Program Overview

Postgraduate Study - PhD and Research Degrees

Drama

Overview

Drama at Exeter is an internationally-renowned centre for practice, research and teaching, and offers a supportive and stimulating environment for postgraduate research and practice, welcoming students from around the world.

Degrees

• MPhil/PhD Drama: The Department has always insisted on the importance of practice, and interest in research through practice is strongly welcomed. This might include a major interest in theatrical direction, performance, or playwriting associated with written study in the dissertation for drama.
• MPhil/PhD Performance Practice: The MPhil/PhD in Performance Practice offers you an opportunity to extend and reflect on your creative performance practice. The area of study is entirely dependent upon your expertise, and could include playwriting, acting, directing, physical theatre, dance theatre, music theatre, or music performance.
• MA by Research Drama: The Master of Arts by Research in Drama is a research degree that offers you the opportunity to pursue a research project of your choosing. The degree programme is intended both as an award in its own right or as a progression route to a PhD. You will complete an extended dissertation on an area of your particular interest, informed by a critical awareness of the current issues in the discipline, supervised by academic staff.

Duration and Start Date

• Duration: Full-time: 3-4 years, Part-time: 6-7 years
• Start Date: September, January or April

Location

• Location: Streatham Campus

Study Modes

• Study Modes: Full-time or part-time, Distance-based research is available for the MA by Research in Drama

Research Overview

We work through creative practice, historiography, socially-engaged research, ethnography and transdisciplinary collaboration. We have a particular interest in understanding the marginalizations and exclusions of British theatre cultures and industries; Asian performance cultures and diasporic practices; and the cultural aspects of contemporary concerns such as climate crisis, healthcare and urbanization, space and rurality.

Research Strengths

• Research Strengths:
  • The relationship between theory and practice (praxis) between actor and character
  • The politics of Shakespeare and English drama
  • Dramaturgy and writing for performance
  • Actor and performer training
  • Vocal practice
  • Gender and performance
  • Ancient Greek performance
  • The theory of performance and interculturalism
  • Political and popular theatre
  • Applied theatre in the community
  • Performance art, new media, and bioart
  • Theatre and music / music theatre
  • Site-specific and site-sensitive performance
  • Auto-performance and autobiography
  • Theatre and mental health
  • Eastern European theatre
  • Theatre and religion

Research Centres

• Research Centres:
  • The Centre for Contemporary Performance Practices
  • The Centre for Performance Histories and Cultures
  • The Colloquium for Interdisciplinary Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE)

How to Apply

• MPhil/PhD Drama or MPhil/PhD Performance Practice: Students applying to enter directly into the MPhil/PhD programme would normally be expected to have a Masters degree with Merit or equivalent in Drama, Theatre Practice or a related subject, or other relevant qualifications such as a doctorate in another subject.
• MA by Research Drama: We usually require you to have a good upper second class degree in Drama, Theatre or a related discipline area.

English Language Requirements

• English Language Requirements: International students need to show they have the required level of English language to study this course. The required test scores for this course fall under Profile E.

Fees and Funding

• Fees 2025/26:
  • Home: £5,006 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
  • International: £23,500 full-time
• Fees 2024/25:
  • Home: £4,786 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
  • International: £22,600 full-time

Supervision

• Supervisors: All students have a primary and a secondary supervisor who provide regular, high quality advice, support and direction in their academic endeavours.
• Mentor: Each student will also be assigned a mentor who will take on a pastoral role and mediate on any problems that arise during the period of study.

Careers

• Graduate Destinations: Below are some examples of initial employment titles and employers of Drama postgraduates who have studied with us in recent years.

Facilities

• Facilities: The Drama Department at Exeter offers a supportive and stimulating environment for postgraduate research, welcoming students from all parts of the world. The Department is situated in new, attractive buildings on a modern campus, in quiet surroundings which nevertheless are close to the major facilities of a beautiful and friendly city.