Postgraduate Taught Degrees

Text-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

Course Organiser: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.

Literature

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 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

Drama

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.

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.