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4th in the UK for research power

Do you love practical learning and making performance? Are you passionate about theatre, why it’s important, and how it can be useful in the contemporary world?

Our BA Theatre and Performance degree works with your interests to help you become independent, innovative theatre makers. At Northumbria, you will:

  • Learn through practice and be taught by award-winning, internationally celebrated lecturers in a student-centered teaching environment.
  • Develop skills and gain experience that prepare you for work in theatre, the creative industries, and beyond.
  • Work directly with industry professionals and gain real-world experience.
  • Develop a final year production, working as a small “theatre company” with your peers, positioning you as a future creative leader.

Our degree is practice-led, critically rich and grounded in the North East theatre industry. Our students and graduates work with venues like Live TheatreNorthern Stage, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, as well as schools, care homes and local authorities. In fact, one of our graduates founded Newcastle’s highly successful Alphabetti Theatre, championing original work from emerging artists.

Find out so much more about what it’s like to study with us and hear from some of our students by Delving Deeper or finding out more about creating your university portfolio!

Follow Northumbria University Theatre and Performance on Instagram or Twitter to see the latest updates from the department.

Why choose Northumbria to study Theatre and Performance?

Industry Partners - Our University Partnership with Live Theatre is at the core of programme delivery, with opportunities for industry focused live briefs.

Research Powerhouse - Art and Design (including Theatre and Performance) at Northumbria is ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF, 2021). This is a rise of 6 places compared to 2014.

 

What is a ‘cultural partnership’ and how will it support my learning?

Cultural partnerships are when groups or institutions work together to share or promote art, traditions, or values. At Northumbria, this includes museums, charities, and education partners teaming up to create an enhanced curriculum designed to support your learning experience and employability. These partnerships help you:

  • Showcase talent and innovation
  • Attend events such as masterclasses and workshops
  • Access specialist facilities and archives
  • Gain experiential learning opportunities, such as working on live briefs.
  • Immerse yourself in real-world settings, working directly within the community.
  • Network with key employers
  • Unlock potential placement opportunities, during or beyond your studies.

Students studying BA Theatre & Performance benefit directly from our education partnership with Live Theatre. Our partnership with Live Theatre means you will have access to performance spaces, live briefs, and work experience opportunities. This partnership also focuses on providing collaborative education, where you may be taught one of your modules directly from the team at Live Theatre. You may also have exclusive access to rehearsals, to get a feel of what goes on behind-the-scenes.

 

See other similar courses you may be interested in: BA Film or BA Media & Communication

Course Information

UCAS Code
W405

Level of Study
Undergraduate

Mode of Study
3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department
Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Arts

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Start
September 2025

Fees
Fee Information

Modules
Module Information

Delve Deeper / Discover more about life at Northumbria

News / Theatre and Performance BA

Find out what our staff and students are getting involved in.

Why us / Theatre and Performance BA

Find out what makes studying at Northumbria a unique opportunity.

Entry Requirements 2025/26

Standard Entry

112 UCAS Tariff points

From a combination of acceptable Level 3 qualifications which may include: A-level, T Level, BTEC Diplomas/Extended Diplomas, Scottish and Irish Highers, Access to HE Diplomas, or the International Baccalaureate.

Find out how many points your qualifications are worth by using the UCAS Tariff calculator: www.ucas.com/ucas/tariff-calculator

Northumbria University is committed to supporting all individuals to achieve their ambitions. We have a range of schemes and alternative offers to make sure as many individuals as possible are given an opportunity to study at our University regardless of personal circumstances or background. To find out more, review our Northumbria Entry Requirement Essential Information page for further details www.northumbria.ac.uk/entryrequirementsinfo

Subject Requirements:

There are no specific subject requirements for this course.

GCSE Requirements:

Applicants will need Maths and English Language at minimum grade 4/C or an equivalent.

Additional Requirements:

There are no additional requirements for this course.

International Qualifications:

We welcome applicants with a range of qualifications which may not match those shown above.

If you have qualifications from outside the UK, find out what you need by visiting www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.0 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

For further admissions guidance and requirements, please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/admissionsguidance Please review this information before submitting your application.

Fees and Funding 2025/26 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1: £9,535

* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.


International Fee in Year 1: £19,350


Please see the main Funding Pages for 25/26 scholarship information.

 


ADDITIONAL COSTS

There are no Additional Costs

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

TP4001 -

Big Ideas in Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

This module introduces you to the ‘big ideas’ that drive the study of theatre and performance. This is inclusive of critical approaches to performance, class, gender, race, and queer theory in relation to practices such as acting, dance, direction, and stage design.
Drawing on examples of current and historical practices in commercial and fringe theatres, as well as performances that happen in the wider world, you will learn to articulate your own foundational approaches to critical thinking and performance analysis. The overall purpose of the module is to prepare you to ask big questions of your own practices, politics, and critical awareness as you progress through your studies. In this regard, the module feeds directly into a sister module in the second semester, which is focused on ‘urgent ideas’, as well as being the building blocks for your research and critical thinking skills that will be the foundation of your studies and future careers.

It is also a chance for you to find out about the research specialisms of the staff and become part of the Northumbria performance research community. Sessions will be led by members of the staff team to allow you an opportunity to engage directly with leading theatre and performance researchers.

More information

TP4002 -

Theatre and Performance Encounters (Core,40 Credits)

This module has two interrelated strands: making encounters and critiquing encounters. Central to this is hands on experience collaborating with your peers in the creation of theatre and performance practice. Alongside your own creative processes, you will be introduced to the breadth of performance works taking place in the contemporary moment, both locally and globally. These dual strands ask; how do we make theatre now? Where do we encounter performance? How do we collaborate in the creation of artistic work? This will include attending performances at local arts venues in the North East, such as Live Theatre and Northern Stage, as well as watching recorded performances. The combination of making your own theatrical encounters, while encountering the work of professionals is what makes this module a fundamental and formative aspect of your introduction to Newcastle and the region. In that regard, you will be introduced to ‘practical thinking’ that challenges divisions between practice and theory through workshops based on key theatre and performance practitioners. This (indicatively) is inclusive of approaches to dramatic and postdramatic theatre, laboratory theatres, and design-led performance. The module concludes with the presentation of scratch performances that investigate your approach to making performance encounters and the submission of a critically informed reflection and critiques of your encounters with professional performance work.

More information

TP4003 -

Performance Explorations (Core,40 Credits)

Through an exploration of current performance making strategies and approaches you will begin to develop an understanding of yourself as an individual artist within the theatrical ensemble, learning techniques, skills and processes of the performer-creator. You will experience and develop an understanding of the potential for the physical body onstage and a growing awareness and expanding knowledge of the artistic possibilities of both text and movement. You will gain a greater knowledge of your own body and develop processes to support both physical expressiveness and safe physical practice.

This module will also offer an introduction to the working processes of staging performance practice. You will be introduced to these processes through staff-led practical workshops on the different methods and techniques of staging. This is inclusive of approaches to directing, dramaturgy, scenography, and choreography, along with the techniques associated with stage management, digital tech, leading rehearsals, and design processes. The overall aim is to familiarise you with different production roles and prepare you for taking a lead in staging your own performances while at Northumbria and beyond.

More information

TP4004 -

Urgent ideas in Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

Following on from Big ideas in Theatre and Performance, this module asks you to consider the ‘urgent ideas’ that will inform the possible futures of theatre and performance. This module will challenge you to consider how factors such as climate crisis and decolonial thinking will shape performance making processes and perspectives. It will introduce you to examples of theatre and performance practice that seek to engage with urgent ideas, such as how practitioners approach notions of social justice, anti-racism, digital thinking, climate justice, decolonising, along with trans* and non-binary perspectives. The overall aim is to ensure that you are ready to ask challenging questions of yourself and your peers and offer an initial step towards becoming future leaders in the cultural sector.

As with the sister module in the first semester, sessions will be led by members of the staff team to allow you an opportunity to engage directly with leading theatre and performance researchers and induct you in the Northumbria performance research community.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

TP5001 -

Arguments for Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

This theory led module is focused on the social, critical, and ethical ‘challenges’ that theatre and performance makers face in the 21st century. Through a series of lectures and seminars, you will be provided with examples of critical arguments that allow you to consider theatre and performance from plural and sometimes competing perspectives. The overall aim is to give you a grounding in developing your own independent arguments on difficult, challenging, or ethically complex subjects such as city resilience, population growth, the fourth industrial revolution, class and equality, and climate justice through the frameworks such as cultural materialism, doughnut economics, Global North philosophies (universalism, liberalism, poststructuralism), Global South philosophies (pluriversal thinking, co-presence, rasa theory), and queer radicalism.

More information

TP5002 -

Contemporary Theatre Making (Core,20 Credits)

This practically led module will explore the processes and practices of contemporary theatre making from a number of different perspectives, drawing on a range of international practitioners. The module will help you to locate your work in relation to the history of key theatre practitioners from the late-20th and early-21st centuries. You will engage with practices such as verbatim theatre, immersive or physical performance, along with the work of (e.g.) Forced Entertainment, Augusto Boal, or Jatinder Verma. In doing so, the module asks you to think about what ‘theatre’ is (form and context) in practice. That is, through practical exploration (in studios, in urban contexts, in homes or in online environments) the module explores how we create theatre and the importance of understanding theatre-making as an active practice and ongoing cultural, political and critical process in the world.

More information

TP5004 -

Applied Theatre Practice (Core,20 Credits)

As a staff research led module, you will work in close collaboration with a client organisation to explore the role of the applied theatre practitioner. Concentrating on the needs of the chosen organisation and the aligned expertise of staff, you will learn skills and understandings appropriate to their audience and/or participant group. You will further develop your ability to plan, research, make and evaluate your performance work. This will involve interrogating a variety of performance styles and devising methodologies. This practice will be undertaken in dialogue with your tutors and with representatives of the client organisation, who will help you explore your relationship with the audience and the art form. You will be encouraged to investigate the relationship between the performer and the participant, the staged and the non-staged, and how theatre making functions in spaces other than conventional theatres. The module will familiarise you with the work of some key practitioners and movements within the applied field, enabling you to appreciate how your individual experience relates to the wider cultural arena.

More information

TP5005 -

Investigating Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

Building on Arguments for Theatre and Performance, in this module you will develop skills in research methods that will be vital for your independent research in the final year. While still focused on the ‘grand challenges’ of the 21st century, you will be introduced to research methodologies and methods which might include areas such as practice research, documentary theatre, archival research, dialogical performance, performance analysis, interviews, ethnographic approaches, and walking performance. This module is designed as Dissertation preparation and, in that regard, it addresses issues relating to diverse approaches to the production of knowledge, but also provides students with practical and critical skills associated with particular methods of doing performance research.

More information

TP5006 -

Performance and the City (Core,20 Credits)

This practically led module grounds your performance making within the creative, political, and cultural challenges of ‘the city’. Based on a tutor designed brief, you will be encouraged to test and challenge the limits of theatre and performance by investigating the role performances play in representing, reflecting upon and interrogating city cultures. The brief may include site-specific work in the NewcastleGateshead area, working with a play that explores city life, a box of objects that relate to urban contexts, or another creative stimulus for approaching a devising process. This creative process will be complemented with staff-led workshops on practices such as contemporary dance, directing challenging topics, creating scenographic atmospheres, site-responsive performance, performer-audience relations, or psychophysical acting. Building on your experiences at first year and in TP5002 Contemporary Theatre Making, you will continue to develop your practical devising skills as part of small group performances. You will have the opportunity to be creative, to experiment, and to put theory into practice to make performances located in venues such as theatre studios, museums, art galleries or with found places.

More information

TP5007 -

Performance and Digital Cultures (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn how digital cultures are investigated through theatre and performance practices. The notion of ‘digital culture’ is explored in an expansive way to consider how ‘digital perspectives’ are represented in live performance works, along with providing tools for representation (projection, networks, etc.). This is inclusive of approaches to mixed reality, gaming theatre, and online performances along with plays that take ‘the internet’ as their subject (such as Tim Price’s Teh Internet is Serious Business and Jennifer Haley’s The Nether). As a research informed module, the interests and specialisms of the staff will guide the workshops included each year. The overall aim is to prepare you to identify, critique, and stage timely performances that investigate the social, aesthetic and political impacts of digital cultures (whether local or global) beyond a focus on the technology alone.

More information

TP5008 -

Performer Training: Practitioner Perspectives (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will be introduced to how select practitioners have approached the training of actors and performers. Informed by staff research interests, this module will develop your practical and theoretical understanding of how contemporary performers prepare for performance. This is inclusive of the techniques associated with (for example) Sandford Meisner, Jerzy Grotowski, Yoshi Oida, Freddie Hendricks, and Patsy Rodenburg. These techniques will be studied in workshop sessions and applied to scripted scenes. The module acts as an introduction to these performer training perspectives and offers the opportunity to expand your performance skillset, while also exploring your personal creative interests and identity. You will learn how to apply these techniques autonomously, making informed and interest driven choices on the types of material you will perform and which techniques you will use in your creative process.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

AD5001 -

Arts Work Placement Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Work Placement Year module is a 120 credit year-long module available on degree courses which include a work placement year, taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6 (the length of the placement(s) will be determined by your programme but it can be no less than 30 weeks). You will undertake a guided work placement at a host organisation. This is a Pass/Fail module and so does not contribute to classification. When taken and passed, however, the Placement Year is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Work Placement Year)”. The learning and teaching on your placement will be recorded in the work placement agreement signed by the placement provider, the student, and the University.

Specific learning will depend on the nature of the employer and the placement secured. In general terms, this module is an opportunity to gain significant experience of industry practice, and to learn professional, role-specific skills ‘on the job’. It’s also a great opportunity to improve transferable skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, personal organisation, time management, presentation, commercial awareness, entrepreneurial skills, branding, and professional conduct generally; and to enhance your CV and personal portfolio. Students who have carried out placements in previous years often describe it as a transformative experience; they report greatly increased personal confidence both in terms of launching their future careers, and in returning to their final year of study. Your employer will agree in advance what your learning is likely to include, and will help you reflect on this learning at the end of your placement.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

AD5002 -

Arts Study Abroad Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Study Abroad Year module is a full year 120 credit module which is available on degree courses which include a study abroad year which is taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6. You will undertake a year abroad at a partner university equivalent to 120 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). Your study abroad year will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, if you pass, it is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Study Abroad Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Study Abroad Year)”.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

TP6001 -

Performance Dissertation (Core,40 Credits)

This module enables you to conduct significant independent study, supported by a supervisor and resulting in either written or part written/part practical outcomes. Your choice of Dissertation topic may arise from a specific theatre and performance interest developed through theoretical and/or practical experience on the degree in previous years, and/or from extracurricular or professional contexts. The module is flexible to your interests, passions and future directions; as such, tutors will work with you to help you develop topics that are exciting, innovative and engaging.

Your topic should have appropriate content and parameters and should be designed to demonstrate your research, analytical, and evaluative skills as appropriate to your project design. The overall purpose of this module is to ensure that you have an opportunity to realize an independent research project that speaks to your particular interests and that will embed skills and expertise relevant to further study at MA and PhD level and to the world of work.

More information

TP6002 -

Performance Project (Core,40 Credits)

In this core module, you will form theatre and performance companies, each with a clear identity and purpose. You will develop appropriate working practices that are grounded in relevant processes from the programme, indicatively: making, thinking, questioning, collaborating and sharing. You will create specific events that are focused towards life and work beyond university, or in further study. In so doing, you will engage a select set of specific practices appropriate to that project, but which are likely to involve mapping existing practice, identifying starting points for a company and project, devising and developing appropriate making practices, working as peer mentors and with peer-mentors, reflecting and rethinking, refining and rehearsing, selecting and focusing, performing and presenting. Companies may work in a range of areas, in discussion with staff and subject to resources. These may, indicatively, include: Performance, Events, and Workshops (e.g. offering training for companies, organisations, community groups, etc.).

More information

TP6003 -

Performer Training: Future Practices (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research driven exploration on performer training; building on the foundations set by practitioners from the late 20th and early 21st centuries you will investigate new modes of performer training and think through the ways that training processes and practices may need innovating for the contemporary world. Working with staff on their specialist areas of research and practice, the precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised collaboratively with your tutor(s) to develop from their expertise. You will situate their own practical methods of preparing for performance in the context of the 21st century before moving on to begin developing your own performer training ‘vocabularies’. The overall aim of this module is to challenge you to consider alternative methods of performer training and prepare you for advising, developing and honing performance techniques that reflect the ethics of contemporary and future cultural sectors.

More information

TP6004 -

Popular Performance (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research driven exploration on popular performance. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. ‘Popular performance’ is defined in broad terms and is inclusive of stand up, cabaret, clowning, musical comedy, panto, etc. The module is designed to enable you to explore and develop solo (or duo) modes of popular performance. Situating your work within relevant social and political contexts, the overarching goal is to create a proposal for material that you could perform in front of a live audience in a relevant popular performance setting. This proposal will likely be shared as a short performance, but can also be submitted in a range of media (video, etc.) as agreed by the module leader. You will be able to utilise this material not just during the assessment but also indicate where else you might adapt and transport it.

More information

TP6005 -

Performance and the Politics of Fear (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research-led exploration of the place of performance (social and aesthetic) in relation to contemporary and plural contexts of the ‘politics of fear’. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. It considers how contemporary (western) social discourse (particularly as represented in the news media) is preoccupied with narratives of fear or anxiety: of the other, of terrorism, of the collapse of capitalism, of pandemics, of anti-social behaviour and violence, of the dumbing down of education standards, of the disintegration of community, of the rise of consumerism and ‘unthinking’ neoliberalism, for example. Meanwhile, the history of performance since Plato holds at its centre a complex and powerful anxiety about and mistrust of representation. Through recourse to critical theory, political and medical histories, psychoanalysis and philosophy you will investigate the philosophical, political and socio-cultural nature and social function of performance and representation as it relates to contemporary questions of fear, anxiety and ‘dis-ease’.

More information

TP6008 -

Performance and Creative Economies (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research-led exploration of theatre and performance commissioning, funding cultures and venue programming policies. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. The overall aim is to offer you an insight into the role of producers, programmers, and funders in preparation for developing competitive funding applications post-graduation. As a further focus on graduate destinations, as part of the module you will complete a live funding application (e.g. Arts Council England or Creative Scotland) that, with the support of staff feedback, can be submitted to open competitions and potentially gain funding for your graduate practice.

More information

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

TP4001 -

Big Ideas in Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

This module introduces you to the ‘big ideas’ that drive the study of theatre and performance. This is inclusive of critical approaches to performance, class, gender, race, and queer theory in relation to practices such as acting, dance, direction, and stage design.
Drawing on examples of current and historical practices in commercial and fringe theatres, as well as performances that happen in the wider world, you will learn to articulate your own foundational approaches to critical thinking and performance analysis. The overall purpose of the module is to prepare you to ask big questions of your own practices, politics, and critical awareness as you progress through your studies. In this regard, the module feeds directly into a sister module in the second semester, which is focused on ‘urgent ideas’, as well as being the building blocks for your research and critical thinking skills that will be the foundation of your studies and future careers.

It is also a chance for you to find out about the research specialisms of the staff and become part of the Northumbria performance research community. Sessions will be led by members of the staff team to allow you an opportunity to engage directly with leading theatre and performance researchers.

More information

TP4002 -

Theatre and Performance Encounters (Core,40 Credits)

This module has two interrelated strands: making encounters and critiquing encounters. Central to this is hands on experience collaborating with your peers in the creation of theatre and performance practice. Alongside your own creative processes, you will be introduced to the breadth of performance works taking place in the contemporary moment, both locally and globally. These dual strands ask; how do we make theatre now? Where do we encounter performance? How do we collaborate in the creation of artistic work? This will include attending performances at local arts venues in the North East, such as Live Theatre and Northern Stage, as well as watching recorded performances. The combination of making your own theatrical encounters, while encountering the work of professionals is what makes this module a fundamental and formative aspect of your introduction to Newcastle and the region. In that regard, you will be introduced to ‘practical thinking’ that challenges divisions between practice and theory through workshops based on key theatre and performance practitioners. This (indicatively) is inclusive of approaches to dramatic and postdramatic theatre, laboratory theatres, and design-led performance. The module concludes with the presentation of scratch performances that investigate your approach to making performance encounters and the submission of a critically informed reflection and critiques of your encounters with professional performance work.

More information

TP4003 -

Performance Explorations (Core,40 Credits)

Through an exploration of current performance making strategies and approaches you will begin to develop an understanding of yourself as an individual artist within the theatrical ensemble, learning techniques, skills and processes of the performer-creator. You will experience and develop an understanding of the potential for the physical body onstage and a growing awareness and expanding knowledge of the artistic possibilities of both text and movement. You will gain a greater knowledge of your own body and develop processes to support both physical expressiveness and safe physical practice.

This module will also offer an introduction to the working processes of staging performance practice. You will be introduced to these processes through staff-led practical workshops on the different methods and techniques of staging. This is inclusive of approaches to directing, dramaturgy, scenography, and choreography, along with the techniques associated with stage management, digital tech, leading rehearsals, and design processes. The overall aim is to familiarise you with different production roles and prepare you for taking a lead in staging your own performances while at Northumbria and beyond.

More information

TP4004 -

Urgent ideas in Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

Following on from Big ideas in Theatre and Performance, this module asks you to consider the ‘urgent ideas’ that will inform the possible futures of theatre and performance. This module will challenge you to consider how factors such as climate crisis and decolonial thinking will shape performance making processes and perspectives. It will introduce you to examples of theatre and performance practice that seek to engage with urgent ideas, such as how practitioners approach notions of social justice, anti-racism, digital thinking, climate justice, decolonising, along with trans* and non-binary perspectives. The overall aim is to ensure that you are ready to ask challenging questions of yourself and your peers and offer an initial step towards becoming future leaders in the cultural sector.

As with the sister module in the first semester, sessions will be led by members of the staff team to allow you an opportunity to engage directly with leading theatre and performance researchers and induct you in the Northumbria performance research community.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

TP5001 -

Arguments for Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

This theory led module is focused on the social, critical, and ethical ‘challenges’ that theatre and performance makers face in the 21st century. Through a series of lectures and seminars, you will be provided with examples of critical arguments that allow you to consider theatre and performance from plural and sometimes competing perspectives. The overall aim is to give you a grounding in developing your own independent arguments on difficult, challenging, or ethically complex subjects such as city resilience, population growth, the fourth industrial revolution, class and equality, and climate justice through the frameworks such as cultural materialism, doughnut economics, Global North philosophies (universalism, liberalism, poststructuralism), Global South philosophies (pluriversal thinking, co-presence, rasa theory), and queer radicalism.

More information

TP5002 -

Contemporary Theatre Making (Core,20 Credits)

This practically led module will explore the processes and practices of contemporary theatre making from a number of different perspectives, drawing on a range of international practitioners. The module will help you to locate your work in relation to the history of key theatre practitioners from the late-20th and early-21st centuries. You will engage with practices such as verbatim theatre, immersive or physical performance, along with the work of (e.g.) Forced Entertainment, Augusto Boal, or Jatinder Verma. In doing so, the module asks you to think about what ‘theatre’ is (form and context) in practice. That is, through practical exploration (in studios, in urban contexts, in homes or in online environments) the module explores how we create theatre and the importance of understanding theatre-making as an active practice and ongoing cultural, political and critical process in the world.

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TP5004 -

Applied Theatre Practice (Core,20 Credits)

As a staff research led module, you will work in close collaboration with a client organisation to explore the role of the applied theatre practitioner. Concentrating on the needs of the chosen organisation and the aligned expertise of staff, you will learn skills and understandings appropriate to their audience and/or participant group. You will further develop your ability to plan, research, make and evaluate your performance work. This will involve interrogating a variety of performance styles and devising methodologies. This practice will be undertaken in dialogue with your tutors and with representatives of the client organisation, who will help you explore your relationship with the audience and the art form. You will be encouraged to investigate the relationship between the performer and the participant, the staged and the non-staged, and how theatre making functions in spaces other than conventional theatres. The module will familiarise you with the work of some key practitioners and movements within the applied field, enabling you to appreciate how your individual experience relates to the wider cultural arena.

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TP5005 -

Investigating Theatre and Performance (Core,20 Credits)

Building on Arguments for Theatre and Performance, in this module you will develop skills in research methods that will be vital for your independent research in the final year. While still focused on the ‘grand challenges’ of the 21st century, you will be introduced to research methodologies and methods which might include areas such as practice research, documentary theatre, archival research, dialogical performance, performance analysis, interviews, ethnographic approaches, and walking performance. This module is designed as Dissertation preparation and, in that regard, it addresses issues relating to diverse approaches to the production of knowledge, but also provides students with practical and critical skills associated with particular methods of doing performance research.

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TP5006 -

Performance and the City (Core,20 Credits)

This practically led module grounds your performance making within the creative, political, and cultural challenges of ‘the city’. Based on a tutor designed brief, you will be encouraged to test and challenge the limits of theatre and performance by investigating the role performances play in representing, reflecting upon and interrogating city cultures. The brief may include site-specific work in the NewcastleGateshead area, working with a play that explores city life, a box of objects that relate to urban contexts, or another creative stimulus for approaching a devising process. This creative process will be complemented with staff-led workshops on practices such as contemporary dance, directing challenging topics, creating scenographic atmospheres, site-responsive performance, performer-audience relations, or psychophysical acting. Building on your experiences at first year and in TP5002 Contemporary Theatre Making, you will continue to develop your practical devising skills as part of small group performances. You will have the opportunity to be creative, to experiment, and to put theory into practice to make performances located in venues such as theatre studios, museums, art galleries or with found places.

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TP5007 -

Performance and Digital Cultures (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn how digital cultures are investigated through theatre and performance practices. The notion of ‘digital culture’ is explored in an expansive way to consider how ‘digital perspectives’ are represented in live performance works, along with providing tools for representation (projection, networks, etc.). This is inclusive of approaches to mixed reality, gaming theatre, and online performances along with plays that take ‘the internet’ as their subject (such as Tim Price’s Teh Internet is Serious Business and Jennifer Haley’s The Nether). As a research informed module, the interests and specialisms of the staff will guide the workshops included each year. The overall aim is to prepare you to identify, critique, and stage timely performances that investigate the social, aesthetic and political impacts of digital cultures (whether local or global) beyond a focus on the technology alone.

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TP5008 -

Performer Training: Practitioner Perspectives (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will be introduced to how select practitioners have approached the training of actors and performers. Informed by staff research interests, this module will develop your practical and theoretical understanding of how contemporary performers prepare for performance. This is inclusive of the techniques associated with (for example) Sandford Meisner, Jerzy Grotowski, Yoshi Oida, Freddie Hendricks, and Patsy Rodenburg. These techniques will be studied in workshop sessions and applied to scripted scenes. The module acts as an introduction to these performer training perspectives and offers the opportunity to expand your performance skillset, while also exploring your personal creative interests and identity. You will learn how to apply these techniques autonomously, making informed and interest driven choices on the types of material you will perform and which techniques you will use in your creative process.

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YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

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AD5001 -

Arts Work Placement Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Work Placement Year module is a 120 credit year-long module available on degree courses which include a work placement year, taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6 (the length of the placement(s) will be determined by your programme but it can be no less than 30 weeks). You will undertake a guided work placement at a host organisation. This is a Pass/Fail module and so does not contribute to classification. When taken and passed, however, the Placement Year is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Work Placement Year)”. The learning and teaching on your placement will be recorded in the work placement agreement signed by the placement provider, the student, and the University.

Specific learning will depend on the nature of the employer and the placement secured. In general terms, this module is an opportunity to gain significant experience of industry practice, and to learn professional, role-specific skills ‘on the job’. It’s also a great opportunity to improve transferable skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, personal organisation, time management, presentation, commercial awareness, entrepreneurial skills, branding, and professional conduct generally; and to enhance your CV and personal portfolio. Students who have carried out placements in previous years often describe it as a transformative experience; they report greatly increased personal confidence both in terms of launching their future careers, and in returning to their final year of study. Your employer will agree in advance what your learning is likely to include, and will help you reflect on this learning at the end of your placement.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

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AD5002 -

Arts Study Abroad Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Study Abroad Year module is a full year 120 credit module which is available on degree courses which include a study abroad year which is taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6. You will undertake a year abroad at a partner university equivalent to 120 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). Your study abroad year will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, if you pass, it is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Study Abroad Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Study Abroad Year)”.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

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TP6001 -

Performance Dissertation (Core,40 Credits)

This module enables you to conduct significant independent study, supported by a supervisor and resulting in either written or part written/part practical outcomes. Your choice of Dissertation topic may arise from a specific theatre and performance interest developed through theoretical and/or practical experience on the degree in previous years, and/or from extracurricular or professional contexts. The module is flexible to your interests, passions and future directions; as such, tutors will work with you to help you develop topics that are exciting, innovative and engaging.

Your topic should have appropriate content and parameters and should be designed to demonstrate your research, analytical, and evaluative skills as appropriate to your project design. The overall purpose of this module is to ensure that you have an opportunity to realize an independent research project that speaks to your particular interests and that will embed skills and expertise relevant to further study at MA and PhD level and to the world of work.

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TP6002 -

Performance Project (Core,40 Credits)

In this core module, you will form theatre and performance companies, each with a clear identity and purpose. You will develop appropriate working practices that are grounded in relevant processes from the programme, indicatively: making, thinking, questioning, collaborating and sharing. You will create specific events that are focused towards life and work beyond university, or in further study. In so doing, you will engage a select set of specific practices appropriate to that project, but which are likely to involve mapping existing practice, identifying starting points for a company and project, devising and developing appropriate making practices, working as peer mentors and with peer-mentors, reflecting and rethinking, refining and rehearsing, selecting and focusing, performing and presenting. Companies may work in a range of areas, in discussion with staff and subject to resources. These may, indicatively, include: Performance, Events, and Workshops (e.g. offering training for companies, organisations, community groups, etc.).

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TP6003 -

Performer Training: Future Practices (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research driven exploration on performer training; building on the foundations set by practitioners from the late 20th and early 21st centuries you will investigate new modes of performer training and think through the ways that training processes and practices may need innovating for the contemporary world. Working with staff on their specialist areas of research and practice, the precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised collaboratively with your tutor(s) to develop from their expertise. You will situate their own practical methods of preparing for performance in the context of the 21st century before moving on to begin developing your own performer training ‘vocabularies’. The overall aim of this module is to challenge you to consider alternative methods of performer training and prepare you for advising, developing and honing performance techniques that reflect the ethics of contemporary and future cultural sectors.

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TP6004 -

Popular Performance (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research driven exploration on popular performance. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. ‘Popular performance’ is defined in broad terms and is inclusive of stand up, cabaret, clowning, musical comedy, panto, etc. The module is designed to enable you to explore and develop solo (or duo) modes of popular performance. Situating your work within relevant social and political contexts, the overarching goal is to create a proposal for material that you could perform in front of a live audience in a relevant popular performance setting. This proposal will likely be shared as a short performance, but can also be submitted in a range of media (video, etc.) as agreed by the module leader. You will be able to utilise this material not just during the assessment but also indicate where else you might adapt and transport it.

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TP6005 -

Performance and the Politics of Fear (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research-led exploration of the place of performance (social and aesthetic) in relation to contemporary and plural contexts of the ‘politics of fear’. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. It considers how contemporary (western) social discourse (particularly as represented in the news media) is preoccupied with narratives of fear or anxiety: of the other, of terrorism, of the collapse of capitalism, of pandemics, of anti-social behaviour and violence, of the dumbing down of education standards, of the disintegration of community, of the rise of consumerism and ‘unthinking’ neoliberalism, for example. Meanwhile, the history of performance since Plato holds at its centre a complex and powerful anxiety about and mistrust of representation. Through recourse to critical theory, political and medical histories, psychoanalysis and philosophy you will investigate the philosophical, political and socio-cultural nature and social function of performance and representation as it relates to contemporary questions of fear, anxiety and ‘dis-ease’.

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TP6008 -

Performance and Creative Economies (Core,20 Credits)

In this module you will engage in a research-led exploration of theatre and performance commissioning, funding cultures and venue programming policies. The precise focus and thematic direction of this exploration will be devised in line with staff expertise and interests. The overall aim is to offer you an insight into the role of producers, programmers, and funders in preparation for developing competitive funding applications post-graduation. As a further focus on graduate destinations, as part of the module you will complete a live funding application (e.g. Arts Council England or Creative Scotland) that, with the support of staff feedback, can be submitted to open competitions and potentially gain funding for your graduate practice.

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To start your application, simply select the month you would like to start your course.

Theatre and Performance BA (Hons)

Home or EU applicants please apply through UCAS

International applicants please apply using the links below

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