Text and Performance (with RADA) (MA) - 2013/2014 entry
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Overview
This programme offers two key and complementary approaches to performance: considering the central role of the dramatic text as a starting point in leading to performance; and engaging with the broad spectrum of theatre languages, histories and contexts, such as space, the body, technology, scenography, documentation, devising, politics and identity.
Find out more about studying at Birkbeck and what our students say about our courses.
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Why study this course at Birkbeck?
- Brings together practice-based research, theatre studies, cultural theory, theatre history and detailed study of the dramatic text.
- Gives you the creative experience of making work and the fullest possible understanding of how theatre works now.
- Combines study with Birkbeck’s experts in theatre studies and cultural theory, with practice-based seminars and workshops with faculty and theatre artists from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
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Course structure
Full-time students
Autumn term:
- Theorising The Contemporary (three hours per week)
- Approaches to Theatre and Performance Practice (six hours per week)
- Scene Study (six hours per week).
Spring term:
- Approaches to Theatre and Performance Practice (six hours per week)
- Scene Study (six hours per week).
Summer term:
- Research Skills seminars and dissertation preparation for practice and theory based work (one-and-a-half hours per week plus three supervisions).
Part-time students
Year 1 (October–April):
- Autumn term: Theorising the Contemporary (three hours per week); Approaches to Theatre and Performance Practice (six hours per week)
- Spring term: Approaches to Theatre and Performance Practice (six hours per week).
Year 2 (October–July):
- Autumn term: Scene Study (six hours per week)
- Spring term: Scene Study (six hours per week)
- Summer term: Research Skills seminars and dissertation preparation for practice and theory based work (one-and-a-half hours per week plus three supervisions).
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Study resources
This programme draws on the rich range of resources available at Birkbeck and RADA.
At RADA, you will be taught by practising theatre artists and drama teachers of the highest level and will have access to RADA rehearsal studios and technical support for presentations. For the final scene study presentation you will work in one of the RADA studio theatres. RADA also arranges an extra module in production and occasional masterclass weekends, which may incur a very small extra cost. The RADA library has a comprehensive collection of play texts especially including new dramatic writing and you will be eligible for complimentary tickets to all RADA third-year productions.
The programme also draws on the work of the newly established Centre for Contemporary Theatre at Birkbeck, whose public talks with theatre practitioners and research activities with Theatre Royal Stratford East, Scene and Heard, the London Theatre Seminar, the RSC and Theatre O form a strong research context for the study of contemporary theatre.
Furthermore, both institutions are situated in the West End, in proximity to the richest research and theatre resources London can offer, including the British Library, Senate House Library, and the extraordinary array of theatre spaces and makers in London’s West End and elsewhere.
Find out more about our range of world-class research resources.
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Further study opportunities
This programme combines theory and practice-based learning which equips you with a broad range of highly employable skills. It does not take the place of training in a specific discipline and is therefore described as non-vocational. However, it does offer you the opportunity to deepen your appreciation and critical understanding of theatre and performance practices in context.
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Careers information
This programme will help prepare you for careers in a wide range of areas including: teaching and education; theatre practice; advertising, marketing and public relations; theatre, media, film and the creative arts; journalism; arts administration and outreach; policy and strategy for political organisations, charities or NGOs; and publishing.
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Apply now
- How to apply
With your form, you should submit a 1000-word critical analysis of a live production you have seen recently (this can be pasted into the supporting statement section of the form, or emailed separately to a.taylor@bbk.ac.uk). This can include a discussion of text-based performance or dance-based work and can also include art installations. This piece should offer a critical analysis of the production: describing it carefully and engaging with it critically in relation to the meanings it might have produced in performance and the means through which these meanings were produced.
- Application deadlines and interviews
- We recommend you apply as early as possible, as this is a very popular programme.
- Entry to the programme is by interview (there is no audition process).
- Online application
You can apply online from the link below.
- How to apply