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Are you looking to develop and hone your skills as an independent creative practitioner and postgraduate academic? This programme offers a bespoke learning experience tailored to your own specialisms and ambition, all within the Northumbria Theatre and Performance hub.

MA Theatre and Performance is an innovative postgraduate programme that is rich in opportunity and diverse in content and reach. The programme promotes creativity, experimentation and risk-taking for students as makers and scholars. It fosters an enhanced understanding of the skills required for sustaining careers in academic and professional arts sectors. This MA is firmly embedded in the cultural community of professional practice and academic scholarship in North East England. 

Our programme aims to generate the theatre and performance makers and scholars of the future. We offer you the opportunity to explore an area of developing practice.

You will benefit from research groups combining academic innovation with critical exploration. You will engage with the creative and cultural industries through Newcastle Arts organisations recognised for their excellence, such as The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Northern Stage and Live Theatre, Gallery NorthGIFT and Alphabetti Theatre providing excellent opportunities to explore and develop your work.

Our Theatre and Performance MA is housed within an exciting, research-active subject area. It includes students studying Fine Art, Media, Film and Television Production and a vibrant Post Graduate Research (PhD) community. 

The programme will provide you with advanced skills and an understanding of practice and research, within a wider professional context. It will enable you to reflect critically and imaginatively on your own learning and thinking. This will help you understand the complex relationship between working as an artist and theorist within an industry and academic context. 

You are encouraged to experiment and challenge traditional boundaries and forms, and to extend your own performance and theoretical vocabularies. The programme will enhance further skills such as communication, self-management and planning. 

The programme is led by academic staff and industry professionals. It aims to acquire the necessary skills for professional and academic work. Past graduates have gone on to work as a contemporary theatre maker, performer, writer, facilitator, community-engaged practitioner or further study.  

Course Information

Level of Study
Postgraduate

Mode of Study
1 year full-time

Department
Arts

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Start
September 2023

Fee Information

Module Information

Remarkable students / MA Theatre and Performance

Discover more about the course by taking a look at student and alumni performances.

Funding and Scholarships

Discover the funding options available to you.

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Entry Requirements 2023/24

Standard Entry

Applicants should normally have:

A minimum of a 2:2 honours degree in drama, performance, applied theatre, scriptwriting or a related discipline, or an equivalent professional qualification.

Applicants may also be required to attend an audition and provide examples of work.

International qualifications:

If you have studied a non UK qualification, you can see how your qualifications compare to the standard entry criteria, by selecting the country that you received the qualification in, from our country pages. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry

English language requirements:

International applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).

 *The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS.  You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades you will need in our English Language section. Visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

Fees and Funding 2023/24 Entry

Full UK Fee: £9,250

Full EU Fee: £17,500

Full International Fee: £17,500



Scholarships and Discounts

Click here for UK, EU and International scholarship, fees, and funding information.

ADDITIONAL COSTS

There are no Additional Costs

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

How to Apply

Please use the Apply Now button at the top of this page to submit your application.

Certain applications may need to be submitted via an external application system, such as UCAS, Lawcabs or DfE Apply.

The Apply Now button will redirect you to the relevant website if this is the case.

You can find further application advice, such as what to include in your application and what happens after you apply, on our Admissions Hub Admissions | Northumbria University



Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

PA7000 -

Researching Theatre and Performance (Core,30 Credits)

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).

More information

PA7001 -

Theatre & Performance Skills and Applications (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

PA7002 -

Theatre and Performance Practice (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

PA7003 -

Theatre and Performance Project (Core,60 Credits)

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.

More information

VA7042 -

Practices of Cultural Management (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

YC7000 -

Academic Language Skills for Social Sciences & Humanities (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

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.

More information

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

PA7000 -

Researching Theatre and Performance (Core,30 Credits)

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).

More information

PA7001 -

Theatre & Performance Skills and Applications (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

PA7002 -

Theatre and Performance Practice (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

PA7003 -

Theatre and Performance Project (Core,60 Credits)

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.

More information

VA7042 -

Practices of Cultural Management (Core,30 Credits)

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.

More information

YC7000 -

Academic Language Skills for Social Sciences & Humanities (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

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.

More information

Any Questions?

Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help.  They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.


All information is accurate at the time of sharing.

Full time Courses starting in 2023 are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but may include elements of online learning. We continue to monitor government and local authority guidance in relation to Covid-19 and we are ready and able to flex accordingly to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with additional restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors, potentially to a full online offer, should further restrictions be deemed necessary in future. Our online activity will be delivered through Blackboard Ultra, enabling collaboration, connection and engagement with materials and people.

 

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We continuously review and improve course content in consultation with our students and employers. To make sure we can inform you of any changes to your course register for updates on the course page.


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Find out about our distinctive approach at 
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northumbria.ac.uk/fees

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If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

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