MA Theatre and Performative Practices

at University College Cork

All students take modules worth 35 core credits, 10 elective credits, and a final project worth 45 credits. The core modules form the central shared programme of critically rigorous and creatively adventurous theatre and performative practice.
 

Part I - Semesters 1 & 2 (45 credits total)

Core Modules (35 credits)

• DR6001 Advancing Theatre & Performative Practices (Semester 2) (15 Credits): This module focuses on how we draw from exciting alternative practices and outsider knowledge to change and transform the future of performance. Students engage with how sophisticated concepts and newly-explored practices inform their ability to imagine and theoretically situate innovative work.

• DR6002 Composition Theatre & Performative Practices (Semester 1) (15 Credits): This module focuses specifically on composition as a founding process of making work within contemporary theatre and performative practices. Students will work together to develop sophisticated devised work in specialist contexts, expanding the horizons of how they make, perform and theorise new performances, enhancing their collaborative skills in the process.

• DR6003 The Business of Theatre & Performative Events (Semester 1) (5 Credits): Students are introduced to how to engage with the wider world of performance, and how to situate emerging practices inside professional discourse.
   

Elective Modules (10 credits)

Department of Theatre module:

• DR6026 Advanced Theatre Practice (10 credits)
   

Modules from other Departments in the College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences (CACSSS): 

• DH6004 Conceptual Introduction to Digital Arts & Humanities (5 credits)

• FX6004 Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis (10 credits)

• HA6006 Theory for Art History (10 credits)

• HA6007 Modern Art and Modernity (10 credits)

• HA6009 Contemporary Art (10 credits)

• MU6035 The Body in Creative Arts Practice (10 credits)

• MU6037 Music and Cinema (10 credits)

• MU6031 Sound Studies and Musicology (5 credits)

• MU6034 Multidisciplinary Debates in Musicology & Ethnomusicology (5 credits)

• MU6036 Music and Popular Culture (10 credits)

• SS6021 Creative Methodologies in Youth Arts Practice (10 credits)

• SS6029 Art and Development Education (5 credits)

• SS6024 Arts and Social Action (5 credits)

• WS6002 Feminist Theory (10 credits)
   

Part II - Semester 3 (45 credits) (choose 1 option)

• DR6004 Practice Research Project 1: Theatre & Performative Production (45 credits)

• DR6005 Practice Research Project 2: Theatre & Performative Process (45 credits)

• DR6006 Research Dissertation in Theatre & Performative Practices (45 credits)
   

Please note that not all modules will be available every year. 
 

Part-time option

The part-time option can be taken over two years with course work completed in Year 1 (45 Credits) and a thesis completed in Year 2 (45 Credits).

Applications will be considered from graduates of Theatre, Drama and/or theatre-related disciplines. Applicants will normally have a Second Class Honours Grade II in a primary honours degree (NFQ, Level 8) or above, and should be able to demonstrate an established commitment to theatre and/or performative practices. Applicants with significant professional-level drama and theatre experience will also be considered.
 

Completion of the Higher Diploma in Theatre & Performative Practices (Second Class Honours Grade II or above), also qualifies students to apply.  Applicants will be asked to attend a workshop and/or interview with staff from the Department of Theatre. Screen arrangements may be made in the case of applications from international students.
 

English Language Requirements

Applicants that are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university-approved English language requirements. Please visit our PG English Language Requirements page for more information.
 

Minimum Requirements and Accepted English Language Tests & Examinations

The minimum English language entry requirements for admission onto a postgraduate programme at UCC are outlined below. These requirements are for postgraduate applicants whose first language is not English. If Gaeilge (Irish) is your first language these requirements do not apply to you.
 

There are a small number of programmes with a higher minimum English language entry requirement and we list these below under Programmes with a Higher Minimum English Language Requirement.

IELTS*    

• 6.5 Overall

• 6.0 Individual Skills (academic version)
   

TOEFL iBT    
 

• 90 Overall

• Listening 20

• Reading 19

• Speaking 21

• Writing 20

The EU fee for this course is €6,630; €3,380 (Year 1 Part-time); €3,380 (Year 2 Part-time) .
 

The Non-EU fee for this course is €16,400.

What can I do after I graduate with an MA in Theatre & Performative Practices?

After you graduate you will be qualified and work-ready for multiple aspects of the creative industries, both those specifically related to theatre and performance, as well as broader aspects of cultural production, administration and the creative industries. This MA trains students in skills of making and producing theatre and performative events, in lively collaboration and always in context. These are skills which are critically and dynamically transferable to the professional worlds of theatre, dance and cultural industries. 
 

Occupations associated with the MA in Theatre & Performative Practices

Our previous students work in multiple aspects of contemporary theatre, dance and the cultural industries. These include Creative Cultural Producers (Theatre Production, Dance Production, Festival Production), Arts Managers, Arts Administrators, Theatre Directors, Choreographers, Performers, Playwrights, Writers for TV & Film, Community Artists working in Theatre, Dance and Visual Art as well as related industries of Journalism, Library Management, Teaching and Academia.
 

What are our graduates doing? 

Stefanie Preissner, a UCC Drama & Theatre Studies graduate, is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Her six-part comedy-drama series, Can’t Cope/Won’t Cope (RTE, Northern Ireland Screen, Deadpan Pictures) was broadcast in 2016: “A series so well written ... it was hard to watch” (Irish Times Oct 17, 2016).
 

One of our graduates, Julie Kelleher, is the Artistic Director/CEO at Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre. She was formerly the Artistic Director of the Everyman Theatre in Cork and one of the youngest venue producers in the country. Julie was among the first cohort of students to study Drama & Theatre Studies at UCC, graduating with a BA in 2004, and an MA in 2007.