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.
Explore the potential of performance design with this wide-ranging programme.
You’ll develop an awareness of the performance events and experiences that can be created with the aid of lighting, projection, settings and objects, puppetry, props, costume, sound as well as newer technologies such as digital and pervasive media. You’ll have space to experiment and come up with innovative and creative ideas for performance, while learning more about the theories and concepts that are shaping emergent forms of theatre, art and performance practice.
As you build up your MA portfolio you’ll engage with contemporary performance and arts practices – including immersive and participatory forms of performance, as well as those outside of the theatre – while considering the role they play in their wider social, cultural and economic landscape. This is the only research-orientated programme in the UK tailored towards academic and practical engagement with performance design.
You’ll be based in our purpose-built landmark building [email protected], with two professional-standard and publicly licensed theatres that regularly host works by students and visiting theatre companies. One of these is a technically advanced research facility, and both are fully equipped with the latest technology. A dance studio, dressing rooms and box office are also in the building, and 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.
But our biggest strength is our links with external organisations, which give you the chance to get outside the theatre and explore performance in different environments. Our partners include 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 BlahBlah Theatre Company, the BBC and HMP Wetherby.
Throughout the programme, you’ll develop an awareness of research methods and approaches in performance and the cultural industries. In Semester One, you’ll also take a core module which introduces you to key concepts, theories and ideas in performance design, exploring ideas such as visuality and the theatre, spectacle, audience experience and multi-sensorial performance.
This foundation will inform the rest of your studies, including your practice. In Semester One you’ll also work with a range of scenographic materials to develop your own creative practice, spending time in practical workshops alongside lectures where you’ll consider current issues and debates in performance design and the role of practice-led research.
In Semester Two you’ll apply all the knowledge and skills you’ve gained to an independent research project, which could be practice-led or a written dissertation on a topic of your choice. You’ll also be able to spend more time on your practice – you’ll have the chance to complete an individual project, or to collaborate with fellow students from across the School, or work on another small-scale research project based on a two-week placement in an external organisation. Alternatively you could choose from optional modules on topics such as audience engagement or debates on culture and place.
If you choose to study part-time, you’ll study over a longer period and take fewer modules in each year.
These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.
Compulsory modules
Optional modules
We use different teaching and learning methods to help you develop your skills and make the most of our tutors’ expertise, including, practicals, seminars, tutorials, lectures and group learning. Independent study is also integral to the programme, since it helps you to form your own ideas and build skills in research and analysis.
The assessment methods you experience will vary depending on the module. However, to allow you to develop skills in a range of areas they will include essays, performances, visual documentation, verbal presentations, critical evaluations and reports.
This programme will give you the knowledge and skills to become an articulate and creative performance design practitioner. This could include; working as a designer or director in theatre, live performance, festivals or the events industry (either within a company or freelance), creating your own performance events or performance company, or working in community arts.
You’ll also gain a range of transferable skills in research, analysis, interpretation and communication, as well as imagination, independence and cultural awareness. This will equip you to work for a variety of roles across the cultural and creative industries, for example, in administration, marketing and management.
Because of the emphasis on research, it’s also good preparation for PhD-level study and teaching.
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.
This is an intensive, vocational course with strong professional links to the industry, offering a maximum of four students, with high levels of painting and drawing skills, the opportunity to develop their careers as scenic artists. The skills and techniques acquired on this course are to the level necessary for theatre, television, film and animation industries..
During the year students acquire an understanding of professional practice and standards, and gain in-depth skills and experience in scenic art techniques and their application, combined with the practice of managing a scenic art department.
The Course has 3 very intensive terms during which students paint the sets for the School’s six main house public productions, offering them the opportunity to see their finished work used on stage in a wide range of public performances and venues. Teaching is led by the School’s Head of Scenic Art in collaboration with visiting industry professionals who provide master-classes in a range of skills and techniques that include; life drawing, portraiture, perspective, marbling, wood-graining, polystyrene carving and painting for animation. The scenic art students work collaboratively with the School’s other production departments, and most especially with design students. Furthering their introduction to the industry, work placements with principal companies are arranged during the course; particular attention is placed on students developing their own professional portfolio. Upon graduation students will showcase their work in a public exhibition and be interviewed by some of the UK’s leading industry practitioners. In a freelance industry most of our graduates begin working as assistants for scenic artists, scenic workshops and large theatre companies, eventually becoming supervising scenic artists themselves.
Recent graduate employment includes: The Royal Opera House, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Cardiff Theatrical Services, The Royal National Theatre, Northern Ballet, TR2 Plymouth, Richard Nutbourne - Cool Flight Ltd, Rocket Scenery, Cameron Mackintosh’s National and International Tour of ‘Mary Poppins’, Disney's ‘Aladdin’ and ‘Frozen’ on Broadway. Festival work includes ‘Boomtown’ and ‘Glastonbury’. Film work includes: Wes Anderson's ‘Isle of Dogs’ (UK release - March 2018), Tim Burton's ‘Frankenweenie', Aardman Animations' ‘Shaun the Sheep’, ‘Pirates’ and ‘Early Man’ TV work includes: 'Will' for TNT’, ‘Crazy Face’ for Netflix and 'Good Omens' for the BBC.
The digital age has intensified the need to study performance. Performance is no longer confined to a segregated place and time – the theatre – but is, literally, everywhere. The last three decades have seen an explosion of hybrid forms of performance worldwide: cross-cultural theatre, documentary and socially engaged performance, live art, one-on-one performance, immersive and site-specific theatre, traditional and contemporary adaptations of classics.
Located in a vibrant research environment in one of the best-equipped Drama Departments in the UK, our MA in Theatre Practice nurtures practitioners and scholars of the future. The diverse and flexible programme taught by internationally renowned scholars-practitioners allows you to research, construct and deliver highly articulate ideas. Our rigorous teaching encourages collaboration across genres, disciplines and cultures. It is rooted in physical training, environmental, scenographic, object and site exploration, ensemble work, creative and critical writing, and expert supervision of artistically challenging ideas and projects.
During a one year course you will:
Please note constituent modules and pathways may be updated, deleted or replaced in future years as a consequence of programme development.
Details at any time may be obtained from the programme website.
Some examples of the modules are;
Assessment is via a combination of seminar presentations, essays, continuous assessment, presentations of practice (only for practice options) and a written research project and dissertation.
This Master's degree in London Theatre explores London; the world’s stage. Learn from a range of relevant industry professionals and dedicated research-active academics.
The London Theatre postgraduate programme is designed for students who have a thirst to understand the unique contribution that London theatre makes to the development of theatre practices in the UK and why London is recognised as an international centre for theatre development.
This degree gives you opportunities to explore the diverse and ever-changing nature of the theatre scene and critically comment on it through academic study and professional theatre criticism.
Drama St Mary’s is a thriving unit of undergraduate and postgraduate Drama training. Our courses aim to offer the very best academic and practical training within a supportive, university environment. Our programmes are delivered by a strong core team of academics and a wide range of professional visiting practitioners.
Studying in London means that you can take full advantage of the staggering array of diverse theatre and art available in the theatre capital of the world. This postgraduate programme expands on established links with London theatre venues and organisations to give you the most relevant and up to date training.
Drama St Mary's also offers Master's degrees in Theatre Directing (in collaboration with the Orange Tree Theatre) and Playwriting.
Please check our website for more information about entry requirements, tuition fees and student funding.
Drama St Mary’s graduates have gone on to work in a range of related arts industries. Our courses prepare students to find consistent, professional work in their chosen field.
The module London Fringe introduces you to the area of London theatre where you are most likely to find work in your initial career as a theatre writer, critic or researcher
The aim of the MA Contemporary Theatre and Performance course is to produce graduates who possess a systematic understanding and a critical and creative awareness of practice and theory at the forefront of the discipline.
During the course, you will critically evaluate the current practice and theories and apply a comprehensive range of techniques to develop your own work. You will develop an understanding of philosophies of performance and consider the ethical implications of performance practice. You will investigate a line of experimental performance practices that inform and define the discipline. You will be given opportunities to apply knowledge in original ways, for instance through a significant individual research project which can include a practical component.
The modules you will study include: Advanced Performance Making, Performance: Body, Space and Identity, Advanced Research Methods and Professional Practice.
You will receive support for your learning from: your personal tutor, the subject librarian, the Performing Arts technicians, the Drama department administrator, departmental careers support.
Learning activities in Drama will support your personal development, enable you to apply your learning to a range of different contexts, develop your understanding of how you might manage your future career, support your acquisition of subject-specific and generic skills, and help you to develop an understanding of how to deal with risk and uncertainty.
The course provides an opportunity to develop a specialism in contemporary performance, in both practice and theory. The choices open to you within modules will allow you to develop your own creative and academic voice across the course, but will also give you a firm grounding in the breadth of contemporary performance practice. A particular feature of the course is the integrated exploration of theory and practice.
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 is the home for all of our performance courses. The hub features two bespoke drama studios that are ideal for rehearsals and small performances. The studios feature audio/visual equipment and facilities for hanging lighting for performances.
"As a teacher it has given me more knowledge and practice which I have used in my own teaching practice as well as challenging my own perceptions of drama and performance". Lenny Love, Head of Drama and Theatre Studies at Cardinal Griffin Catholic College.
You could use the MA to develop your career as a teacher or lecturer, or as a youth/community worker. You could use your skills and knowledge as a performer, director, writer, or create your own small-scale touring theatre company. As a practitioner, you will have a deeper understanding of your craft and a qualification recognized by FE and HE establishments.
Those aiming to apply their skills in the heritage industry, probation service and/or personnel development will have acquired strategies and techniques appropriate to such applications. Schoolteachers will be qualified for posts in Further and Higher Education, in addition to gaining a qualification to enhance their prospects in their current institutional base. Freelance artists will have additional skills and techniques to offer in the arena of arts projects in schools, theatre educational outreach work and community arts.
You could continue your academic studies by progressing on to a PhD. You could go on to train to teach, through either a PGCE course or a Graduate Training Scheme, or study a vocational course in, for example, dramatherapy.
At the end of this course you'll be able to:
1. demonstrate a systematic understanding of the field of drama, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights at the forefront of the academic discipline
2. apply a comprehensive range of techniques relevant to their own research, scholarship and practice
3. apply knowledge in original ways, together with an understanding of how established techniques of research and practice are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline
4. evaluate critically current practice, research and advanced scholarship in drama
5. deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
6. demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level
Register for the launch on Monday 26 March
MA Live Art is a specialised programme of taught postgraduate study led by research leaders, industry professionals, and high-profile artists. Graduates will gain theoretical and practical grounding in histories and practices of Live Art, while developing professional capacities and networks. The programme is convened by the Drama Department at QMUL in collaboration with LADA, a centre for Live Art advocacy, preservation and programming.
MA Live Art is the first programme of its kind, and will support research and practice in performance art, time-based art, site-specific performance, relational and intimate performance, durational performance, and other experimental practices. Students will engage with and make performance in dialogue with genealogies of visual art and/or experimental theatre in the twentieth century. They will be enabled to understand, challenge and make Live Art as a technology for intervening in the most pressing issues of our time: of gender, sexual, racial or class identity; of the potential for protest, direct action, and environmental and social justice; and of theoretical investigations concerning the body, time, space, subjectivity, documentation and communication.
Students will learn through studio-based and discussion-led methods, through workshops, lectures, master classes, seminars, fieldwork and professional placements. The programme of study can be taken either full time (1 year) or part time (2 years). Students on the programme will have access to QMUL’s full research and support services, as well as to LADA’s Study Room, which includes an archive of 7,000+ items.
This interdisciplinary taught postgraduate programme combines contemporary performance practice with imaginative and rigorous critical engagement for students who wish to establish or refine their artistic and professional practice in Drama, Theatre and Performance. The programme also helps you develop skills and abilities to work in FE/HE contexts or continue to advanced study (PhD).
The programme is supported by staff with internationally recognised research profiles in Arts and Health, Dramaturgy, Applied Drama, Irish Theatre, and Theatre for Young Audiences.
The programme responds to current developments in the creative industries across Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Irish Republic, to equip graduates for the workplace or for continuation to PhD. It benefits from the staff network of national and international connections in professional theatre, the community sector, and academia.
