Within a rapidly changing domestic and international environment, the work of stage managers is becoming more complex and technically challenging. The entertainment and live events industries are growing rapidly and the need for skilled stage managers has never been greater. The evolving range and scope of where, and how, live entertainment is delivered leads to often difficult and sometimes contradictory demands and challenges for the stage management team. This leads to a situation where there is a need for graduates with more holistic and integrated perspectives regarding the management of entertainment and live events and the artistic, economic, social and environmental conditions in which they function. This course has been developed in response to this need, and is rooted in a belief that effective stage managers need training that is both practical and critically reflective. It will develop your knowledge of the contemporary issues affecting the management of entertainment and live events while equipping you with the practical skills that are essential for developing a career in the field.
The course is run in partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School, which specialises in postgraduate vocational training and combines a well established industry focus with successful graduate employment. It combines the best aspects of the vocational, practical and academic models.
This MA is designed as a conversion degree and we welcome applicants from non-arts related subjects. It is suitable for both graduates who wish to add a vocational stage management emphasis to their first degree, and those with equivalent professional qualifications or experience. It is likely to be of interest to those who studied the arts and humanities at undergraduate level, or those with significant workplace experience who would like to gain a formal qualification.
Teaching comprises a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, case studies, simulation exercises, and projects. You will undertake professional practice working with QMU shows and events as well as engaging with the wider industry. Your performance on the course will be assessed by essays, reports, reflective blog, portfolio, presentations and a dissertation or project (MA only). Normally, there are around six to eight students undertaking the course each year.
Each module will require you to attend classes and carry out independent work. Most modules consist of five or six hours of class time each day during the teaching periods of the semester. Where possible, all teaching takes place over three days per week.
Our partnership with The Edinburgh Stage Management School ensures an active industry focus to the course with key professional practitioners delivering master classes and practical workshops. Our location in the festival city also allows for strong practical links between the course and the many arts, festival and cultural organisations based in and around Edinburgh, across Scotland and the UK.
15 credits: Core Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing Productions: Theory & Practice/ Advanced Technical Skills for Theatre Production/ Managing People & Projects 30 credits: Professional Practice 1 (15 + 15)/ Professional Practice 2 (15 + 15)
If studying for an MA, you will also complete a dissertation or project (60 credits).
You will be qualified for a broad range of stage management positions within a wide spectrum of live entertainment and live events industries. Many career opportunities are open to you. Previous graduates (Edinburgh Stage Management School) have gone on to work in theatres, performing arts organisations, festivals, corporate events and ceremonies. In addition, many now tour within the UK, Europe and internationally. Potential careers might include producing, fundraising, marketing, programming, or audience development, as well as many other roles across the cultural industries and all professions requiring skills in effective management.
Are you interested in learning the ways in which Shakespeare has been used in the classroom at different historical and cultural moments?
Do you want to immerse yourself in the works and plays of Shakespeare?
The Shakespeare Institute's MA in Shakespeare and Education is a unique, modular programme that is particularly appropriate for practicing teachers, offering the opportunity to enhance expertise in different aspects of Shakespeare’s work. Throughout the programme you will be incorporating the study of Shakespeare's plays in performance and adaptation. You can study this programme on-site at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon or by distance learning.
This programme offers you the opportunity to enhance your expertise in different aspects of Shakespeare's work, while maintaining a pedagogical focus.
You will study three core modules:
You will also choose three optional modules (see module information below).
The flexible structure of this course allows study in a wide variety of ways, on a full- or part-time basis. Modules are available to study through a variety of routes that may include:
Full-time study is on site in Stratford-upon-Avon and part-time students can choose to study the whole programme either on-site, primarily by online distance learning or a combination of the two. The schedule of delivery allows access to all modules through a range of modes over any three-year period, although some are not available to study via distance learning. The compulsory Pedagogy module, which is co-taught with the Royal Shakespeare Company, must be studied on-site due to its interactive nature.
Assessment
Each module is assessed by written assignment with the exception of the optional module in Shakespeare and Theatre Practice, which is assessed by either two performance assignments and a 2,000-word research paper, or by one 4,000-word research paper. You will complete the programme with a 15,000-word pedagogical dissertation.
Explore the Shakespeare Institute
The programme allows access to the unique Shakespearian resources of the Shakespeare Institute Library, the Library of the Shakespeare Centre that curates the archives of the RSC, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Study materials for this programme are enhanced by the close ties that the Shakespeare Institute has with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the archives associated with both of these institutions.
Many of the programme’s modules are also available via distance learning, meaning that you can study online from anywhere in the world. Distance learning modules will combine print, audio, and video teaching methods in order to give students a varied and enriching educational experience.
This means that you can study for a Masters degree (MA) almost entirely by distance learning. However, you will need to come to Stratford-upon-Avon for a one-week residential school in the spring in order to complete your core module on Shakespeare and Education, which is scheduled to coincide with the Easter holidays.
Although self-study is central to doing a programme by distance learning, support is always available.
You will have a personal tutor and dissertation supervisor to guide you and answer any questions, and you have access to a wide range of online resources too. You also have the opportunity to meet other students and academic staff through online chats and discussion forums and at the Easter residential.
Read more about distance learning with the Shakespeare Institute
Support with academic writing
As a postgraduate student in the College of Arts and Law, you have access to the Academic Writing Advisory Service (AWAS) which aims to help your transition from undergraduate to taught Masters level, or back into academia after time away. The service offers guidance on writing assignments and dissertations for your MA/MSc programme with individual support from an academic writing advisor via tutorials, email and the provision of online materials.
International students can access support for English Language development and skills through the Birmingham International Academy (BIA).
Your degree will provide excellent preparation for employment and this will be further enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University.
The University's Careers Network provides advice and information specifically for postgraduates that will help you to develop an effective career and skills development strategy, and to make the most of your time with us at the University. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team to deliver tailored programmes of careers events and local support.
You will have opportunities to: meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs; attend employer presentations and skills workshops; receive individual guidance on your job applications, writing your CV and improving your interview technique; and access to comprehensive listings of hundreds of graduate jobs and work experience opportunities.
You will also be able to access our full range of careers support for up to two years after graduation.
Postgraduate employability: Shakespeare Studies
Postgraduates at the Shakespeare Institute are able to develop a broad range of creative, research and theatre skills, as well as in-depth subject knowledge.
Over the past two years, over 93% of our postgraduates were in work and/or further study six months after graduation.
In recent years, our postgraduates have successfully entered a variety of sectors from teaching in secondary and higher education to performing arts, publishing, museums and library and archive work. Employers that graduates have gone on to work for include: National Trust; Royal Shakespeare Company; Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; Shakespeare's Globe, University of Birmingham and University of Oxford.
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.
