manager; marketing director; education director; development or outreach officer; tour organiser; promoter, agent or artist's manager; website, database or IT manager; producer; consultant or market researcher; fundraiser; community artist; freelance workshop leader. Graduates may also find work in related areas such as teaching, social and educational work. Some students go on to pursue further study and research at doctoral level.
Taking the wealth and diversity of London’s unique artistic culture as its prime focus, this unique programme opens up a variety of pathways to students looking to focus their interests in the broad field of theatre and performance. Shaped around a series of thematic investigations of the city’s unparalleled theatrical and cultural resources, you will be able to pursue a range of projects matched to your professional aspirations.
The programme engages with three basic approaches to study: viewing, making and writing, with students given the freedom to interpret key assessment tasks in line with their developing research and professional interests.
This is a flexible MA with full-time and part-time attendance options and which provides a sound practical and theoretical basis from which to move on to professional practice and training or further study at MPhil/PhD level.
You will join a welcoming and diverse postgraduate community in a well-established UK department of drama, theatre and performance which offers a range of opportunities to work on staff and student-led projects in addition to your own studies.
Viewing is at the heart of the programme, with regular collective attendance at a curated programme of events in London, during the Autumn and Spring terms, selected by the tutor team and provided without charge to students.* Making connections between these events, you will explore a range of themes, genres and contexts that shape the performing arts in the city. This experience is supported by a programme of guided reading and discussion-based seminar sessions.
Making and Writing are the strands of the programme where you develop your own responses to these themed investigations, which act as the springboard for your own projects. You will have the freedom to choose from a variety of formats for your assessed work, which might include live performance, theatre criticism, photographic, video or sound-based work. You can choose to explore a variety of formats and approaches or focus your work on a particular type of practice. In the first term, you will be introduced to a range of creative and analytical research methods that are designed to support the development of your own interests, leading on to a proposal for a major project that you undertake during the second half of the year. Writing offers a pathway for students to explore forms of textual practice, including writing for performance, theatre criticism, performative writing, dramaturgical research and response. This approach also offers the possibility of developing new kinds of conversations between audiences, artists, producers and other constituencies in the performance cultures of the city.
*Students cover the cost of travel to and from each venue
The following are modules currently offered on the course:
Roehampton is situated in south west London, one of the most famous and respected cities for the enjoyment of theatre and performance. Viewing is at the heart of this MA programme, and regular attendance at a curated programme of events is provided without charge.*
Students will visit a variety of theatre and performance venues across London, taking in a range of art-forms and different approaches to theatre-making. As part of the course the 2017/2018 cohort experienced:
Students have also visited the Tate Modern to see Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performance 1980-1981 and enjoyed a tour of the V&A Theatre Archives at Blythe House, Kensington Olympia.
*Students cover the cost of travel to and from each venue
This course develops students towards professional careers in the Arts as well as towards possible PhD or MFA study.
The Master of Fine Arts in Theatre in Design and Production is an intensive program intended to prepare students for work as designers in the professional theatre. The program admits 1-4 students each year, with applicants from all over the world. Instruction centres on a core of studio classes emphasizing development of conceptual, graphic, and research skills. In addition, MFA design and production students undertake considerable practical work, which may include assisting faculty and other practicing designers on projects outside the University, designing theatre productions at U.B.C. and elsewhere, and working in film and opera. The program generally takes 2 or 3 years to complete, and culminates in a thesis design or designs, usually for one of the UBC theatres. MFA design students also develop a portfolio of artwork and photographs to demonstrate and illustrate their abilities.
The M.F.A. Directing program is professionally oriented, intended for those who wish to extend and enhance their directing practice. The program is highly sought after by theatre artists, and the entrance process is competitive; only one or two students a year are admitted. Typically, entrants arrive with at least five years, usually more, of professional theatre experience. These theatre artists have an opportunity to delve deeply into the intellectural and practical world of theatre. Students spend a year investigating a variety of preparation and rehearsal techniques and the demands of various theatrical performance styles. In their second year they join forces with a Creative Writing/Theatre Masters student and workshop a new play, and they direct two full-length productions. One of these shows is the student's thesis production, where, in addition to preparing a fully realized production of a challenging play, MFA candidates conduct extensive research and write about the style, the playwright, the context and the intentions of the play; they record and analyze their directorial process and they defend their analysis as well as their artistic choices.
M.F.A. design students have opportunities to work in theatre, opera, and film, and in a variety of venues. Students emerge from the program with excellent work experience and expertise in their areas of interest.
The MFA in Directing at U.B.C. takes a practice-based approach to an extensive study of directing. Our guiding principle is in engaging practicing professionals for two years of study to closely consider (and reconsider) their current practice. U.B.C. offers student directors the option of working in three different theatre spaces, the 400 seat proscenium Frederic Wood Theatre, the flexible Telus Studio in the Chan Centre, and the black-box environment of the Dorothy Somerset Studio Theatre. UBC Theatre takes a "company of artists" approach to the study of theatre. Graduate students in directing work alongside developing actors, designers, production personnel, scholars and playwrights in the evolution of their practice, and out of this many long-term professional partnerships and collaborations evolve. As Theatre at UBC is housed in a department of Theatre and Film, there are also options for MFA directors to explore some techniques of filmmaking. U.B.C. is one of the oldest MFA directing programs in Canada and its graduates are working directors, artistic directors, and college and university faculty members.
Graduates of the M.F.A. design/production program pursue careers as designers in the performing arts, and as faculty at colleges and universities.
Graduates of the M.F.A. directing program pursue careers as directors, artistic directors in the theatre commmunity and as faculty at colleges and universities.
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