MA Theatre for Community and Education

This module grounds students in the knowledge and practices of theatre for
community and education and its various pedagogies. Students will encounter principles and
methodologies of theatre-making and rigorously explore their application. The module is
taught through two complementary components: ‘Practices’ and ‘Pedagogies’. Students will
investigate practices in Applied Theatre techniques and approaches, including investigating
established practitioners, theoretical and practical pedagogies, and emergent forms, all of
which will challenge and develop their own thinking and practice. Throughout, students will
be proactive in critically questioning and developing their own work, and in beginning to
identify theatrical specialisms in fields related to their own employability and/or further study.

This module will develop an intellectual and practical understanding of The Theory and
Practice of Learning through Theatre. Students will learn through two complementary
components: ‘Context and Critique’ and ‘Practices and Applications’. Context and Critique
will engage students in ‘Theatre in Education’ (TIE) history, examining the socio-political
circumstances in which it emerged. It will explore various models of education with critical
attention being paid to configurations of power. Differences expressed by the terms
teacher/facilitator/leader will be explored. Practices and Applications will develop students’
workshop skills, covering games, exercises, techniques and approaches that practically
explore workshop styles and strategies. Students will develop general workshop abilities as
well as identify and develop specialist areas of knowledge and skill within the field.

Knowledge of business management, procedures, and compliance can be an important
aspect of 21st century cultural practice. Frameworks of funding and administration,
leadership and strategy, and operations and logistics can be vital to successful artistic
endeavours. Turns towards ethical and sustainable business practice, as well as shifting
landscapes of innovation, make understanding the cultural sector increasingly complex. In
this module, students will engage with an overview of normative standards in 21st century
cultural organisations. Successful operational outliers will also be considered within and
beyond the cultural sector, in order to facilitate students’ work in a variety of contexts. To this
end, the module will intellectually and practically explore fundamentals of business and
project management and administration, engaging with industry leaders, academic research,
and divergent organisations.

The module will examine policies and agendas that shape the theatre and cultural sector.
Intellectual explorations will include notions of multiculturalism, pluralism, and liberalism.
Content will rigorously investigate notions of inclusion/exclusion, diversity and difference,
and dilemmas of identifying groups as underrepresented. Practical inquiry will centre around
theatre and culture as tools of social/political activism and resistance. This modules will be
underpinned by the development of a portfolio of case studies that will examine cultural
policies and agendas. Special attention will be given to the study of projects that mark
significant shifts in thought and practice.

Having developed a robust understanding of applied theatre practices and pedagogies in
year one, this module will deepen and develop students knowledges in contemporary praxes
and arenas of applied theatre. Students will encounter divergent spaces of activity including
Education, Rehabilitation, Crisis, Health and Wellbeing, Corporate and Professional
Development, and rigorously explore their concomitant praxes including the educative,
transformative, therapeutic, rehabilitative possibilities and difficulties of applied theatre. The
module is taught through two complementary components: Contemporary Arenas and
Contemporary Praxes. Part of the work for students in this module will be to learn and
identify specialist skills and techniques relevant to specific groups and environments. It is
expected that this will also engage students in developing an area specialism.

This innovative module aims at challenging students with modes and practices often found
outside the applied theatre sector in order to enrich and enliven their own creative work with
diverse approaches. Creative Learning​ will engage with divergent approaches including:
design thinking, ideation, microlearning, gamification, Adaptive learning and divergent
thinking amongst others. Cultural Learning​ will explore various arts and heritage
approaches, including the work of museums, libraries, archives, archaeological sites, historic
houses and other built environments, and the mediums of literature, storytelling, music, craft,
film, spoken word, digital media, and photography amongst others. As with previous
modules, the learning will be robust in its research and exploration and seek to identity
where/if/how the creative and the cultural converge.

This 60 credit module will give students the opportunity to create a substantive piece of
work. Running throughout the second year it will intensively develop knowledge and
understanding of research ethics and methodologies introduced in previous modules.
Running across three terms of the programme it ensures students get plenty of time for
planning, creative exploration and rehearsal/research time relevant to their specific
dissertation project. The dissertation is the culmination of learning across all modules, and it
will challenge students to further develop their practice. This module will support students to
graduate as practitioners equipped to work in the field of theatre for community and
education in a variety of roles and settings.