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Postgraduate

MA Performance: Theatre Making

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Deconstructed back seat of car on stage with carpet rolled out in front of it with a man crouching down to the left of it.
Vanya Vaishanavi-Singh
, Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL
College
Wimbledon College of Arts Start date
September 2022 Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Performance: Theatre Making at Wimbledon College of Arts invites you to re-imagine the possibilities of theatre and performance and expand the horizons of your practice.

Applications closed 2022/23

We are no longer accepting applications for 2022/23 entry to this course.

Course overview

MA Performance: Theatre Making will enable you to develop your creative and critical practice. It will encourage you to become a confident and articulate theatre maker and researcher. 

Performance at Wimbledon is approached through questions of politics and ethics as well as aesthetics and practice. The course asks you to examine them through practical investigation and experimentation in a studio context. 

You will think critically about your theatre making. You will want to place it in the context of contemporary performance and visual culture. 

The course focuses on:

  • Theatre-making as an integrated, multi-disciplinary practice. Combining, for example, writing, design, acting and dramaturgy. 
  • Developing innovative compositional strategies for performance-making as a studio-based, embodied and material practice. 
  • The creation of post-dramatic and politically engaged performance.
  • Collaboration.

What to expect

  • To investigate the opportunities and challenges posed by the development of new theatre and performance practices, technologies, histories and critical perspectives.  
  • To consider performance as a mode and form of enquiry, as well as a way of acquiring a set of dramaturgical skills and compositional strategies.
  • To be part of a learning environment which emphasises the importance of integrated working across postgraduate courses at Wimbledon. 
  • To learn about research methods through practical workshops, lectures and seminars. 
  • To enhance your understanding of the collaborative nature of performance. This will further enable you to build ideas, proposals, and events with other theatre makers.
  • To undertake peer and self-directed learning.
  • To develop a final project based on an area of personal research that will be presented as a public performance or similar output. 
  • To produce a research dissertation.  
  • To have access to Wimbledon's shared workshops. View the Wimbledon facilities. 

Key elements introduced on the course are:

  • collaborative making
  • compositional practices 
  • dramaturgical practices 
  • engaging audiences and publics 
  • ensemble formation, support and sustainability 
  • interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary methods 
  • physical and vocal performance skills 
  • practice-based performance research  
  • project conceptualisation, design and development 
  • researching partnerships and collaborations needed for effective project delivery.

Mode of Study

MA Performance: Theatre Making is offered in full-time mode and runs for 45 weeks over 15 months, with a break over the summer. You will be expected to commit an average of 40 hours per week to your course, including teaching hours and independent study.

Contact us

Register your interest to receive information and updates about studying at UAL.

Contact us to make an enquiry.

Course units

Unit 1: Creative and critical methods

In this unit you will engage with the critical and creative practices of performance research and theatre making. You will look at transdisciplinary methods of artistic and political enquiry. This will help you gain a deeper understanding of contemporary theatre and performance as an expanded field of cultural and political practice. 

Unit 2: Cultural political practice

The unit will enhance the development of your creative research and compositional methods. You will focus on your socially and politically engaged theatre and performance practice.

Unit 3: Collaboration

The unit will enable you to extend your collaborative, compositional and research skills. You will work with other MA Performance courses, MA Theatre and Performance Design, or outside your discipline.

Unit 4: Performance research

In the final unit you will complete a self-directed individual, collaborative or collective project. The ideas for this will come from the critical and creative interventions explored in previous units.

Note: 120 Credits must be passed before the final unit is undertaken.

Learning and teaching methods

  • Collaborative work
  • Group and individual tutorials
  • Ensemble projects
  • Independent practice
  • Introductions and inductions to university, college and course resources
  • Investigative seminars
  • Lectures and visiting speaker talks
  • Performance skills training
  • Performance studio practice
  • Practical performance projects
  • Practical workshops
  • Performance analysis of live theatre and digital screenings
  • Performance research labs
  • Peer and self-directed learning
  • Project based learning
  • Dramaturgical interventions
  • Staff and student led seminars and discussions
  • Studio, external venue and other visits
  • Supervised rehearsals
  • Site and/or community fieldwork
  • Use of resource venues and institutions

Assessment methods

  • Critical and creative portfolios
  • Essays
  • Critical Framework reviews
  • Contextual ethics reviews
  • Live presentations - pitches, proposals, papers
  • Performance etudes and training practices
  • Performed and digital essays
  • Process workbooks and reflective journals
  • Ensemble contribution and reflective analysis
  • Project proposals, plans and reports
  • Written and performed dissertations

Staff

How to apply

Information for disabled applicants

UAL is committed to achieving inclusion and equality for disabled students. This includes students who have:
     
  • Dyslexia or another Specific Learning Difference
  • A sensory impairment
  • A physical impairment
  • A long-term health or mental health condition
  • Autism
  • Another long-term condition which has an impact on your day-to-day life
Our Disability Service arranges adjustments and support for disabled applicants and students. Read our Disability and dyslexia: applying for a course and joining UAL information.

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

  • BA (Hons) degree in either theatre and performance or art and design - related disciplines, including social and other sciences or engineering
  • Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration
  • Personal statement
  • Portfolio of work

Entry to this course will also be determined by the quality of your application, looking primarily at your portfolio of work and personal statement.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A strong academic or other professional reference
  • A combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English language requirements

All classes are taught in English. If English isn't your first language you must provide evidence at enrolment of the following:

IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking (please check our English language requirements)

Selection criteria

We look for:

  • Evidence of a clear commitment to approaching theatre-making as a mode of critical investigation and creative experiment, demonstrating the ability to communicate ideas in performance forms and in writing
  • Evidence of an ability to work in an ensemble and to develop collaborative practices, demonstrating respect for other people’s ideas, personhood and cultural identity
  • Evidence of creative problem solving and sustained critical thinking, and willingness to explore new performance forms and innovative theatre practices
  • Evidence of an ability to conduct performance research through critical and creative practice

Personal statement

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • Your reasons for choosing the course
  • Your current creative practice and how this will help with your future plans
  • If you do not have any formal academic qualifications please describe your relevant education and experience

Portfolio advice

Portfolios should demonstrate your creative and critical engagement with performance practices and processes.

This could include, for example:

  • Selected photographs (maximum 30), short video clips (maximum 5 minutes), and written reflections about a performance you have been involved in making
  • Critical review(s) of performances you have found instructive, insightful and illuminating
  • Performance study of an event, critical framework, or production analysis representative of your thinking
  • Pages and images from performance-making journals, sketchbooks and notebooks
  • Evidence of commitment to working collaboratively
  • Any written work will have to be uploaded as an image

You should not include recorded audition pieces or overly-long performance extracts. This may jeopardise your application. You should only include work that can be verified as your own.

Making your application

Home International

Applications closed 2022/23

We are no longer accepting applications for 2022/23 entry to this course. Applications for 2023/24 entry will open in Autumn 2022.

Apply

Home students apply by direct application.

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Please add ccw.ukeu@arts.ac.uk to your contacts to ensure that you do not miss any important updates about your application to UAL.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system.

Following the receipt of your digital portfolio, you will be invited to attend an online interview.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

This course receives a high number of applications. Unfortunately, we can’t provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you’ve had an interview. We are only able to provide feedback to you directly, or to someone you have told us in writing can receive it on your behalf. If you would like to request feedback please email ccw.ukeu@arts.ac.uk.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner. Read our Admissions Policy for details, including how to request a deferral and by when.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Wimbledon College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

12 January 2022 or 13 April 2022

The equal consideration deadline has now passed. However, this course will remain open to applications until places have been filled. We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to quickly resolve any queries.

If this course requires a portfolio, we will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

When you'll hear from us

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in two rounds. This means that offers won’t be sent to successful applicants until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by 31 March 2022 and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by 30 June 2022.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Applications closed 2022/23

We are no longer accepting applications for 2022/23 entry to this course. Applications for 2023/24 entry will open in Autumn 2022.

Apply

There are 2 ways international students can apply to a postgraduate course:


Read our immigration and visa information to find out if you need a visa to study at UAL.

You can only apply to the same course once per year. Any duplicate applications will be withdrawn. Read the UAL international application advice for further information on how to apply.

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Please add ccw.international@arts.ac.uk to your contacts to ensure that you do not miss any important updates about your application to UAL.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system.

Following the receipt of your digital portfolio, you will be invited to attend an online interview.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

This course receives a high number of applications. Unfortunately, we can’t provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you’ve had an interview. We are only able to provide feedback to you directly, or to someone you have told us in writing can receive it on your behalf. If you would like to request feedback please email ccw.international@arts.ac.uk.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner. Read our Admissions Policy for details, including how to request a deferral and by when.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current postgraduate course and wish to continue your studies at Wimbledon College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

12 January 2022 or 13 April 2022

The equal consideration deadline has now passed. However, this course will remain open to applications until places have been filled. We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to quickly resolve any queries.

If this course requires a portfolio, we will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

When you'll hear from us

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in two rounds. This means that offers won’t be sent to successful applicants until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by 31 March 2022 and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by 30 June 2022.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Fees and funding

Home fee

£11,550

This fee is correct for 2022/23 entry and is subject to change for 2023/24 entry. Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£23,610

This fee is correct for 2022/23 entry and is subject to change for 2023/24 entry. Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

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Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 9641
Address
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Merton Hall Road
London
SW19 3QA