It offers a specialised introduction to the techniques of research and scholarship in a discipline which is unique in the range and complexity of its methods and critical theories. Recent and current students have focused their studies on such varied fields as Form and Structure in the Musical, Rituals within Carnival, Fascist Ceremonial as Theatre Performance, Women on the Restoration Stage, Theatre and Disability, Digital Drama, Convent Drama, the Influence of Senecan Tragedy on Renaissance Drama, Stylistic and Structural Experimentation in Post-colonial Drama. Initially this is a weekly course, taken with other postgraduates in the department, introducing the special skills of research in drama, from interviews with performers to archival sources to Internet explorations. In the second term, students work on both an advanced group-project and an individual exercise in advanced bibliographical practice. Examination is by the submission of critiqued bibliographies and other research tools.
Assessment is by one extended essay words and a full-scale seminar presentation to the group.
A dissertation of 15 - 20,000 words. A first class humanities degree is a normal entry requirement. Mature students with professional theatre experience are also welcomed. The College offers some MA scholarships, though competition is strong. Application forms should be returned to Prof. David Bradby, accompanied by two essays or other recent pieces of critical writing.