Theatre and Performance MA
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

In this module you will be introduced to a range of research methods and strategies relevant to the contemporary academic fields of theatre and performance. You will also learn how to work as an ethical researcher, and will be expected to follow the University Ethics Code for research.

You will be encouraged to align your developing research interests with contemporary debates and approaches within this field and to view your own evolving scholarly understanding and interests as a developing ‘body of research’ from which you can extract, test, and process your own research questions. You will be supported by tutors to identify and refine specific research questions that underpin your developing scholarly interests, and to activate and explore these questions in and through your own research output.

Work on this module is designed to enhance the scholarly research based enquiry that will inform your work on Theatre and Performance Project. The module will encourage you to develop academic skills focussing particularly on: developing skills in reflective and evaluative research writing; and supporting you to build an extensive bibliography and resources list that will lead you into your final project.

You will be introduced to a number of approaches and methods, drawing on existing practices and expertise within the core academic teaching team. Explicitly, staff research will inform a significant part of your learning on this module as you will engage directly in discussions rooted in staff research projects.

You can expect to encounter methods, theories and approaches such as:
Practice as Research; Ethnography; Action Research; Phenomenology; Applied Research; Qualitative methods; Semi-structured Interview techniques; Archival Research; Performance Analysis.

Likewise, you can expect to encounter research topics and questions in the areas of (indicatively):
Performer Training Research Practices; Documentation and Performance Practice; Research within Applied Theatre contexts; Researching the Body in Performance; Exploring Identity through Performance; Autobiography; Walking Practices; Political Performances; Social Performance (e.g. protests or political speech making).

In this module, you will be introduced to a wide range of performance theories, ideas and skills pertinent to developing yourself as a 21st Century theatre maker and scholar. You will then put these into application through the creation of a fifteen minute assessed solo performance work and 1000 word contextualizing “program notes” document.

During this module you will develop and extend your scholarly knowledge and professional skills in and on performance; devising/making; project management; critical feedback and evaluation, and your critical thinking skills in the area of theatre and performance studies. The module will encourage you to develop your own performance theories and vocabulary, both in the styles and techniques you adopt in your making processes, but also in the language you adopt to articulate your own developing performance practice.

The skills, approaches, strategies, techniques and academic frameworks explored will be determined by the expertise and research specialisms of the academic staff and artists you encounter on the module. Approaches you can expect to engage in indicatively include: performance writing; body based performance practices; physical theatre; visual and immersive theatre; scenographic approaches, political theatre; documentary theatre; biography and autobiography.

Whilst there is an emphasis on practical exploration, the module is also concerned with the context and ideologies of varying kinds of performance systems. The module is alive to the way that systems operate in close relation to cultural processes. With this in mind, the module places a strong emphasis on ‘making’, ‘training’ and performance research as:

(i) a set of critical discourses;
(ii) a means of negotiation between performer, audience and wider social contexts;
(iii) a lifelong craft-practice that seeks to sustain the professional artist.

In this module you will learn the breadth of skills that are required for the effective delivery of a major ambitious creative project. Theatre and Performance Practice supports you at the stage of initiating, planning and developing your ideas to fully prepare you for the successful delivery of Theatre and Performance Project, the final 60 credit module of the MA. The module is reflexive and responsive to the needs of the group and the planned projects.
You will learn how to plan your project in a professional context, and will be offered opportunities to test creative material in development with peers and tutors. The module will encourage you to describe, define and refine your practice. Through the creation of a ‘Project Plan’ and by taking part in a presentation and discussion of your planned project, you will develop and extend core skills in articulation; learning how to successfully write and talk about your own creative practice.
These assessment points in the module are designed to prepare you for the rigours of undertaking a professional application process and/or higher level academic study such as a practice based PhD. The production of a detailed project plan to outline your project will directly respond to a ‘real world’ opportunity or brief. Similarly, by taking part in the presentation and Q&A you will gain first-hand experience of industry and/or academic application processes akin to those you will encounter post-graduation.

Theatre and Performance Project is the dissertation stage module for the postgraduate MA award. This is an independent study module in which you research and document the creation of the substantial project that you have instigated and developed throughout the previous modules, and meticulously planned for in Theatre and Performance Practice.

Centred on the research and documentation of the development of a major self-directed project undertaken in the vibrant and dynamic location of NewcastleGateshead and/or nationally and internationally online, this module provides you with a period of sustained and concentrated study to rigorously explore the possibilities of performance and theatre practice online/in person and acquire in depth knowledge and understanding of the diversity of performance and theatre contexts.

The module offers you the opportunity document the delivery of a substantial individual or collaborative performance project (or portfolio of activities of equivalent size/scale). The final project is determined by your own area of interest and professional and/or academic direction, and can therefore take one or multiple forms. For example you might research and document your creation of a devised contemporary performance work; the writing of a play/performance text; the delivery of an applied theatre project; or a combination of these. Possible methods of research, analysis and documentation, to be housed in the final website, include written essays, practice-research outputs, screencasts and other web based/online and /or documentation of in person delivery.

The project should be researched and designed to be delivered in relation to a specific context, methodology, and/or (local, national or international) institution or organisation. There is also scope for the project to be delivered at the university in a festival (online or in person) of MA performance works to which industry and academic professionals would be invited.

Through participation in this module you will acquire and develop skills that are integral for successfully bridging the gap between undergraduate study and a sustainable professional and/or academic career. You will produce a website and evaluative and critical writing and presentation that captures, researches and documents your work on the project, ensuring your project is outward, academic and/or industry facing as you launch your career.

In this module, you will consider approaches and methodologies that inform the practices of cultural management. You will consider different theories of practice including leadership and organisation and apply these to your own creative work now and in support of your future professional development in the creative and cultural sector. The emphasis throughout the module is on working relationships and how cultural managers of the future can develop their practice to respond to the complex challenges of our time.

You will identify and reflect on the unique skills, capabilities and understandings required to deal with such complexities. From public-sector supported organisations and institutions at one end of the scale to micro businesses and individual creative practitioners and artists at the other end, the environment in which these disparate activities take place is shaped by the political, social and economic environment, and it is the way that practitioners can respond to and work within this changing environment that you will interrogate. You will be encouraged and supported to consider your own skills development needs in this regard. CVs and professional development will be considered in support of your own career progression.

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Effective reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.