MA Theatre and Production Design

Unit 1: Methods

You will investigate and form a distinctive view of the discipline by using creative research skills.

• Research skills will be supported by seminars setting out the field and parameters of research in this area to develop a critical awareness of the landscapes of cultural production
• You will create speculative design proposals using established industry tools to convey design ideas
• The project will be structured to emulate a professional commission and require you to apply and test your research interests
• You may also take part in a collaborative project with your peer group. This will end in a short, realised performance (live or virtual)
• Opportunities to explore technical software to promote idea-generation, problem solving, communication and dissemination

Unit 2: Practice

You will develop practical research methods to facilitate design proposal ideas.

• Research methods will assist you in identifying the practical means necessary for bringing a proposal to completion through collaboration with other theatre professionals
• You will focus on the relationships between different theatre skills when addressing a specific narrative
• Creative research skills will help you focus on specific areas of enquiry that challenge the discourses identified in the field of practice

Unit 3: Collaboration

This unit will develop your collaborative practice. You will build ideas, proposals and events with other theatre and performance makers and produce an ensemble design with peers. The unit will extend the scale, scope and ambition of your practice and ideas.

• Outcomes will be presented in the form of drawings, sketches, an optional 3D scale model and/or any appropriate digital form, prototype models and/or any appropriate form of evidence
• You will focus on the critical scope of your practice to identify an area of personal research and interest. This research focus will be the foundation for a Final Design Project in unit 4. It may also inform the subject for a final creative research skill project in the form of a dissertation
• You will be encouraged to investigate and, where possible, establish a partnership with an appropriate professional mentor
• Crits, peer review and active dialogue will help the development of your practice and research

Unit 4: Realisation

You will complete a self-directed Final Design Project which has been explored through research during previous units.

• You will refine a principal area of exploration that motivates the final design project and then construct appropriate ways to present it
• The final project will be realised and exhibited in an agreed professional format, that may also include any other work produced throughout the year
• You will produce an advanced, scholarly piece of research as a dissertation
• If established, your professional mentor may assist and critique the ideas for your Final Design Project, monitor your progress at a mid-stage, locate its significance within the wider research field and provide an industry-based reaction on its effectiveness
• Your Final Design Project may be realised using an appropriate practical experiment. Documented evidence of this and any other preparatory work will be a key component in the presentation of your Final Design Project

Key elements introduced in the units

• Skills in model making, technical and costume drawing techniques as a way of presenting and communicating ideas and designs
• Historical, current and developing forms of practice and production within live performance, stage and costume design
• Methods to catalogue design work through notebooks and sketchbooks
• Illustrating research and design processes digitally
• The performer/audience relationship
• Collaborative skills to develop abilities to negotiate and communicate throughout the production process
• Understanding the developing role of digital technology in theatre and production design
• Approaches to responsive and immersive spaces and objects
• New media and expanded technologies for performance
• Researching associated partnerships and collaborations needed for effective project delivery
• Transferable skills and knowledge applied to wider communities of practice

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