Theatre History

Background

This programme is currently the only Theatre History Masters in Scotland, and we welcome applicants from across the UK and abroad. We have an excellent reputation for both teaching and research, making this the ideal location for postgraduate study. In the 2011 National Student Survey, Theatre Studies at Glasgow received a student approval rating of 94%. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Glasgow’s Theatre, Film & Television Studies Department was ranked as one of the top five in our field in the UK, with 85% of our research classified as world-leading or internationally excellent.

The MLitt Theatre History is designed to give you a wide-ranging knowledge of theatre history, building cores skills in relevant research methodologies and providing opportunities to develop specialist knowledge of selected areas of interest. Its structure ensures engagement with a wide variety of historically, contextually located texts and practices. It is also designed to help you develop research, writing and professional skills which will be transferrable to doctoral study or employment. The programme encourages you to put the skills that you learn on the programme into practice and involves a work placement at the Scottish Theatre Archive (University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections) or the Theatre and Performance Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Theatre History 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 the Scottish Theatre Archive (housed in the University of Glasgow Library), 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, social events, reading groups and the annual postgraduate symposium). 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 Theatre History 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 in the field. Recent speakers have included Robert Sturm, the Artistic Director of Tanztheater Pina Bausch Wuppertal, performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and academic practitioners Elinor Fuchs and John Hall.

The city of Glasgow provides an excellent location for the Theatre History programme. We will be able to offer you the opportunity for group visits to some of the most striking theatre collections that Glasgow has to offer. Here are some of the places you might visit:

•    Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery  
•    Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery
•    The Mitchell Library
•    Scottish Theatre Archive

Glasgow is also home to a huge variety of theatres that between them programme and produce shows 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

Glasgow is the base for a number of nationally significant theatre organisations too, including the National Theatre of Scotland and the Playwrights’ Studio. The city also hosts annual theatre and performance festivals including: Mayfesto, Glasgay! and Behaviour. Located only 45 minutes by train from Edinburgh, over the month of August you can easily make regular trips through to the Edinburgh Festival.