Playwriting & Dramaturgy

Background

Our successful programme is currently the only one in Scotland that combines playwriting with dramaturgy. All students undertake a practical playwriting course and a dramaturgy course, before then choosing to specialise in one pathway.  

This combination of playwriting and dramaturgy mirrors the reality of theatre practice. Playwriting, as a craft, inevitably engages processes of dramaturgy – including the construction, structure and form of a play. The programme design also responds to the contemporary theatre industry where playwrights are often employed to undertake dramaturgical functions. Equally, whilst dramaturges need not be playwrights, an understanding of the craft and practice of playwriting is invaluable for those operating in dramaturgical capacities. Dramaturgical roles in the theatre industries are multiple, encompassing both literary and production dramaturgy, and include Literary Management, Script Development, Adaptation and Translation, Production Research and Development, Educational Resources, and Programming.  

The Playwriting & Dramaturgy programme is designed to give you practical experience and critical knowledge of writing for the theatre. Its structure ensures engagement with a wide variety of historical and contemporary plays and dramaturgical approaches. The pathways allow all students an element of choice, ensuring that those who commence the programme with little experience of playwriting have the opportunity to test their skills in this capacity; and those with greater experience of playwriting have the opportunity not only to further develop their playwriting craft, but also to consider how the skills of playwriting can be applied in other contexts within the theatre industries.

The Playwriting & Dramaturgy Programme is delivered by the subject area of Theatre, Film and Television Studies. This has been ranked as one of the top ten in the UK. Our facilities include a studio theatre and a large flexible-stage theatre seating over 200 spectators, alongside a 140-seat cinema. We are part of the School of Culture and Creative Arts. Other subject areas in the School are Music, History of Art and Cultural Policy. This combination of subjects allows for vibrant interdisciplinarity and the exchange of creative practices and knowledge. The School is home to more than a hundred taught postgraduate students, many of them leading and delivering postgraduate student activities (including film screenings, reading groups and symposia). Theatre Studies has a friendly and approachable team of permanent staff, with interests ranging from Scottish and German Theatre to Shakespeare to Intercultural Performance to Devising and Physical Theatre. All Theatre Studies staff contribute to the Playwriting & Dramaturgy programme, engaging their own areas of research expertise to ensure that students are introduced to cutting edge ideas. The friendliness of both staff and students ensures there is a thriving and welcoming teaching, learning and research culture.

Regular seminars and events with invited speakers introduce students and staff alike to key debates and influential practitioners. Recent speakers have included Robert Sturm, the Artistic Director of Tanztheater Pina Bausch Wuppertal, performance artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Kira O’Reilly, and academic practitioners Elinor Fuchs and John Hall. These are in addition to ongoing visiting speaker seminars offered across the College of Arts (open to all students), as well as events programmed by other institutions in the city (including Friday lectures at the Glasgow School of Art, post-show discussions, workshops, symposia and artists talks).

The city of Glasgow provides an unbeatable location for the Playwriting & Dramaturgy Programme. Glasgow is home to a huge variety of theatres that between them programme and produce show that range from the experimental and risky to the traditional and repertory, from canonical and new writing to devised and physical performance. Venues include:

• Citizens’ Theatre
• The Arches
• Tramway
• Theatre Royal
• Kings Theatre
• Platform
• Ramshorn
• Centre for Contemporary Art

Many of these venues have multiple spaces, allowing them to programme main house shows alongside more intimate, studio events. On any given night of the week, you will be spoilt for choice; thankfully, the price of tickets is extremely reasonable, with all venues offering student discounts. Many of our students are also to be found working as ushers or front of house staff.

Glasgow is the base for a number of nationally significant theatre organisations too, including the National Theatre of Scotland, the Playwrights Studio, Ankur Arts, Vanishing Point and Theatre Cryptic. The city also hosts annual theatre and performance festivals including: Mayfesto - a season of political theatre; Glasgay! – the LGBT arts festival; Behaviour – a festival of new work; and New Territories, a festival of live art. Located only 45 minutes by train from Edinburgh, over the month of August you can easily make regular trips through to the Edinburgh Festival (a much more economical way of attending!).