Courses and structure

The degree is based on a balanced combination of courses in the theory, practice and history of drama, theatre, performance and related media. You take four courses of study a year, but any one course may include within it two or more options.

Year 1

• Theatre Making: Scenography and Technology (15 credits)
• Theatre Making: Process and Performance (15 credits)
• Analytic Vocabularies (30 credits)
• Space-Body-Spectator (30 credits)
• Theatre Making 1 (30 credits)

Year 2

• Performance Theory/Practice (30 credits)
• Elements of Theatre History [options] (30 credits)
• Modernisms and Postmodernity A (15 credits)
• Modernisms and Postmodernity B [options] (
15 credits)
• Theatre Making 2 (30 credits)

Year 3

• Culture and Performance: Critical Theory (15 credits)
• Culture and Performance: Options (15 credits)
• Theatre Making 3 (45 credits)
• Dissertation (45 credits)

[Please note that courses are currently under review, and may be subject to adaptation for 2012.]

Year 1 courses

Theatre Making: Scenography and Technology
This course examines the principles and techniques of theatre design and stage management. 
It introduces a range of key concepts, terms and practical processes related to theatre design and related technologies. Students on this course learn to understand and apply a range of theatre skills in the following areas: Lighting Design, Scenography and Sound Design.

Theatre Making: Process and Performance
This course will introduce students to processes of directing and performing, and examining various approaches to working with space, composition, rhythm, texts and improvisation. The intention is to enable students to interrogate, through practice and discussion, selected historical and contemporary modes of performance. From this, students develop a group exercise in theatre making, based on a text.

Space-Body-Spectator
In this practice/theory two-term course, we focus on the body as your primary tool for communicating theatrically in workshop sessions. In seminars we discuss notions of the body, movement, space, spectator relationship and performing, as well as engagement in critical spectatorship and performance analysis. We look at key theorists and innovations in the 20th and 21st century in which Space-Body-Spectator relationships have been challenged and reconfigured. You develop your own performance material in the Theatre and site specifically, applying the methodologies investigated. Teaching draws on both European 
and Asian sources.

Analytic Vocabularies
An exploration of methods of performance analysis. We examine some of the significant theoretical frameworks for the analysis of Western performance, identifying creative processes and outcomes in the light of the theories of key practitioners. We evaluate performance texts from different media, and distinguish how history and culture influence contemporary theatre making.

Theatre Making 1
This is the culmination of your first year’s work 
in the department. It is an opportunity to explore theatre making in a collaborative, creative and inventive fashion, within defined parameters and 
a constructively critical framework. Although the work is assessed, we hope that this project also 
takes on the quality of a festival.

Year 2 courses

Performance Theory/Practice
This is a laboratory course, which investigates the major forms of 20th-century Western theatrical performance, exploring ways in which various practices have been theorised and, conversely, 
the way performance theories have been translated into practice.

Elements of Theatre History
The aim here is to develop an understanding of the relationship between a work and its historical – social, cultural, intellectual – context. You choose two options (each of 10 weeks) from a wide range including for example: French Theatre; Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama; Irish Theatre and Politics; Greek Theatre; Spanish and Catalan Theatre; American Theatre; African Theatre. Options are likely to change from year to year, depending on staff availability and research interests.

Theatre Making 2
This focuses on the development of performance-making skills, including performing, technical and scenographic competence, and the application of those skills to the creation of a performed event. The emphasis is on collaboration and working in companies and teams.

Modernisms and Postmodernity A
This course is an introduction to key aspects of modern and postmodern thought, culture and theatre. It aims to explore the historical and cultural contexts of its topic while at the same time exploring the theoretical and cultural ideas and practices that have been seen as modernist and postmodern.

Modernisms and Postmodernity B
You normally chose one 10-week option. 
These options are designed to extend the study 
of modernism and/or postmodernity through 
a sustained engagement with a particular 
range of material. We offer as specialist topics, for example: Post-Colonial Theatre; Brecht and Political Theatre; Theatre of the Artistic Avant-Garde; and Contemporary Women Practitioners. Options change from year to year, depending on staff availability and research interests.

Year 3 courses

Culture and Performance: 
Critical Theory and Options
This course provides an approach to the study of performance within a culturally diverse society. Lectures and seminars introduce you to a range of issues in the field of multi-cultural performance, including cross-culturalism, interculturalism, interchange and globalisation. You opt to make a specific study of the way contemporary performance in the UK relates culturally diverse practitioners to particular communities or institutions within society.

Theatre Making 3
This gives you the opportunity to study a theatrical form in depth, and to apply your acquired knowledge and skills in a group-based project. Autumn term taught sessions develop into project planning. In the spring term, rehearsals lead towards productions, performed outcomes and events. Genres range from text-based to devised performance and Live Art.

Dissertation
This is a year-long project where you choose a topic of personal interest that motivates you to study intensively, with a tutor as your personal supervisor, to create an extended written critical study. The Dissertation builds your skill and confidence in self-directed research that might be either purely academic and/or bring some fieldwork study to bear.

Skills and careers

Skills

We offer you the opportunity to become an articulate, critical, independent and self-initiating member of the cultural community by developing a range of transferable skills, including the ability to:

• work practically as an individual and in groups
• analyse personal practice in relation to theoretical models
• research and present complex information
• present ideas and analysis in a variety of formats
• document and record ideas and information
• take responsibility for your own ideas and respond creatively to the ideas of others
• work to a deadline
• share work responsibly
• communicate and write clearly
• practise self-discipline

Careers

When you graduate you might, like many of our students, go on to work in the theatre or related media, in publishing, administration, programming, project management, development work, marketing and publicity, management or technical production.

• Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths
• Our alumni

About the department

The Department of Theatre & Performance

The Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths is a dynamic, outward-looking, research-active learning environment that offers you a balanced mix of theoretical and practical work.

Our focus is intercultural and interdisciplinary, while our syllabus combines practical projects, engagement with theories of performance and culture, and the study of theatre histories.

One of the most distinctive features of the department is the space and time dedicated to exploring theatre making hands-on in a student-centred approach.

The Department’s dedicated spaces include: three studios (two black, one white); a thrust-stage theatre seating about 200; scenic, props and wardrobe facilities; and an open access media studio. There's also up-to-date equipment for the design and operation of light, sound and video.

Staff

There are 13 full-time academic members of staff, five technicians, and four administrative staff.

A pool of distinguished visiting tutors brings a range of academic as well as performance and production skills from the profession into the department’s work.

Staff research interests include: theories of acting and systems of actor training, physical theatres, scenography, European theatres, Asian theatres, African and Afro-Caribbean theatres, contemporary Black British writing, women writers and practitioners, theatre education, socially engaged practice, interculturalism, Shakespeare, Irish drama, gay theatre, performance and health, musical theatre, theatre writing, dramaturgy and translation and Live Art.

Find out more about our staff and their current research interests and projects.

Why choose Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths?

• Our syllabus enables you to develop a broad practical and intellectual understanding of the field, and pursue a specialised area of interest as you develop through the three years of study.
• We are research-active in both the production of theoretical texts, professional production and projects, and this invigorates all our teaching.
• Our international reputation brings students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels from all over of the world to the Department, creating a diverse cultural context in which to learn and practice.
• By the third year, every student is able to pursue their interests in considerable depth both in performance approaches in theatre making projects and written dissertation topics that are proposed by the student.
• We are only 15 minutes by train from Charing Cross and its nearby theatres and galleries, and even closer to the South Bank arts complex. Students also benefit from our active relationships with a range of professional venues and organisations in south-east London.
• We have live working relationships with many theatres, arts organisations, networks and media companies in the UK and internationally, some of whose representatives work as visiting tutors on our courses.
• Our location and reputation enable us to draw on internationally distinguished scholars and practitioners to supplement our curriculum with a range of extra-mural events.
• There is a well-equipped book and video library on site and extensive computing facilities. You also have access to the library facilities of the University of London and the range of specialist libraries, museums and collections scattered throughout the capital.

Student and graduate profiles

"Being from London, and not being able to live in halls, I was terrified that it would be extremely difficult for me to fit into the university lifestyle and feared that it would affect my studies. However the friendly, warm atmosphere that surrounds Goldsmiths fortunately put my worries to cease on the first day.

There are so many exciting and engaging projects that have not only interested and challenged me but have also made me re-examine my theoretical and physical methodologies concerning drama and theatre arts. Theoretically we are given the opportunity to explore practitioners and the history of countries in order to stimulate an in-depth discovery into drama and performance.

In the third year you are finally given the opportunity to self-study and write a dissertation. Before coming to Goldsmiths, the prospect of writing 10,000 words on a subject related to drama terrified me, however after two years of attending Goldsmiths, my fear has transformed into excitement. I approach the end of my third year with excitement for the projects that still await, sadness for leaving amazing friends and tutors behind, but mostly self-satisfaction and pride for attending such an amazing university which has positioned me in good stead for the future."

Vanessa, BA Drama & Theatre Arts

"Since graduating from the BA in 2010 I’ve been doing drama and dance workshops with Noxon Arts, a theatre and education company. I’ve also been working independently in various creative institutions that primarily work with young teenagers and young adults with learning disabilities, including Rock Creative in Devon, and Heart and Soul in Deptford, getting a sense of how theatre changes in a completely different environment – leafy Devon compared to South East London. I’ve also done work experience in primary and secondary schools to see how theatre can be implemented within a curriculum and within a more formal structure than a workshop. All of this has helped me find where I fit in within the professional world as opposed to a formal academic learning environment, and discover where I want to take and hone the skills that I’ve got.

Doing the BA at Goldsmiths prepared me for all of this because it encourages a lot of independence, not only through the independent academic learning you carry out but also in terms of rehearsing, collaborating, and building your own contacts through the practical projects you’re given. You get confident, because you learn to ‘own’ your work and you learn to try and be original with your work as well. You’re not always relying on someone to get you to do something – you’re having to organise things yourself. The way that you learn is very similar to what you have to do beyond the course – things like learning how to source your own props, book your own venues, and collaborate with people in terms of how you find the time to do what you want to do. Goldsmiths is a really creative place, and there’s a real sense of pride in people’s achievements and having something to aspire to for future achievements."

Rosie, BA Drama & Theatre Arts (graduated 2010)

“I studied the BA in Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths. We had a fantastic year group and spent the three years putting shows on in the various spaces in the department. While I was there I met and started working with friends with whom I formed the group Trippplicate. We wrote and performed comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival whilst still at Goldsmiths and went on to do five years of shows together. We had huge support from the department, which was essential to our shows. In fact we had the help of the lovely Jonathan and Anna with various design and set builds that we would never have been able to manage without them.

I have gone on to work as a freelance scriptwriter in television and theatre in various different genres and I credit my degree course and the experience at Goldsmiths for giving me the foundation to be able to do this. We had a rich and varied experience whilst there and the support and space to experiment with different forms of theatre. I felt like I learnt skills that I am still using every day. I also met some wonderful and inspiring people who all coloured my time there and kept me smiling.

I still maintain contact with the department but I also work with the Goldsmiths Widening Participation team. I run workshops in schools that use theatre and comedy to get students to start thinking about their future and whether or not higher education will feature in it. I am always proud to speak of my time at Goldsmiths and often pop in – it’s a very friendly place!"

Morgan, BA Drama & Theatre Arts (graduated 2003)