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Postgraduate

MA Theatre and Production Design

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Set model by Yuyao Zhou - MA Theatre Design.
Set model by Yuyao Zhou - MA Theatre Design. - Credit: Yuyao Zhou.
College
Wimbledon College of Arts Start date
October 2021 Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Theatre and Production Design at Wimbledon College of Arts invites you to engage with contemporary ideas and research within the field of theatre, performance and entertainment, and will prepare you for the continually evolving nature of practice within the industry.

There are 3 pathways on MA Theatre and Production Design: Creative Events, Interactive Performance Design and Technologies, and Theatre Design.

Validation

This course is subject to validation. Validation is a process that makes sure students get a high quality academic experience. During validation there maybe be some changes to course content and structure. Please contact us if you have any questions about this course.

Course overview

You will be immersed in the collaborative nature of theatre and performance practice so that you are able to build ideas, proposals and events with other makers.

Pathways:

Creative Events

With a strong emphasis on live/real-time performance, you will learn skills related to organising and developing effective models for delivery and acquire a comprehensive understanding of the qualities needed to project manage and deliver creative event production.

Interactive Performance Design and Technologies

You will experience and employ high-level performance design and fabrication techniques as practiced in industry to augment production processed within the mediums of stage, film and entertainment. Advanced techniques and research ideas will build upon your vocational training to encourage transdisciplinary, practical approaches to creating future theatres of practice.

Theatre Design

Theatre Designers make dynamic, innovative environments that connect and audience to the performance and can contribute towards the continuing development of the performance space as a place for social interaction and debate. This established pathway offers you a studio-based vocational course to train as a freelance theatre designer.

What to expect

  • To apply the skills and knowledge that underpin your essential practice to work across a wide range of disciplines, contexts and partnerships as practiced in the sector
  • To learn to identify and critique influences, traditions and cultures that make up and impact upon artistic endeavours
  • Supported by seminars, you will develop a critical awareness of the landscapes of cultural production
  • To develop your own way of asking questions, researching and solving problems in a professional, historical and social context at an advanced academic and professional level
  • To take part in a cross-course, mediated, ensemble design with your peers
  • To establish a partnership with a professional mentor
  • To develop and present at public exhibition a final creative event project based on an area of personal research
  • To produce a research dissertation
  • To have access to Wimbledon's shared workshops. View the Wimbledon facilities

Mode of study

MA Theatre and Production Design is offered in full-time mode and runs for 45 weeks over 15 months. You will be expected to commit an average of 40 hours per week to your course, including teaching hours and independent study

Course units

A short description of what you can expect.

Unit 1: Methods

You will engage with creative research skills to investigate your chosen pathway to form a distinctive view of the discipline and pursue further areas of enquiry pertinent to the field of producing.

Students will undertake a pathway-specific project that is structured to emulate professional responsibilities of a commission or interest within industry practice. You may also engage with a collaborative project with the peer group, which will end in a short, team-based activity.

Opportunities will be provided to explore and develop various forms of technical software to promote idea-generation, problem solving, communication and dissemination.

Unit 2: Practice

This unit will enhance your creative research skills and practical research methods to facilitate event proposal ideas, assisting participants to identify the means necessary for bringing a proposal to completion and challenge the discourses identified in the field of practice.

Unit 3: Collaboration

In this unit all students will engage in a cross-course, mediated, ensemble design with peers on the other pathways, through which you will experience the collaborative nature of theatre practice whilst studying, building ideas, proposals and events with other theatre and performance makers.

You will also focus the critical scope of your practice in order to identify an area of personal research which will be the foundations of a final creative event project for the following unit.

At this stage, students will also be encouraged to establish a partnership with an appropriate professional mentor.

Unit 4: Realisation

In the final unit you will independently complete a self-directed creative event project which has been explored during previous units.

The final project will be shown in a public exhibition that may also include documentation of a live practice experiment, preparatory work and any other work produced throughout the year.

Your professional mentor may assist and critique the ideas for the final project, monitor the work’s progress at a mid-stage, locate its significance within the wider research field and provide an industry-based reaction to its effectiveness.

You will also produce as scholarly piece of work for a research dissertation.

How to apply

Opportunities for all

We are committed to making university education an achievable option for a wider range of people and to supporting all of our students in achieving their potential both during and after their courses.

We welcome applications from people with disabilities. If you have a disability (e.g. mobility difficulties, sensory impairments, medical or mental health conditions or Asperger’s syndrome) we strongly encourage you to contact us on disability@arts.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7514 6156 so that we can plan the right support for you. All enquiries are treated confidentially. To find out more, visit our Disability & Dyslexia webpages.

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

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

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

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:

Selection criteria

We look for:

  • Commitment and motivation for studying designing for performance at an experimental level
  • Understanding of contemporary performance design and its' context
  • Evidence a visual interest in performance though design practice or other, directly related activities
  • Be able to articulate though writing and if appropriate, illustrate a potential, considered, project idea that is feasible and achievable
  • An ability to work imaginatively and creatively in 2D and 3D visual media, materials and processes
  • A desire to learn and an ability to investigate ideas critically and independently
  • Evidence of critical awareness and self-direction, openness and the ability to learn
  • Potential for creative problem solving appropriate to theatre and performance design contexts

Making your application

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

The portfolio should show the following:

  • A maximum of 30 images or other files such as animation, film or video
  • A range of visual work which demonstrates experimentation and idea generation
  • Design development showing how problems are solved
  • An interest in collaboration and making performances
  • Awareness of character in the context of a dramatic situation
  • Any previous experience of theatre work
  • Sketchbooks and notebooks

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.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. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process. These applicants will be invited to book an online interview selection event.

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 allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.

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

15 May 2021

We recommend you apply as soon as possible before this date, for equal consideration. We may still be able to accept applications after this date, depending on availability.

When you’ll hear from us

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. We’ll be in touch shortly after you apply with information about next steps. Find out more about what happens after you 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.

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. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process. These applicants will be invited to book an online interview selection event.

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 allows offer holders to defer. If you have an offer of a place, but you would like to defer starting for a year, please contact our Admissions Service as soon as possible via your UAL Portal. Make sure you check our Admissions Policy before requesting a deferral.

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

15 March 2021

We recommend you apply as soon as possible before this date, for equal consideration. We may still be able to accept applications after this date, depending on availability.

When you’ll hear from us

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. We’ll be in touch shortly after you apply with information about next steps. Find out more about what happens after you apply.


Fees and funding

Home fee

£11,220 per course

This fee is correct for 2021/22 entry and is subject to change for 2022/23 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 resident nationals. However, the rules are complex and you can find out more on our tuition fees pages.

From 2021/22 entry, most EU students will be charged the International tuition fee rate, although this may depend on your individual circumstances. If you started your course in October 2020 or earlier, you’ll continue to pay Home (UK) fees for the duration of your course. Read more advice for EU students on our Brexit information webpage

International fee

£22,920 per course

This fee is correct for 2021/22 entry and is subject to change for 2022/23 entry. Tuition fees for international students may increase by up to 5% in each future year of your course. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

International fees are currently charged to students from countries outside of the UK. However, the rules are complex and more information can be found on our tuition fees pages.

From 2021/22 entry, most EU students will be charged the International tuition fee rate, although this may depend on your individual circumstances. If you started your course in October 2020 or earlier, you’ll continue to pay Home (UK) fees for the duration of your course. Read more advice for EU students on our Brexit information webpage

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Wimbledon College of Arts

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Telephone

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