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MA Theatre Directing: Text and Production

Attendance:
Full Time
Award:
Degree of Master of Arts
School of Study:
Literature, Drama and Creative Writing

MA Theatre Directing: Text and ProductionText-based directing, and performance based theory

The MA in Theatre directing at the University of East Anglia is one of the longest established in the country. Following the Gulbenkian Report on director training of 1989 it was founded by Tony Gash, a Shakespearean scholar who had studied at Oxford and taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. It was made possible by the building of a newly designed Studio Theatre at the University, which was opened by Harold Pinter in 1993. Its earliest advisers included the practitioners Cicely Berry( RSC) Max Stafford-Clark (Royal Court/Out of Joint) and Mike Alfreds (Shared Experience/ Method and Madness) who are all also published writers on directorial method. One of the founding principles of the MA ever since has been to establish a firm connection between the academic or critical study of dramatic texts and the director’s working with actors. We do this by, on the one hand, refusing to separate theatrical theory or literary reading from performance (the texts are scripts) and, on the other, by refusing to separate ‘performance art’ or ‘physical’ theatre from working in detail with texts, verse and language. We do not isolate theory from practice, but, often working in the Studio, search continually for the points of intersection between the verbal, emotional and the physical, both practically, and via the two concepts of speech acts and scenic structure.

To this end the MA directing students start by regularly rehearsing student actors on scenes of their own choosing which are then re-worked by their instructors in such a way as bring out an alternative aspect of the scene. In a supporting class they learn how to apply a variety of directing methods , many of which are commonly used in professional directing and actor training - e.g. Stanislavskian objectives, Laban’s effort anaylsis, Lecoq’s levels of tension., Keith Johnstone’s status, Meisner’s interactivity, but now, in the University context, also subjected to philosophical and historical scrutiny. This is where ‘speech acts’ the common theme of philosophy, literary criticism, linguistics and the great directors Stanislavski and Brecht come in; as does the recurrent rivalry between the claims of truth and those of form. By seeking out the foundational questions which underlie modern theories of the theatre, we are also able to see how great playwrights, like Shakespeare, are already implicit theorists and directors before those terms were used.

Interdisciplinarity

One of the strong appeals of the 'MA Theatre Directing: Text and Production' at the University Of East Anglia is its place within the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing. It has been usual for individual MA directing students to study alongside graduate scriptwriting students in some units available to both, such as Adaptation and Interpretation or Scriptwriting: Dramaturgy, and sometimes to direct their work in rehearsed readings or performances. But equally important is the possibility of working with critics who specialize in cultural history and dramatic criticism, such as Peter Womack, Professor of Literature and Drama, who offers a unit in The Actor in Space, which is of great value to any director working with a designer. Just as important for any modern director is a consideration of the influence of globalization, immigration, and ‘interculturalism’ on modern theatre throughout the world. This is the emphasis of an optional unit on Contemporary World Theatre, which also gives an opportunity to the Theatre Directing students to meet Theatre and Development graduates registered in the adjoining School of Development.Studies. In their search for new theatrical possibilities, Theatre Directing students are also able to draw on the British Centre for Literary Translation. All these explorations of so-called ‘interdisciplinarity’ are not so much journeys outward from one subject to another as inwards to the heart of the theatrical art-form where many modes which are academically separated, such as the sociological and the aesthetic, or literary and plastic arts are here experienced in their unity. For this reason too we like to consider applicants from a range of disciplines or professions.

Individual development and practical research

Each year a very small number of Theatre Directing students are selected. All are encouraged to recognize that, in spite of the misleading word, ‘directing’ is a collaborative process, where directors are facilitators who, on the one hand, must serve the skills of their collaborators, but, on the other, must discover and communicate their own creative strengths. Both semesters provide opportunities for the MA students to direct undergraduate students in formal, but not public, contexts where directors and actors will be assessed. In the first semester, there is a regular Scene Class where the directors are encouraged to range generically and historically while practising newly learned techniques. In the second, the study of the work of contemporary theory and performance groups in Postmodernism in Performance culminates in the application some of their methods and styles to the production of extracts from two or three modern plays performed by undergraduate drama students.

After Easter each student will pursue one of a number of personally chosen modes of practical research independently, culminating in either a written dissertation, a public production, or various combinations of the two. The evidence of practical research must be the equivalent of the 15000 word written dissertation demanded by the other MA courses. Applications for university studio productions are competitive and will be adjudicated by the course director and senior technician, but there are sometimes opportunities to direct outside the university. If a public production is undertaken, the student must provide a detailed design, financial and casting plan well in advance, but even more importantly the production must have some original idea or text behind it. Last year, for example, a successful studio production undertook a montage of a variety of plays on the theme of master and servant, thus creating a new but unified play. But there are also forms of research into particular methods or texts or themes which may be better suited to assessment by workshops or master classes: last year an individual’s research into Kantor’s aesthetics led to such a series of workshops, and was accompanied by pictures and model-boxes as well as writing. Another possibility is to combine a placement at a professional theatre, or Drama School, with written recording and analysis of the rehearsal process in which the student may participate as assistant director. And yet another is to base a dissertation on a combination of historical research and a review of contemporary productions. New translations of plays from another language into English, or adaptatations from a non-dramatic genre may also be submitted. All these, and many other possibilities depend on the individual’s interests, ingenuity, strengths and career plans, which may include teaching, writing or doctoral research as well as professional directing. Choices and development will be regularly discussed with each student in personal tutorials.

Personnel

The course is still led and taught by its founder Tony Gash. In 2008-9 he was joined by Dr. Holly Maples, who was trained in acting at the Central School of speech and Drama, and has a Ph.D. from Trinity College, Dublin, for her research into the Abbey Theatre. She is now a full time lecturer at UEA and directs professionally. Other professional directors and designers visit regularly, including some who have themselves studied at UEA. In the Summer of 2009 two ex-UEA students directed at the Globe Theatre, and in May, the Drama programmes at UEA were listed in the Guardian league table as the best in the country. In the same year both Sam West and Richard Eyre lectured here on their personal conceptions of directing.

What our students say about us


Mr. Tony Gash

The School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing brings together writers, scholars, teachers and students in an exploration of the powers and possibilities of literature. Our aim is to make creative writing and critical reading confront one another in ways that sharpen and enliven both.

LiteratureLiterature

We teach and research across the range of English Literature from the fourteenth century to the twenty-first. This coverage is supplemented by our interests in European Literature, in postcolonial writing in English across the world, and in literary and cultural theory.

Translation

UEA is home to the British Centre for Literary Translation, which is both a forum for professional translators and a focus for translation work with undergraduate and postgraduate students of literature. The School of Literature & Creative Writing runs the MA in Literary Translation course.

Creative WritingCreative Writing

For over thirty years UEA has been an important centre for established and upcoming writers, whether they come here as teachers, as students, as writers in residence, or to take part in the long-running literary festival organised by the Arthur Miller Centre and the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts. For more information on our Creative Writing MA courses, please click here

DramaDrama

Our drama programmes combine critical study with creative practice. The theoretical aspect draws on the expertise of LIT as a whole; the practical work is based in the purpose-built Drama Studio. For further information on the Drama sector, please click here.

Literature at UEA is not a complete, finished object of study, but a living practice. Because we also do creative writing, translation and drama, we are aware that imaginative writing is not fixed; it is constantly being transformed, adapted, rewritten and reread. Students are invited to study these processes, and also to be part of them. Click here to see what our students say about studying in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing.

Among a diverse group of about twenty literature lecturers, there are experts on the various roles that the practice of literature can play, and has played, in society — how it can be something like praying, or like journalism, or like conversation, how it can be a form of political action, or a vehicle for ideas, or a working out of unmanageable experience, or a way of negotiating (or inflaming) differences of class and race and gender. We teach literature not in isolation, but in relation to this untidy bundle of social and psychological purposes.

It follows that we have no great respect for the boundaries that divide one academic discipline from another. We take a lively interest in the work of our colleagues in history, philosophy, film, the visual arts and music, and we encourage our students to do the same. That is why we offer a range of degree programmes which combine literature with other, related subjects.

We run internationally recognised programmes of teaching and research in literature, translation, creative writing, and drama: the important thing about all of these is that they interact with each other.

Compulsory Study (140 credits)

Students must study the following modules for 140 credits:

Name Code Credits
DRAMA DISSERTATION LDCDM03X 90
POSTMODERNISM IN PERFORMANCE LDCDM012 20
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY TRAINING SEMINAR LDCDM020 10
TEXT AND PRODUCTION: SCENE CLASS LDCDM001 20

Option A Study (40 credits)

Students will select 40 credits from the following modules:

Name Code Credits
"DISSERTATION LANGUAGE, SOCIETY & CULTURE" LCS-MD0X 90
"MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY DISSERTATION" PSIPM20X 80
'PAINTING THE CITY: AMERICAN ARTISTS AND THE URBAN SCENE, 1900-1930' AMSAM040 20
ADAPTATION AND INTERPRETATION LDCCM007 20
ADAPTATION AND INTERPRETATION LDCCM012 20
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY PSIIM032 20
AMERICAN HISTORY DISSERTATION AMSAM06X 90
AMERICAN LITERATURE DISSERTATION AMSAM04X 90
AMERICAN STUDIES DISSERTATION AMSAM03X 90
ANALYSING MEDIA DISCOURSES PSIPM015 20
BETTER WORLDS? UTOPIAS AND DYSTOPIAS PSIPM002 20
BODY SPACES AMSAM043 20
BROADCAST JOURNALISM PSIPM038 40
CASE STUDIES LDCEM002 20
CELEBRITY CULTURE FTMFM069 20
CERTAINTY AND UNCERTAINTY IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY PHI-M015 20
CIVIL RIGHTS AND AMERICAN POLITICS AMSAM029 20
CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHY WORKSHOP PHI-M018 20
CONFLICT IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION LCS-ML23 20
CONTEMPORARY WORLD THEATRE LDCDM002 20
CREATIVE WRITING: SCRIPTWRITING: DRAMATURGY LDCCM009 20
CREATIVE-CRITICAL WRITING LDCEM008 20
CREATIVITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION FTMFM058 20
CRITICAL THEORIES OF THE WESTERN SELF LDCEM011 20
CROSSING BOUNDARIES: WOMEN WRITERS IN MODERN EUROPE LDCEM028 20
CULTURE AND ITS DISCONTENTS LDCEM049 20
DEMOCRATIC THEORY PSIPM010 20
DISSERTATION - LITERARY TRANSLATION LDCEM04X 90
DISSERTATION COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE STUDIES LCS-MD1X 50
DISSERTATION CONFLICTS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION LCS-MD5X 90
DISSERTATION FORENSIC LINGUISTICS LCS-MD4X 90
DISSERTATION LANGUAGE AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION LCS-MD3X 90
DISSERTATION MAATS LCS-MD2X 90
EAST ANGLIAN LITERATURE LDCEM006 20
EFFECTS, AUDIENCES AND THE MEDIA FTMFM046 20
ENGLISH LITERATURE DISSERTATION LDCEM03X 90
ENGLISH, COMMUNICATION, CULTURE LCS-MC01 20
EUROPEAN UNION: POWER, POLITICS AND POLICY PSIIM003 20
EVALUATING NATURE LDCEM058 20
FICTION AFTER MODERNISM LDCEM023 20
FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION FTMFM041 20
FILM STUDIES DISSERTATION FTMFM60X 60
FILM STUDIES: HISTORY, THEORY, CRITICISM FTMFM023 20
FORENSIC LINGUISTICS AND TRANSLATION LCS-MA08 20
GENDER AND CULTURE FTMFM064 20
GOOD GOOD GIRLS AND GOOD BAD BOYS? AMERICAN FICTIONS OF INNOCENCE AMSAM022 20
HISTORY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT: SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY PSIPM005 20
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION - UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES IN A GLOBAL WORLD LCS-ML25 20
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN PRACTICE LCS-ML22 20
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION PSIIM007 20
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY PSIIM006 20
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS: CONFLICT AND DEVELOPMENT PSIIM009 20
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS SINCE 1945 PSIIM015 20
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY PSIIM011 20
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY PSIIM020 20
INTRODUCTION TO INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PHI-M07Y 20
ISSUES IN MEDIA AND CULTURAL POLITICS PSIPM03Y 20
JAPANESE FILM: NATIONAL CINEMA AND BEYOND FTMFM032 20
JOURNALISM: PRACTICE AND ETHICS PSIPM031 20
LANGUAGE AND MIND PHI-M023 20
LANGUAGE ISSUES IN A GLOBAL MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT LCS-MC02 20
LINGUISTIC COMMUNICATION AMONG CULTURES LCS-ML26 20
LITERARY TRANSLATION RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY TRAINING SEMINAR LDCEM06Y 10
LIVING MODERNISM LDCEM017 20
LUDIC LITERATURE LDCEM016 20
MA IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS & EUROPEAN STUDIES EXAMINATION PSIIM202 20
MA IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS EXAMINATION PSIIM200 20
MEDIA AND SOCIETY PSIPM09Y 40
MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY DISSERTATION PSIPM40X 60
METHODOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHY PHI-M019 20
METHODS OF SOCIAL ENQUIRY PSIPM11Y 40
MIDDLE EAST POLITICS PSIIM030 20
MULTICULTURALISM PSIPM026 20
MUSIC, MEDIA, SOCIETY FTMFM062 20
NEW MEDIA AND SOCIETY PSIPM007 20
ONLINE JOURNALISM PSIPM027 20
PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE SEMINAR PHI-M028 20
PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION (80 CREDITS) PHI-M20X 80
PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION (90 CREDITS) PHI-M10X 90
PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE SEMINAR PHI-M021 20
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE PHI-M024 20
PHILOSOPHY POSTGRADUATE WORKSHOP PHI-M09Y 10
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE ENVIRONMENT PSIPM022 20
POLITICS AND MASS MEDIA PSIPM012 20
POLITICS AND POPULAR CULTURE PSIPM009 20
POLITICS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PSIPM034 20
POLITICS AND PUBLIC CULTURE LDCEM069 20
PRACTICAL MEDIA PSIPM020 20
PROCESS AND PRODUCT IN TRANSLATION LDCEM034 20
PUBLIC CHOICE PSIPM014 20
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT: THEORIES AND CHANGE PSIPM042 20
PUBLIC POLICY: THEORY AND ANALYSIS PSIPM023 20
QUEERING AMERICA AMSAM033 20
RADICAL DRAMATURGIES LDCDM004 20
READING AMERICAN WOMEN'S LIVES: HER-STORY IN THE LONG NINETEENTH CENTURY AMSAM042 20
REGULATION PSIPM028 20
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY TRAINING SEMINAR AMSAM02Y 10
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY TRAINING SEMINAR LDCEM020 10
RESEARCH METHODS LCS-MR1Y 10
RESEARCH METHODS PART I LCS-MR01 5
RESEARCH METHODS PART II LCS-MR02 5
REUSING THE PAST: THE CLASSICAL IN THE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LDCEM018 20
REVIEW PAPER (MRES) PSIPM04Y 20
RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY PSIIM008 20
SCIENCE FICTION: FILM AND TELEVISION FTMFM043 20
STUDYING MEDIA FTMFM029 20
STUDYING MEDIA PSIPM017 20
STYLISTICS FOR TRANSLATORS LDCEM033 20
SUPERVISED STUDY MODULE FOUR PHI-MA04 20
SUPERVISED STUDY MODULE ONE PHI-MA01 20
SUPERVISED STUDY MODULE THREE PHI-MA02 20
SUPERVISED STUDY MODULE TWO PHI-MA03 20
TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR TRANSLATORS LCS-MT12 20
THE 20TH CENTURY NOVEL AMSAM017 20
THE ACTOR IN SPACE LDCEM047 20
THE ART OF SHORT FICTION LDCCM017 20
THE BIG PICTURE: CONTEMPORARY HOLLYWOOD CINEMA FTMFM015 20
THE BLACK ATLANTIC AMSAM018 20
THE DIRTY SOUTH: READING SOUTHERN CULTURES AMSAM038 20
THE EUROPEAN UNION IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS PSIIM010 20
THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF CHINA AND JAPAN IN THE MODERN WORLD PSIIM026 20
THE IMPERIAL ORIGINS OF THE US AND CANADA AMSAM044 20
THE LIFE OF THE BOOK LDCEM007 20
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE AESTHETIC LDCEM062 20
THE POWER OF DISCOURSE: REPRESENTATION AND INTERACTION LCS-ML13 20
THEORIES OF AMERICAN CULTURE AMSAM009 20
THEORIES OF SOCIETY AND POLITICS PSIPM003 20
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF POLICY MAKING IN BRITAIN PSIPM018 20
TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY PHI-M008 20
TRANSLATION AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION ACROSS ARTS AND MEDIA LCS-MA10 20
TRANSLATION AND THEORY LCS-MA03 20
TRANSLATION IN CONTEXT LCS-MA01 20
TRANSLATION THEORY LDCEM043 20
TRANSLATION WORK EXPERIENCE LCS-MA02 20
TRANSLATION WORKSHOP LDCEM04Y 0
WAR GAMES: DIPLOMACY AND STRATEGY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PSIIM034 20
WOMEN AND FILM FTMFM060 20
WRITING IN THE FIRST PERSON LDCEM012 20
WRITING LIVES LDCEM003 20

Disclaimer

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules and regular (five-yearly) review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff or sabbatical leave. Where this is the case, the University will endeavour to inform students.

Entry Requirements

Degree Subject:
UK BA (Hons) 2.1 or equivalent
Special Entry Requirements:
Sample of work

Students for whom English is a Foreign language

If English is not your first language you must have a recognised English Language qualification:

Minimum IELTS 7.0 with a minimum 6 in each section and 7 in writing.

Other qualifications such as TOEFL and CAE are also recognised by the University. Please contact the Admissions Team for further information.

Special Entry Requirements

Applicants will need to provide a sample of written work (in English). This should be an essay, 2000 words to 3000 words long. It should be relevant to the course for which you are applying. Alternatively you could send us an essay that you have written for another purpose (eg, your undergraduate degree), or you could write something especially for this purpose. Your essay should demonstrate your ability to engage analytically, your familiarity with the conventions of academic writing, and your ability at writing in English.

Intakes

The School's annual intake is in September of each year.

Alternative Qualifications

If you have alternative qualifications that have not been mentioned above then please contact the Admissions Office directly for further information.

Assessment

All applications for postgraduate study are processed through the Admissions Office and then forwarded to the relevant School of Study for consideration. If you are currently completing your first degree or have not yet taken a required English language test, any offer of a place is likely to be conditional upon you achieving this before you arrive.

Fees and Funding

Tuition fees

Tuition fees for Postgraduate students for the academic year 2013/4 are £5,000 for Home/EU students and £12,500 for International Students.

If you choose to study part-time, the fee per annum will be half the annual fee for that year, or a pro-rata fee for the module credit you are taking (only available for Home/EU students).

Please note that all the above fees are expected to rise for the year 2014/15. We estimate living expenses at £600/650 per month.

Scholarships and Awards:

International scholarships

All international students (outside the European Union) are considered for a scholarship of between £1000 and £2000 towards tuition fees. In order to be considered for an International Scholarship you do not need to make a separate application. Please indicate on your application for admission that you wish to be considered for a scholarship. It is important to make the application as early as possible because they are considered as they are received. So apply early to make sure of the best chance of success.

Scholarships are awarded to students on the basis of academic merit and are for the duration of the period of study (which will be one year). Students of outstanding academic ability will also be considered for Faculty Scholarship Awards, usually in March and May each year, which can be worth up to 100% of the tuition fee. These are highly competitive and prestigious awards. Those students being offered a scholarship will be notified directly by the School of Study.

Home / EU Scholarships, Bursaries and Awards

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities has a number of Scholarships and Awards on offer for 2013 entry. For further information relevant to the School of Literature and Creative Writing, please click here.


Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.

You can apply online, or by downloading the application form.

Further Information

To request further information & to be kept up to date with news & events please use our online enquiry form.

If you would like to discuss your individual circumstances prior to applying please do contact us:

Postgraduate Admissions Office
Tel: +44 (0)1603 591515
Email: admissions@uea.ac.uk

International candidates are also encouraged to access the International Students section of our website.