Drama

MA Theatre Practice: General Programme

Location

Streatham Campus, Exeter

Our unique Theatre Practice postgraduate programmes cover practice-based work in theatre and can be taken either as an MA, full-time over 1 year or part-time over 2 years.

The MA Theatre Practice is divided into a number of flexible pathways. You can specialise in an area of your choice by following a specific pathway, select modules from different pathways to tailor an individual programme, or even take a module from outside Drama to complement the range of enquiry. All pathways are taught by leading academics in one of the largest and best equipped Drama departments in the country. 

The programmes appeal to a range of prospective students: practitioners who want to develop their practice; graduates who are planning a career in arts education (schools, colleges, universities); and those who want to look more in depth into aspects of drama they have enjoyed and benefitted from through undergraduate studies.

As a student enrolled on one of these programmes, you will develop skills and techniques to further your vocational career, theoretical knowledge which will enrich and enhance your creative work, as well as the ability to critically interrogate your performance practice.

The General Programme

If you don't have a particular interest in any one of our named pathways, you can study the MA Theatre Practice without a named pathway. This is ideal for anyone wishing to further their practical and theoretical knowledge along with skills in a more eclectic range of topics and specialisms. Whether you seek to develop an area theatre further that you have enjoyed in your previous degree, or seek to tackle new horizons you have not yet had the opportunity to study, you will be able to tailor the programme to meet your own preferences. Modules and supervision are available from a wide range of specialisms and we will individually discuss and plan the most appropriate syllabus with you within the overall structure of our MA programme.

The programme consists of a compulsory module that introduces you the internationalisation of performance culture to reflect the diversity of the MA programme at Exeter, both practice-based and theoretical. Through this comparative study which embraces cultures from around the world, you will be introduced to other students and asked to reflect on what matters most to you in contemporary performance. Your choice of an option module in term 1 will normally be a practical one. In terms 2 and 3 you will work towards an area of practice and research either individually or, where possible, alongside one of the pathway specific programmes, and later conduct an in-depth research project in form of a dissertation.

While the non pathway specific MA is open to all applicants, it may be particularly interesting for students who have completed the BA in Drama at Exeter and want to extend and deepen that experience.