Theatre and Performance

This course offers a dynamic combination of practical and theoretical study. With a focus on collaborative, contemporary performance, you’ll investigate different types of professional practice and actively engage with the cultural industries locally, regionally and internationally.

You’ll develop your own creative practice within small groups at our specialist studios, based in our on-campus professional theatre, stage@leeds. You’ll have the opportunity to work with external partners and community groups which may include: Leeds Playhouse, Opera North and local theatre companies, schools, galleries, museums and institutions within the criminal justice system.

You will develop your skills as an artist-researcher and will be introduced to a range of devising techniques as well as digital performance, as key manifestations of contemporary performance practice. You’ll learn through a combination of lectures, workshops, practical experimentation and working with both specialist and readily available digital technologies.

A distinctive feature of the course is an engagement with the social impact agenda, where you'll be invited to interrogate and practice the ways in which performance can make a difference to society and to consider themes such as sustainability, ethics, responsibility and inclusivity. You'll reflect on the impact that performance has on societies and the place that performance occupies globally.

You’ll work in collaboration with external agencies and organisations as a compulsory aspect of your studies and learn to apply performance skills in challenge-based projects for public audiences. You'll become an advocate of the creative arts and apply socially engaged performance practices in diverse ways.

With compulsory and specialist optional modules spanning theatre, performance, applied theatre, design, digital performance, directing, musical theatre, event management, acting and collaborative practice, you’ll be able to follow a broad range of interests suited to your own academic and professional development. The programme provides you with challenging and rewarding opportunities to combine ambitious collaborative practical projects with rigorous critical thinking.