Overview
This course is closed to applications for 2023.
This innovative MA programme combines a range of diverse approaches to making performance, drawing on devising, physical theatre, directing, socially engaged practice, solo work and live art.
The course is delivered in partnership with the Lyric Hammersmith, where you'll take part in a low-residency intensive program of work at their impressive facilities.
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The course is offered through intense residency modules that make it unique in the country, and particularly attractive if you wish to further your studies and enhance your career opportunities but cannot commit to a traditional full-time offering.
The course entails:
- theoretical and critical learning modules that run throughout the year
- intensive practical modules, masterclasses and workshops led by industry professionals and delivered during residency weeks, when all the cohort comes together as a community.
| ModeFull-time | Duration1 year | Start dateJanuary | Application code4930 | Application method Direct to LSBU |
Location
London South Bank University student union is located at 103 Borough Rd, London SE1 0AA.
If you are visiting our Southwark Campus, you may wish to use our downloadable campus map (PNG File 466 KB). For information on accessibility, see our DisabledGo access guides. See our location page for more details.
Entry Level Requirements
- 2:2 BA (Hons) in relevant subject, or
- equivalent qualification, or
- professional practice equivalence
Choose your country
Select country here:
Missing English and Maths qualifications?
If you do not have the required English and Maths qualifications needed to satisfy the entry requirements for this programme, we have courses available at our partner College that you can take to upskill in these areas. Find out more at South Bank College.
For more information, including how and when to pay, see our fees and funding section for postgraduate students.
See our Tuition Fees Regulations (PDF File 391 KB) and Refund Policy (PDF File 775 KB).
Possible fee changes
The University reserves the right to increase its fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions.
The fees for international students are reviewed annually and the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fees in line with the RPIX measure of inflation up to 4 per cent.
Postgraduate loan (PGL) for Masters study
If you are starting a Masters course, studying either full- or part-time, you may be entitled to apply for a postgraduate study loan. Find out more at our postgraduate fees and funding section.
Scholarships
We offer several types of fee reduction through our scholarships and bursaries. Find the full list and other useful information on funding your studies on the scholarships and fee discounts page.
Fee status
Please check your fee status and whether you are considered a Home, EU or International student for fee-paying purposes and for our regulatory returns, by reading the UKCISA regulations.
International students
The course is not currently open to international students.
International (non Home) applicants should follow our international how to apply guide.
Home
| Mode Full-time | Duration 1 year | Start date January | Application code 4930 | Application method Direct to LSBU |
Postgraduate students and research students should apply through our dedicated application system. Full details of how to do this are supplied on our How to apply section for postgraduate students and our How to apply section for research students.
See our admissions policy (PDF File 1,043 KB) and complaints policy (PDF File 516 KB).
Accommodation
Students should apply for accommodation at London South Bank University (LSBU) as soon as possible, once we have made an offer of a place on one of our academic courses. Read more about applying for accommodation at LSBU.
Finance
It's a good idea to think about how you'll pay university tuition and maintenance costs while you're still applying for a place to study. Remember – you don't need to wait for a confirmed place on a course to start applying for student finance. Read how to pay your fees as a postgraduate student.
Prepare to start
We help our students prepare for university even before the semester starts. To find out when you should apply for your LSBU accommodation or student finance read the How to apply tab for this course.
Enrolment
Before you start your course we’ll send you information on what you’ll need to do before you arrive and during your first few days on campus. You can read about the process on our Enrolment pages.
Methods of assessment are both practical and written. They reflect professional working methods (e.g. professional performance outcomes) as well as critical responses to the course content (e.g. through essays, reflective journals and research).
Structure of the full-time course
Semester 1 (Jan - June) | Summer (Jul - Aug) | Semester 2 (Sept - Jan) |
Survival Toolkit for the Creative Industries 1 (10 credits) (2 hours weekly contact time) CPD
| Low Residency: Working with Communities (40 credits) (3-week intensive block with preparation before /reflection after) CPD
| Survival Toolkit for the Creative Industries 2 (10 credits) (2 hours weekly contact time)
CPD |
Low Residency: Theatre Making (40 credits) (3-week intensive block with preparation before /reflection after) CPD | Low Residency: Directing (20 credits)
(2-week intensive block with preparation before /reflection after) CPD | |
Creative Practical Project (60 credits) (student-led practical project supervised through weekly or bi-weekly tutorials, rehearsals and business support as required; offered as collaborative or solo option) | ||
Module descriptions
- Residency: Directing
This residency will examine the directing process by inviting students to develop applied directing practice within an intensive studio / laboratory context. Students will develop situated knowledge and understanding of the directing process, and will be encouraged to research, conceive of, design, direct and deliver a short piece, individually or in small groups. - Residency: Theatre Making
This residency will examine the theatre making process by inviting students to develop and refine their own creative practice through working with a guest theatre company. Students will develop their devising skills and their understanding of the theatre making process, and will be encouraged to create and deliver a theatre piece at a professional level. - Residency: Working with Communities
This residency will examine the process of working with communities in creative theatre projects. It will invite students to support the development and delivery of a range of community projects within the context of ‘real life’ scenarios, working with The Education team at Lyric Hammersmith. Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the process of working with communities, and the challenges, issues, complexities and ethical considerations involved. They will be encouraged to research relevant practice and support the delivery of a community project. - Creative Practical Project
This module enables students to engage in an extended creative project specialising in their individual areas of practice, creative interest and research concerns. Students will be given the option of working to a series of live performance briefs through the collaborative ‘South Bank Theatre Company’ pathway or of producing a coherent and critically informed practical project through the ‘Solo Creative Practice’ pathway. - Survival Toolkit for the Creative Industries 1
This module supports and expands students’ learning from the low residency and practical project modules by introducing them to current concepts, debates and practices in the field of arts management. It builds students’ professional practice capabilities and explores core literature from the field of arts management, combining theoretical and critical approaches. - Survival Toolkit for the Creative Industries 2
This module continues and expands on the learning delivered in Survival Toolkit 1. It further supports and expands students’ learning from the low residency and practical project modules by introducing them to current concepts, debates and practices in the field of creative entrepreneurship. It explores current ideas, theories and practices in creative entrepreneurship, combining theoretical and critical approaches. The module will explore case studies of creative entrepreneurship both at institutional and grass-roots levels, combining corporate, governmental (policy) and creative approaches to the subject.
Careers
Employability Service
At LSBU, we want to set you up for a successful career. During your studies – and for two years after you graduate – you’ll have access to our Employability Service, which includes:
- An online board where you can see a wide range of placements: part-time, full-time or voluntary. You can also drop in to see our Job Shop advisers, who are always available to help you take the next step in your search.
- Our Careers Gym offering group workshops on CVs, interview techniques and finding work experience, as well as regular presentations from employers across a range of sectors.
Our Student Enterprise team can also help you start your own business and develop valuable entrepreneurial skills.
You'll have the opportunity to develop your practice in a rich environment of practices and discourses, in an environment that exposes you to diverse feedback sources, and a genuine immersion in professional practice of an international standing.
You'll be presented with opportunities to develop skills not only in the areas of directing, socially engaged arts and so on, but also in your professional practice, including current areas such as creative methodologies, copyright, use of multi-platform content, and resilience in the creative industries market.
This MA focuses on cultivating your skills as a practitioner, helping you to learn and develop both as an artist and from a business perspective. The professional partnerships on this course are unrivalled; the contacts I'm already making, along with the knowledge of professional practice, as well as developing my artistic process, leaves me with an excellent grounding to take in to industry after graduation.
Faye Morrison, MA Creative Performance Practice (below)
You'll be able to develop your learning on this course through making work alongside industry professionals at the Lyric Hammersmith, one of the UK’s leading producing theatres.
You'll take part in a low-residency intensive program of work at Lyric Hammersmith’s impressive facilities (the Lyric recently completed a £20 million capital project which is the most significant cultural development to take place in West London for decades). You'll also have the opportunity to engage with Lyric's diverse communities.
Over its hundred and twenty one year history the Lyric has been responsible for creating some of the UK’s most adventurous and acclaimed theatrical work. It has also gained a national reputation for its work with and for children and young people. Recent productions include the smash hit Bugsy Malone, Ghost Stories which transferred to the West End and has toured the world and the Olivier award-winning production of Sarah Kane’s Blasted.
The Lyric’s dual commitment to producing the highest quality contemporary theatre, whilst nurturing the creativity of young people is what makes it unique within the cultural ecology of the UK. It is a local theatre rooted in its community with a national and international reputation for the quality and innovation of its artistic work.
Teaching and Assessment
The low residency MA in Contemporary Performance Making is following the model based on the Visitors and Residents theory by David White (2015), which describes a continuum of modes of online engagement and learning. This has proven to be a useful way towards understanding individuals’ motivations when they use the web in differing contexts. We are proposing that no mode of engagement is better than another, so we offer a blended approach that includes intensive face to face residencies, alongside online meetings and content delivery. We want to acknowledge that in today’s fast-changing world it is important to employ different modes of learning that allow for flexibility and can support individual learners’ context, circumstances and preferences.
The innovative low residency model, which is currently unlike any other offerings in the UK within the field of Drama and Performance, entails short intensive practical modules, masterclasses and workshops led by industry professionals during the residency weeks, alongside theoretical and critical e-learning and blended learning modules that run throughout the year.
The collaborative aspect of this programme makes it unique in the market and particularly attractive to those who wish to expand their professional networks and diversify their techniques.
Between the intensive residencies you'll maintain contact with the University through monthly supervisory meetings with your personal adviser (either face to face or online), and through completing the online and blended learning modules.
