Theatre for Social, Political and Environmental Change MA

Program Overview

This program harnesses theatre and performance to empower students with the tools to create impactful performances that address contemporary social and environmental challenges. Through core modules and flexible options, students develop creative practices, research skills, and an understanding of how performance can shape society and politics. Graduates are prepared for careers in professional theatre, applied theatre, community development, education, and activism.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This program focuses on the use of theatre and performance as tools for social and environmental change. It equips students with the knowledge and skills to create impactful performances that address global challenges such as climate change, migration, and political engagement. The program explores how professional theatre makers, applied theatre facilitators, and performance activists respond to these global challenges. It also delves into theoretical and philosophical frameworks surrounding the influence of performance on society and politics. The degree aims to:

• Develop creative performance practices that challenge and disrupt the social status quo.
• Equip students with the skills to make theatre more politically and socially effective.
• Foster bold and original approaches to socially and politically engaged performance.
• Provide a flexible approach allowing students to choose optional modules in areas like community performance, playwriting, and arts management.

Outline:

Core Modules:

• Major Research Project: Theatre and Performance: This module is the culmination of the program and allows students to conduct in-depth research on a chosen topic.
• Performance for Society, Politics and the Environment: This module examines key theories and practices behind using theatre and performance for social and environmental change.
It explores topics like environmental practices, activist performance, theatre for development, and site-specific theatre.
• Research Methods in Theatre and Performance: This module introduces qualitative and creative research methods used in the arts and social sciences and their relevance to contemporary theatre and performance practice.
It delves into practice-based research and examines knowledge production through creative practice.

Optional Modules:

• Arts Management Practice: This module focuses on the role of management in arts organizations, exploring the challenges they face and the implications for management concepts.
• Community Performance: This module addresses collaborative performance projects co-created with community groups.
Students explore practices to facilitate collaboratively-designed theatre for positive change within communities and their social and cultural settings.
• Environmental Crises and Societal Change: This module examines the environmental crisis and its societal impacts through a place-based approach focusing on Lancaster, Morecambe Bay, and the Lake District.
It explores the dissonance and convergence of temporal scales, analyzing how the crisis has come into existence.
• Environmental Performance: This module provides students with a critical understanding of 20th and 21st century performance practices responding to anthropogenic climate change.
It examines theories and practices related to ecocriticism and environmentalism.
• Gender, Sexuality and Contemporary Performance: This module explores how performance can reflect, challenge, or resist societal norms of gender and sexuality.
It delves into theories about the social construction of gender and sexuality and their application to contemporary society, drawing on perspectives from feminist, gender, and queer theory.

Careers:

Graduates from this program are equipped for a variety of careers, including:

• Professional theatre
• Applied theatre
• Community development
• Education
• Charities and NGOs
• Activism and political campaigning
The program also prepares students for pursuing PhD studies, enabling them to further their specialized interests through independent practice and research.

Full Time:

Home:

£11,500

International:

£23,875

Part Time:

Home:

£5,750

International:

£11,935