Postgraduate Study in Theatre Studies
Step into the light.
Theatre explores and represents human experience and imagination in a dynamic, immediate and relevant way. Theatre Studies helps unlock such skills as self-confidence, teamwork, communication and creative expression, as well as giving you the chance to reflect on and inhabit lives vastly different from your own.
Drawing on the rich diversity of theatrical expression across time and cultures, Theatre Studies at Otago offers an exciting, stimulating combination of practical skills and academic training, preparing you to present yourself across a wide variety of careers both within and far beyond theatre and the performing arts.
Why study Theatre Studies?
Theatre Studies is a subject that is easy to become passionate about. It provides an understanding of the nature of performance, allows you access to the tools of a theatremaker, and looks at performance using critical and analytical skills.
You'll study different times and cultures from a theatre perspective, ranging from Shakespeare to Performance Art. Practice and analytical investigation inform and support one another.
Your lecturers have professional as well as academic expertise in the fields of acting, producing, directing, criticism, stage design, lighting and sound design, playwriting and translation. And then there is our unique weekly Lunchtime Theatre programme at Allen Hall Theatre, which is your testing ground as a performer, director or playwright, and in all aspects of stagecraft.
Otago offers a wide selection of papers in Theatre Studies, drawn from the following areas:
- Performance skills: improvisation; principles of actor training, including Shakespeare, voice and movement.
- Analysis and interpretation of drama on stage and screen.
- Theatre and drama of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
- Directing.
- Writing for stage and screen and the creation of new theatre works.
- Theatre history, contemporary drama and performance art.
- Performance analysis and critical theory.
- Theatre technology and design, especially lighting and stage design.
Are you just starting uni?
Learn about studying Theatre Studies as an undergraduate at Otago.
Choose a study option
Whether you are advancing your career with our specialised graduate qualifications or pursuing in-depth research and expertise through our postgraduate programmes, Otago is here to support your aspirations.
Postgraduate qualifications
Honours, Master’s, PhDs, and other advanced degrees for graduates. Just one additional year of study will earn you a valuable postgraduate degree. Or perhaps you want the depth of a full year of research-only time during a Master’s or to step up to a PhD.
Bachelor of Arts with Honours (BA(Hons))
A four-year degree focusing on advanced study and culminating in a research project in the final year
Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Subjects (PGDipArts)
A two-semester programme of structured coursework, and in some cases supervised research, extending the knowledge and skills gained from the bachelor’s degree
Master of Arts (Coursework) (MA(Coursework))
A coursework degree with an optional research dissertation component, usually completed in 12 to 18 months of full-time study, or part-time over a longer period
Master of Arts (Thesis) (MA(Thesis))
A one- or two-year degree entailing a major research project, culminating in a thesis
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
A practical, studio-based degree for professional theatre practitioners, requiring presentation of both a creative art-work and a written component (exegesis).
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Engage in original research leading to a doctoral thesis, supported by comprehensive academic and social networks
Graduate Qualifications
Our graduate qualifications are crafted to transition students from foundational studies to advanced, specialised knowledge.
Ready to apply?
Take your expertise to the next level with advanced study.
Programme details
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Papers
View a list of all related papers below.
Contacts
School of Performing Arts
Email spa@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 8885
Website otago.ac.nz/performing-arts
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