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Literature and Creative Writing at UEA
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Find out moreMA Contemporary Theatre Practice
Key Details
- Attendance
- Full Time
- Award
- Degree of Master of Arts
- Course Length
- 1 year
- Course Start Date
- September 2026
Other Course Options
Other Start Dates
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Why you should choose us
101-150 QS Rank
Worldwide for English Language and Literature
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024Course Overview
Ignite your creativity with our MA in Contemporary Theatre Practice. You’ll combine high-level theatrical skills training with a wealth of opportunities to gain real-world insight and experience in today’s theatre industry. Whether you’re an aspiring performer, director, applied community theatre practitioner, or theatre researcher, this exciting course will help you develop advanced skills and knowledge for the evolving landscape of twenty-first-century theatre.
You’ll grow in confidence as a performer or performance-maker, learning the latest creative methods and collaborative approaches that define contemporary theatre practice. Our 200-seat professionally equipped Drama Studio will be the centre of your performance training, and you’ll benefit from the mentorship of both academics and theatre professionals.
Practical engagement with the creative industries will equip you with the professional competencies needed to develop, produce, and promote new work. You’ll build invaluable skills in project management, funding, and marketing, ensuring you’re fully prepared for the demands of today’s creative landscape. You’ll also have the opportunity to secure your own theatre placement, benefitting from UEA’s dedicated support and extensive regional industry network. These connections span major venues such as Norwich Theatre Royal, community theatre spaces like Sewell Barn, and renowned regional theatre companies including Gecko and HighTide.
The course also offers a rich theoretical and contextual foundation, helping you situate performance within its broader cultural, political, and historical frameworks, deepening your understanding and enriching your creative practice.
With almost fifty years of experience teaching drama, UEA has shaped the theatre industry in the region, in the UK and internationally. Many recent Drama postgraduates have obtained funding for their projects, in partnership with UEA Enterprise or from Arts Council England. Postgraduate Drama UEA alumni include producer, writer and director Sky Carver; Artistic Director of the Relish Theatre Company Rob Ellis; Artistic Director of Norwich Puppet Theatre, Peter Beck; and Julia Sowerbutts, Artistic Director of INK Festival of New Writing.
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Study and Modules
Structure
The MA in Contemporary Theatre Practice is structured to provide a progressive, immersive learning experience across one year, combining creative experimentation, critical reflection, and professional development.
In the autumn semester, we establish the creative, practical, and intellectual foundations of the course. Practical workshops will encourage you to experiment with new forms of performance-making and collaborative creation. You'll also be introduced to the diversity of contemporary theatrical practice and the contemporary theatre ecosystem. You'll gain key industry insights into how theatres and theatre companies operate, from leading professional venues, such as Norwich Theatre, to grass-roots festivals, like the Autumn Festival of Norfolk, and community arts organisations that use drama to enhance wellbeing, like the Maddermarket Theatre.
This integrated approach allows you to develop the conceptual and practical vocabulary needed to articulate and realise your own artistic vision.
In the spring semester, the focus shifts towards application and industry engagement. You'll undertake a professional placement or equivalent experiential project, applying your knowledge within real-world creative contexts. You'll also take a module co-taught alongside our graduate students in Creative Writing, which enhances your skills in theatrical devising. Finally, an optional module range gives you the chance to undertake collaborative, interdisciplinary projects, refining your ability to work across media, adapting to different production environments, and developing original creative outputs. This phase allows you to tailor your studies to individual interests, whether in performance-making, dramaturgy, community theatre, or arts management.
During the summer, you'll complete the course with an extended independent project that consolidates your learning and showcases your expertise. This capstone project may take the form of a performance, site-specific theatrical project, a creative portfolio, or a written dissertation. It represents the culmination of the MA – an opportunity to produce an original contribution to the field and to launch a professional or academic career in contemporary theatre.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 20)Important Information
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. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with 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. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
UEA’s Drama Studio will be the dynamic hub of your creative journey. Equipped with state-of-the-art resources and backed by a dedicated technical team, it offers an inspiring environment where your learning will come to life.
You’ll be taught by academics and practitioners, many of whom are world experts in their field. Our modules are informed by their specialisms, which means you’ll benefit from access to the latest thinking and research. The expertise of our academic staff ranges from professional actors and directors to television writers and West End playwrights.
For most modules, you’ll test your knowledge and practical skills in practice (formative) assignments before your summative assessments, which count towards your final grades. You’ll discuss your formative feedback with your teachers as part of a deepening self-reflective journey through your studies.
This course approaches theatre not just as something to study, but as something to do, question, and reinvent. Each week, you'll engage with diverse performance traditions and contemporary experiments, from ritual and realism to immersive, site-specific, and digital performance, analysing their unique methods and meanings.
Learning is hands-on and intellectually adventurous: workshops, creative projects, and collaborative analysis will enable you to test theory through practice, connecting critical insight to artistic experimentation. By the end, you'll emerge as a reflective and inventive theatre professional, ready to engage critically and creatively with the diverse, challenging, and ever-changing landscape of contemporary performance.
Assessment
Assessment on the degree is designed to enrich your creative exploration with academic insight. Over the course of your studies, you'll build a portfolio of projects that showcase you as a contemporary theatre practitioner.
In the autumn semester, you'll produce a practical performance or workshop presentation that demonstrates your skills as a practical theatre-maker (whether in performance, directing, devising or design). You'll undertake an industry-oriented research project, examining the workings of a theatre company, festival or venue, and drawing out reflective insights for your own professional development. Finally, you'll produce a sustained analysis of an aspect of contemporary theatre practice. This might range from the impact of digital transformation on theatre audiences to the role of site-specific, community theatre today.
In the spring semester, you'll reflect on your industry engagement as part of your placement module. You'll hone your craft as a writer for a host of performance forms and media (place-based, solo-shows, digital and podcast) and you'll have the opportunity to work across disciplines in media such as film.
The culmination of the programme is your contemporary theatre project. You may choose to undertake a practice-based project, ranging from a scripted performance or a small-scale production to a site-specific or community-based theatre initiative. You'll produce a written commentary which showcases how your project reflects cutting-edge thinking in contemporary performance making. Alternatively, you may prefer a research project, which might take the form of an academic dissertation or policy/research report, for instance on questions of inclusivity in the theatre industry.
Whichever way you approach your contemporary theatre project, topics must be agreed in advance with the Course Convenor, and you'll receive approximately four hours of dedicated supervision to support the development and completion of your project.
Employability
After the Course
Graduates of the MA in Contemporary Theatre Practice are equipped to pursue a wide range of careers in the creative and cultural industries, including roles as theatre-makers, directors, producers, dramaturgs, educators, and cultural programmers. The course’s emphasis on collaboration, research, and creative entrepreneurship also prepares graduates for freelance and company-based work, as well as for leadership positions in arts organisations and festivals. Those interested in further study are well positioned to progress to doctoral research or teaching in higher education. With a strong portfolio of creative and critical work, graduates emerge as reflective practitioners ready to shape the future of contemporary performance.
Careers
Examples of careers that you could enter include:
- Theatre-maker or Director (creating and staging new performance work)
- Producer or Arts Manager (developing and coordinating creative projects and events)
- Dramaturg or Literary Manager (supporting script and performance development)
- Performer or Deviser (working in theatre, live art, or interdisciplinary performance)
- Educator or Workshop Facilitator (teaching in schools, universities, or community settings)
- Researcher or Academic (pursuing doctoral study or working in higher education and cultural research)
Entry Requirements
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical UK Entry Requirements
Degree classification
Bachelors degree - 2.2
Degree Subject
Literary or Humanities
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
- Typical International Entry Requirements
Degree classification
UK Bachelors degree - 2.2 or equivalent
Degree Subject
Literary or Humanities
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
IELTS: 7 overall (minimum 7 in Writing, 6 in Speaking, Reading and Listening)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the required English skills.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all postgraduate applicants.
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Fees and Funding
Tuition fees for the Academic Year 2026/27 are:
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UK Students: £12,350
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International Students: £25,300
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 students).
We estimate living expenses at £1,171 per month.
Further Information on tuition fees can be found here.
How to Apply
How to apply
Applications for Postgraduate Taught programmes at the University of East Anglia should be made directly to the University.
To apply please use our online application form.
Further information
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.