Program Overview

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Our PhD in Theatre will provide you with a supportive and collegiate research experience within our conservatoire, the Guildford School of Acting (GSA).

Our research, which encompasses traditional and practice-based forms, addresses performance in history and contemporary culture. It includes:

Work in theatre history

Contemporary dance

Actor training

Musical theatre

Performance and cognitive science

Mental health and disability arts.

You will benefit from first-class conservatoire facilities including a 200-seat theatre, 15 rehearsal studios, six performance studios, an art gallery, a design studio, digital media labs, and high-quality recording facilities. The University Library also hosts the long-standing and internationally renowned National Resource Centre for Dance.

We’re part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s TECHNE doctoral training partnership, which offers funding and a fully formed training programme for academic, professional and early-career development.

We are ranked 5th in both the

Complete University Guide for 2022

and

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022

for drama. The University of Surrey is 33rd in the UK rankings for overall research quality by the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. The University is now also ranked in the top 20 in the UK for the overall quality of research outputs – research papers and other published works.

GSA staff contributed to the School of Literature and Languages submission which is now ranked 10th for research impact with 75% of their case studies rated for having outstanding impacts, in terms of reach and significance (4*)