| The award | How you will study | Study duration | Course start | Domestic course fees | International course fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Full-time | 1 year | find out | find out | find out |
Theatre making at Hull has a strong reputation and a unique history.
The Drama department at Hull has been a centre of theatre making since the 1960s. It is the third oldest university drama department in the country with a global reputation and a unique history. Our graduates play key roles in the industry nationally and internationally. Our unique asset is the network of theatre companies and professional arts groups that emerged from the department and continue to work closely with us.
This newly redesigned MA in Theatre Making builds on this unique network and operates within it. It places a strong emphasis on internationalisation and Knowledge Exchange, and explores the modes of public engagement through the art. Thanks to the broad range of our staff expertise, this practical, community-focused programme is challenging, varied and at the forefront of research into theatre, place and space. The programme allows students to build on their artistic and academic portfolio and develop as practitioners working independently, in companies and with external partners in a range of performance styles and disciplines.
You'll gain hands-on experience in making theatre in a range of settings, including schools, youth groups and care homes, and for a variety of audiences. You'll also have opportunities to learn how to set up and run your own theatre company.
Our students love working in a close-knit, friendly drama community with excellent dedicated facilities and unrivalled access to theatre and rehearsal space. This includes the Gulbenkian Centre with its two performance spaces: the uniquely versatile Don Roy Theatre - hailed one of the most flexible theatre spaces in any European university - and the multimedia blackbox Minghella Studio. We have dedicated facilities and workspaces for our wide-ranging scenographic practice - from costume and props, through set design and construction, to lighting, sound and digital performance. These facilities are welcoming your talents and research interests, and will help you realise your theatre making inspirations. Take the virtual tour now and see for yourself.
Our specialist academic support staff are industry professionals with rich expertise in the practical aspects of making, from scenographic disciplines (light, sound, project, digital performance, costume, prop making) to stage management, dramaturgy and scriptwriting.
You'll also benefit from industry and academic networks: the Prague Quadrennial, Hull Truck Theatre, East Riding Theatre, Absolutely Cultured, Back to Ours; nationally renowned companies such as the New Diorama Theatre in London, and graduate companies such as Middle Child, Silent Uproar, The Roaring Girls, Concrete Youth, Same Circle Productions; and with numerous academic partners and institutions.
Graduates from this MA course have a strong track record of success. Several theatre companies established themselves on the course, such as the award-winning The Roaring Girls or Concrete Youth Theatre Company. Other graduates have gone on to work as independent theatre makers, as performers, arts facilitators, producers, workshops convenors, Drama teachers or progressed to continuing study at a PhD level.
The MA Theatre Making integrates the theory and practice of theatre and performance on bespoke practical projects with and for external partners. The practical work on the programme is rooted in research (Practice-as-Research) and explores novel ways of embodied inquiry. The theoretical, practical, interdisciplinary and industry frameworks bring new insights and reinforce the collaborative and individual theatre making practice on the course.
Modules are core for all students and offer flexibility within them, dependent on individual students' expertise and experience, and on the external partners' impulses. Regular CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and mentoring sessions with numerous local, national and international industry partners are embedded in the curriculum.
The two modules in each trimester are interlinked in a tapered way. While all modules work on practical projects, one module approaches the competencies from the side of the public practice, and while the other complements them from the angle of academic study and critical theory.
Each trimester ends with a summative point that formalises the conclusion of the phase and integrates the tapered approach. It allows the student an exit point at the end of each trimester.
Trimester 1 (PG Certificate Stage)
All modules are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.
Critical Components of PaR
A seminar incorporating exploratory practice on site-, place- and partner-specific performance. This seminar includes the mandatory Research Integrity and Ethics training.
Commissioned Project with Industry Partner
An exploratory practice in collaboration with an industry partner.
PG Certificate Symposium (MA Theatre Making)
Trimester 2 (PG Diploma Stage)
All modules are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.
Creating Cultural Agenda
A seminar incorporating exploratory practice (R&D phase) towards a prototype show of a new company; this seminar includes CPD and industry analysis.
Curated Programme for an Industry Partner
A practical project that curates a programme of theatre events for a partner institution.
PG Diploma Symposium (MA Theatre Making)
A symposium involving the self-presentation as an independent theatre maker (company or individual) and a submitted ACE application.
Trimester 3 (MA Diploma Stage)
All modules are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.
Research Project (MA Theatre Making)
An individual or collaborative project with individual research agendas (a small scale PaR project or portfolio with documentation and a critical commentary, or a written-only research thesis).
Practical theatre work
Group or individual practice that allows students to use the specialisms of their choice (performing, scenographic practices, dramaturgical practices and writing, facilitating, media production); the practical theatre work is an outcome presented to the target recipient and results from R&D, production meetings and rehearsal; the remit and specific needs, aims and objectives of the assessment and relation to module learning outcomes are formalised in a learning contract, which also allows and accounts for individual learning needs and any EDI issues of the participants.
Critical portfolio and CPD documentation
An individual assessment in a range of media: from written critical reflection, through logs, blogs and vlogs, profesional portfolios appropriate to the student's specialism of choice, self-tapes, agency documentation, design books, maquettes and models, CVs, profiles on professional network sites, to professional websites; the remit and specific needs, aims and objectives of the assessment and relation to module learning outcomes are formalised in a learning contract, which also allows and accounts for individual learning needs.
Discursive assessment (presentation with Q&A)
Group or individual presentations in appropriate media (oral delivery, presentation slides, demonstrations of sample work, online presentation) with the opportunity of audience's and interlocutors' further questioning; this assessment models standard professional practices of pitching, presentation or hand-overs of R&D work; the remit and specific needs, aims and objectives of the assessment and relation to module learning outcomes are formalised in a learning contract, which also allows and accounts for individual learning needs.
Critical writing
An individual piece of critical writing in a range of research genres (critical essay, review, report, conference paper or presentation), meeting PG standards of research work (academic rigour, referencing, formal arrangement and delivery); the remit, aims and objectives of the assessment and relation to module learning outcomes are formalised in a learning contract or a detailed assignment, which also allows and accounts for individual learning needs.
You will have a minimum of a 2:2 Honours degree or international equivalent in Drama, Theatre, Performance or a related subject. These requirements may be varied, especially in the case of students whose first degree was taken some time ago, or where there is compensatory professional or other relevant experience.
In order to ensure our students have a rich learning and student experience, most of our programmes have a mix of domestic and international students. We reserve the right to close applications early to either group, if application volumes suggest that this blend cannot be achieved. In addition, existing undergraduate students at the University of Hull have a guaranteed 'Fast Track' route to any postgraduate programme, subject to meeting the entry criteria.
Contact University of Hull to find course entry requirements.
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