Program Overview

The MA Theatre Directing at UEA is one of the longest established in the UK. Each year we select only a very small number of Theatre Directing students – creating a close, collaborative environment.

This is a highly intensive year’s work, balancing the advancement of your intellectual frames of reference for understanding modern theatre, with continual, hands-on opportunities to test and develop your practical skills. Collaboration with fellow students is key – and you’ll gain from working with undergraduate actors throughout the year.

You will have the chance to study and interrogate the canon and legacy of post-war British theatre, and pass exams qualifying you to climb the studio’s tallescope to change a lantern. You will be in regular peer-contact with acting students, sharpening your directorial skills in workshops, scene classes and productions.

Your optional studies include world-class modules in scriptwriting, theatre and radical dramaturgies, television and society, adaptation and interpretation, and post-modern performance.

You’ll showcase your development and learning through your final dissertation – which could take the form of a full production, a written research or creative project, or a bespoke combination of any of these.

On graduating from this MA you will be equipped with both the skills and the vocabulary to direct actors with confidence, and to bring conceptual creativity to their work in the technical and plastic elements of the stage. You’ll be ready to apply for assistant director positions in major companies and to go out and make work of your own for small and medium scale venues.

You’ll also be able to critically analyse both written and performed work with dramaturgical acuity, and with insight into theatre methodologies and theatre-making practices. This makes you well-placed to move into an academic or journalistic career.