MA Applied Theatre

Program Overview

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The MA/MFA in Applied Theatre (performance as social practice) is an advanced enquiry into socially turned performance and how it is enacted for social justice. The MA is organized for practitioners of theatre with an interest in the effects of their work beyond the stage, practitioners with backgrounds in social fields seeking skills in creative methods, and graduates with an interest in these areas. This programme is for those who are excited by the potential of performance and culture to interact with questions of justice in the areas of race, class, gender, economy, migration and ecology.

The MA in Applied Theatre is a one year taught postgraduate degree with an MFA as a second-year option. The programme will prepare you to develop your practices in socially engaged theatre contexts; to facilitate and create projects in non-theatre environments; to experiment with forms and genres of social performance including activism, outsider art, performance as social action, performative conversations, workshops, critical interventions, live, narrative, durational, devised and participatory creative projects. You will be prepared to plan, deliver and evaluate your own projects and, to deepen your critical understanding of the social contexts and cultural politics of your work. The programme will ask you to think about your position as a cultural worker between communities and institutions through modules based on interdisciplinary projects, cultural politics, community and facilitation.

You will work practically with practitioners and companies through placements, reconsider definitions of performance in terms of how and where it takes place and be able to identify critical contemporary moments where the immediacy of performance can be used as a response. Your position as creator and cultural worker makes this programme unique to applied theatre in establishing you as a maker of performance that acts critically and literally in a world that is connected within networks of care and solidarity.

Program Outline

Performance, Community and Cultural Politics

You will examine the boundaries of performance and social practices through understandings of how cultural politics, concepts of community and social engagement are encountered and rehearsed in collective situations.

You will study and discuss:

the cultural politics of race, gender, class, nation, ability, age, ethnicity

situating your practices and community practices in relation to cultural politics

formulating your positioning and limitations as a cultural producer of 'community work' within economies of cultural production

Pedagogy for Social Change

Taught with professional practitioners, this module is focused on socially engaged and activist practices for the facilitation of groups through performance.

You will practise:

Pedagogical skills for the facilitation of applied theatre

Diverse art activisms for community and social practices

Relevant and ethical approaches to social actions in specific contexts

A personal pedagogic / activist practice for social contexts

Applied Practices

Building on your knowledges in discourses of community, and the social and political dimensions of performative practices, you will work on a project in a specific community/social setting.

You will apply:

Advanced social practice skills

Critical processes for practice and their application to social contexts

Creative and ethical methods in the application of practices with communities

Research Methods

This module provides you with a range of research methods and skills necessary for undertaking production/project-based dissertation work. It makes use of research to develop original source materials, plans, conceptual and technical experimentation mapping subject matter onto formal performance research strategies. You will examine the politics and ethics of research and how it operates for social contexts.

Practitioners & Praxis

This module will provide you with the opportunity to develop an innovative practice based methodology in a strand of social performance. Following seminars on funding, arts policy, community/audience engagement, you will develop your practitioner profile and pursue self-initiated work made through an initial proposal and developed with a tutor.

You will produce:

Digital Profiles

Artist / Practitioner Statements

Project Platform

A companion module to Practitioners and Praxis, this module is a final independent project that realizes project planning already undertaken. You will choose to deliver a self-designed project based in social practice or write a dissertation.

Your journey through the programme is organised around a series of learning activities that consider your specific experiences and intended area of expertise. You'll be taught by a range of staff including professional practitioners and by experts who disseminate through publication. You will develop skills for composing and realising participatory arts projects that set-in-train dialogues in local and international communities; in pedagogic tools and techniques for facilitation practices; collaborative and professional skills in live projects (leadership, design, development, funding applications) that can be underpinned through partnerships; and social and cultural interventions.

Placements

The MA/MFA in Applied Theatre offers placements in community, organisational, institutional, or municipal contexts that are critically engaged with society.  A defining feature of your studies, placement learning enables investigation into your specific interests through practitioner-led experiences that enhance your professional practice.

Interdisciplinary collaborations

The programme shares modules with MA Acting and Directing, MA Directing for Stage and Screen and MA Contemporary Performance Practices. Through modules such as Research Methods, Practitioners and Praxis and Project Platform, you will have the choice to work across disciplines exchanging skills with theatre and film-makers interested in social practices.

Guided independent study

When not attending timetabled lectures, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for exams. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and Moodle.

Academic support

Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - inc learning and disability support

Dedicated personal tutor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.

Assessment methods on the MA/MFA Applied Theatre reflects an ethos of learning that nurtures original theatre-based practices and rigorous understandings of how cultural politics is encountered and practised in collective situations. An array of assessment types evaluates and prompts your development while offering opportunities to try out and test ideas through practice, creative documentation, critical interrogation/ reflection, and project delivery. Your final independent project can be undertaken as a practical project or as a written dissertation.

Feedback is offered within 15 working days after submission of your assessment.