MA Devised Theatre
Explore devised and collaborative theatre making
Explore devised and collaborative theatre making
- Shape your individual practice through collaborative projects
- Work in collaboration with The Paper Birds Theatre Company
- Learn from experienced and expert theatre practitioners
- Utilise our strong industry links with national events, venues and festivals
Overview
Expand your knowledge and skills in devised and collaborative theatre
Our MA Devised Theatre course explores devised and collaborative theatre making in partnership with the national leaders in the field – The Paper Birds Theatre Company.
Shape your individual practice through collaborative projects
The programme focuses on socially engaged and applied arts practices, as you learn to shape your individual practice and work to collaborate and produce wraparound services and practices.
Work with a nationally leading theatre company
This course is delivered in partnership with the leading devised theatre company The Paper Birds. You will have access to their extensive experience and expertise to help inform your own creativity and practice.
Learn from experienced and expert theatre practitioners
Our team of internationally reputed theatre and performance artists, practitioners and researchers are here to help support your practical and personal growth, as you join an artist-led theatre-making department.
Join a community of theatre-makers with strong industry links
Become a part of our vibrant and collaborative department community of artists, practitioners and performers, with the opportunity to benefit from strong links with venues and regional, national and international festivals.
Access our range of excellent theatre resources and spaces
Our range of performance and rehearsal spaces, and our extensive resources, ensure that you have access to everything you need to support your creative practice.
On this course you will:
- Develop your skills and knowledge in devised and collaborative theatre making.
- Work in collaboration with The Paper Birds Theatre Company.
- Join a vibrant and connected environment and community for making contemporary theatre and performance.
- Utilise our strong industry links with national events, venues and festivals.
- Learn from our experienced team of contemporary theatre experts.
- Use our range of excellent performance and rehearsal spaces and resources.
The Course
Shape your individual and collaborative practice
Throughout the course, you will engage in a selection of both core and specialist modules that develop your knowledge of theatre-making and performance.
Core modules
- An introduction to postgraduate study and research methodologies
- Practice-led research and development project, including a written dissertation.
Specialist modules
- Collaborative devising project
- Shaping practice
- Sharing practice.
All modules are delivered in-person, and complimented by intensive residences in the spring and summer semesters.
Modules
Research Methodologies 1
This module engages with critical and theoretical approaches that may well have been encountered at undergraduate level. These strategies will prove necessary in critically examining your own practice in later modules as well as enabling you to interrogate the work of contemporary arts practitioners.
You will be involved in the process of assessment, using the module criteria, and will also be required to evaluate your own learning on the course. Tutors and theatre practitioners will introduce case studies of contemporary work and research strategies, and as the module progresses you will use an increasing range of theoretical and practical skills to critically examine these models. You will undertake a range of assessment tasks and will receive formative advice and comments intended to assist you in completing these tasks successfully.
Research methodologies will focus on research into modes of practice, in documentation, in self-assessment, audience/spectator surveys and so forth, as well as providing the broader cultural landscape of practice as research. There are three core aims:
- learn about (PG) critical thinking, analysis, and academic writing.
- learn about (PG) research in The Arts: key methods and methodologies (tangible arts research models and templates/approaches).
- Apply learning to case study project.
Research Methodologies 2
This module will emphasise independent research leading up to your Developmental Project (Dissertation). You will select an area of investigation in the arts, related to cultural identity and contemporary performance, with the advice of tutors and fellow students. This module is designed to facilitate your development as a researcher through the formulation and realisation of a self-directed research project into theoretical research into your own practice with reference to the work of other theatre practitioners. You will be expected to contextualise your work in the light of contemporary developments in arts practice, arts research and cultural identity.
This module will take the learning from Research Methodologies 1 and deepen and develop this in relation to your own artistic practice. Radical, innovative and current modes of research and study will be investigated relating to your own practice. A refinement and deepening of methods and methodologies will be encouraged and will be applied to your learning and analysis of your own work in relation to the themes of culture and identity that you are interrogating.
Practical Research Project/Dissertation
This module is the core intellectual research activity pursued and serves as the dissertation module.
This module also intersects critically with other modules throughout the duration of generating, defining and refining researched ideas, culminating in the individual praxis.
As a ‘hub’ module, it is designed to be broad enough to compliment and support any topic/subject-specific methodology from ‘spoke’ arts programmes, but to serve and build on the wider learning experience. It employs two key approaches: practice-led research in the arts and a traditional ‘thesis’ exercise.
The developmental project engages you with an independently driven research processes in practice and reflexive engagement on critical/cultural development to inform a critically engaged written dissertation.
Shaping Practice
A module that introduces The Paper Birds’ (“TPBs”) core working practice. You will bring previous experiences of devising practice, offering your own advanced foundations for making, to interrogate histories of devising, mapping and case study key approaches, and learning how to contextualise your own critical and creative practice.
By learning about TPBs ethos/approach, you will develop your own critical and practical agenda, and in turn, learn new ways to share your work with others.
Collaborative Devising Project
A core module at the heart of the Devised Theatre MA route, where the key principles of The Paper Birds’ working practice come together in a holistic devised theatre project, made by groups of collaborating students.
During this module you will form new groups/collectives and devise an original work of theatre. You can work in partnership with locals groups or communities and/or make work that serves and enriches the core themes and social issues in your community.
Central to this collaboration, is the exploration and interrogation, in theory and practice, of intensive and advanced verbatim practices as a tool to both offer (gift) and receive (listen) to your community. This leads to an intensive and mentored/supervised making period, working with the resources of the University and with full technical support of the ShowRoom Theatre.
Sharing Practice
This taught module works as an immediate response to the Collaborative Devising Project Module. Through an understanding of The Paper Birds’ approach to creating ‘wraparound content’, you will redraw your practice, and explore various modes and mediums that help diversify audience access, engagement, service, resource, and potentially, income streams.
In effect, this is a professional development module, but also an opportunity to elevate core practices of communication and sharing that are integral to all creative practices in theatre making. The module aims to exploit and develop individual critical and creative skills in relation to, and to compliment, collaborative processes.
Theatre at the University of Chichester
The Theatre Department at Chichester is rooted in contemporary theatre and performance practice. Our programmes are predominantly practical, underpinned by cultural studies and practice-led research. All programmes are designed to be flexible with options to study full-time, part-time, blend taught and independent research approaches.
We are an artist-led theatre-making department and we are particularly suited to people (emerging or established) looking to define or refine their professional practice, artistic identity and portfolio.
In all aspects, our focus is on new work and contemporary theory and practice. We welcome students whose practice and approaches fall in between, or outside of, conventional or traditional labels and contexts for theatre, performance and the live arts.
Our programmes are designed to be extremely flexible, reflecting the diversity of approaches to making contemporary theatre and performance. The department has an established reputation for working with a wide range of contemporary performance artists who recognise the opportunities for creative research and development within an applied university context.
Our programme is run by a team of leading-edge interdisciplinary academics and artists. We work very closely with a wide range of established artists and performance collectives – both members of faculty and associate artists – who recognise the unique contribution the University of Chichester makes to supporting new theatre and performance work. Your own new work will be stimulated by a continuous programme of professional performances from a wide range of international artists, many of whom support the work of the department through teaching and mentoring.
On our courses you will:
- Join a vibrant and diverse environment and arts community.
- Make your own contemporary theatre and performance.
- Develop your critical and practical voice as a performance maker or academic.
- Be mentored and taught by internationally reputed theatre and performance artists.
- Have access to leading-edge technical and practical resources, space, and expertise.
- Create opportunities to present work at national events, platforms and festivals, and/or present research and publish in academic events and environments.
Programmes delivered by the Theatre Department enjoy:
- Dedicated teaching and rehearsal spaces
- Leading-edge technical facilities and resources
- Tangible partnerships with professional theatres and festivals in the region and nationally
- Other connections with the industry: relationships with visiting artists and companies
- A high employability rate with students working on stage, in film and TV, as excellent teachers, and in various areas of the creative industries.
Teaching and Assessment
Feel the support of our expert and experienced teaching staff
How you will learn
All programmes combine ‘taught’ and ‘research’ elements and are rooted in self-direction and the ideas and practical and/or research interests of the student.
The core hub of all our programmes focus on study and practical skills, and culminate in advanced practice-led research outcomes: essays, case studies, reflexive critical writing and your main thesis.
From there, the programmes contribute and build; with taught elements focused on the teaching and learning of content specific to the programme’s theme and topic.
Alongside this you will develop your own research and practical ideas, usually resulting in the creation and presentation of new performance work to the public, either in-house or in public settings.
To do this, you will have the entire university’s resources at your disposal: technical support, professional mentorship and supervision, leading-edge professional standard media and technologies, and a range of other learning and practical support.
Delivered by The Paper Birds Theatre Company
The Paper Birds is a devising theatre company, with a social and political agenda. They are recognised as UK leaders in devised verbatim theatre. They are artists, investigators, entrepreneurs and educators. They pride themselves on taking complex, multi-faceted subjects and making them accessible. They have an artistic programme and a creative learning programme and nurture both equally.
Feel supported to develop your own artistic identity
You will be encouraged to work further afield – across the region, UK, Europe and beyond – and externalise your work and identity.
You will have opportunities to establish a professional artistic and/or academic identity, and platform your own work in national and international contexts, which will help develop prospects for continuing education, in terms of teaching or continuing studies to MPhil and PhD, and in terms of your professional identity as a practitioner.
Assessment
You will be assessed through a range of assignments including:
- The creation of practical (public) performances
- Practical workshops and interactive/participatory research activities
- Monographs and artists books
- Business models and plans
- Research papers and presentations
- A written thesis.
Facilities
Discover dedicated performance spaces, specialist equipment and extensive resources
Assembly Theatre
On our Bognor Regis campus, the Assembly Theatre is used by students for rehearsals and performance, alongside a range of other spaces and sites to make and present work.
The Chapel
Our Chapel is also a fantastic venue for performances and rehearsals, and is the centre piece of the campus.
Practice and rehearsal spaces
We also have a number of soundproofed practice rooms for rehearsals and lessons, as well as lecture and seminar rooms.
Learning Resource Centre
The Learning Resource centre (LRC) contains the library, a café, IT/teaching rooms and the Student Information Zone (SIZ).
Library
Our campus library holds more than 200,000 books and over 500,000 eBooks.
More About The ShowRoom
The ShowRoom is recognised nationally for presenting some of the most exciting companies touring on the UK circuit, and the programme is shaped to support the learning of students.
We often run workshops and post-show discussion for theatre students with visiting artists. We believe that one of the best ways to learn about professional theatre is by watching a training with arts industry professionals. This is at the heart of the ShowRoom’s ambition.
The ShowRoom is highly adaptable, with retractable seating, making it an excellent teaching and workshop space in addition to its role as a venue. It is run by our Theatre Manager and Department Technician, who work closely with our students, helping them to realise creative and adventurous ideas in a professional working space.
Other facilities include:
- Studio spaces exclusive to the department
- Rehearsal rooms
- Recording studio
- Editing facilities
- Audio/visual equipment
- In-house lighting and sound technicians to assist student projects.
Careers
Where you could go after your studies
Our Devised Theatre degree leads to various outcomes and opportunities.
Over the years we have established and supported students as independent practitioners and touring arts companies/collectives, teaching (at all levels), and of course; PhD and further academic study and careers.
We also produce and support students looking to establish and develop careers in producing, creative writing and arts management.
Course Costs
Course Fees 2025/26
UK fee
International fee
For further details about fees, please see our Tuition Fee page.
For further details about international scholarships, please see our Scholarships page.
University of Chichester alumni who have completed a full undergraduate degree at the University will receive a 15% discount on their postgraduate fees.
Entry Requirements
Typical offer (individual offers may vary):
Applicants will ideally have a 2.1 degree and a dissertation in Theatre, Performing Arts or a related subject.
We welcome applications from any other degree subject if the applicant has relevant professional experience, or an academic qualification equivalent to a degree plus relevant professional experience.
Applicants will also need to meet the minimum English language requirement of an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with no component below 5.5, or an equivalent recognised test. Visit our English Language Requirements page for more information.
International students who don't meet the entry requirements
If you are an international student and do not yet meet the entry criteria for this course, you may be eligible for our International Premaster’s Programme. This is a one-semester programme that allows you to progress onto a master’s course at the University of Chichester.
