MA Performance (Live and Digital)

Course Overview

Do you enjoy creating work that pushes the boundaries between performance and contemporary life, and the boundaries between performance and other disciplines? Do you see yourself as an artist who wants to experiment with lots of ideas and wants to learn about how contemporary practitioners and writers understand performance? If so, this could be the course for you. You will explore the application of live and digital performance to a contemporary society that has become increasingly technologised. You will view performance as both performing – a skill which can be applied in a variety of contexts – and as an art form that can accommodate a range of media, including film, screen and digital platforms. You will gain hands on experience with the latest technology, allowing you to explore the full range of stage, screen, audio and intermedial possibilities.

At the centre of the programme is practical work with industry professionals at the forefront of contemporary UK performance. You will work with them practically and learn about their professional practices. You will then go on to study thinkers who have written about the possibilities of performance, and explore concepts discussing what performance is and could be.

What will this course cover?

On this course you will explore how the boundaries between drama and screen studies are increasingly changing and interrogate current industry practices through a comprehensive study of the contexts, philosophies, aesthetics and policies of the performing arts.

The course provides a unique opportunity to explore creatively how performance is currently practised and how it may be developed as a discipline by, for example, exploring synergies between digital and screen media, film and live performance through theory and practice.

The course’s focus on contemporary cutting edge practice begins with a week-long residency with a leading theatre company culminating with a scratch performance.

As the course goes on, you will be guided in your studies by skilled academic practitioners and lecturer input increasingly moves towards independent study, encouraging you to adopt the role of performer / director / maker as well as academic. You will run workshops and lead group productions. The course will conclude with a project led by you, in which you develop either an artistic concept or use ideas explored during the course in a wider social context.

Career Prospects

This programme will prepare you for a wide range of roles in the performing arts industry, such as a creative performer in theatre, performance, film and digital media; working in arts management; working as a performance practitioner in a wider industry role (for example radio performance, creative producing, video / film making), and working as a creative educator.

There is a particular focus on the range of skills involved in small scale theatre and setting up your own theatre companies, which aims to simulate industry practice. The range of leadership roles will develop creative and innovative thinkers on this programme by drawing on collaborative, ensemble and directing working practices. The high level of academic knowledge and ability to do independent research paves the way for you to embark on PhD study subsequent to this programme.