Funding
Find out more about financing your studies and whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships
Money Matters
Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester School of Theatre is all about your development as a theatre artist, performer, thinker and professional, in a city with a vibrant theatre and performance scene.
With a focus on cutting edge practices across contemporary performance and dramatic theatre, the programme combines artistic practice and academic enquiry, and draws on established local, national and international networks.
Working with leading theatre academics, artists and professionals, you will be part of a close knit course community, working in one of the most vibrant sectors of a city internationally acclaimed for its creativity.
3 years full-time, up to 6 years part-time
After a first year exploring performing, theatre making and critical perspectives, you can opt to focus on text-based or broader compositional approaches to the making of new theatre. A series of performance projects both large and small also run throughout the degree, and it all culminates in the final year with major performance presentations, research projects and professional development training, aimed at setting you up for professional life.
In Year 1, students will be introduced to key concepts and strategies relating to the production of theatre, including performance styles and techniques, contemporary debates in the context of drama and the creative process, before developing their own staff-led performance project.
‘Theatre Making’ is a studio-based unit that introduces and investigates a number of practices and strategies employed in the making of new theatre, using a combination of practical exercises and critical study.
This unit will introduce you to key critical concepts and debates in drama, theatre and performance. You will learn about and debate these issues in the context of drama and contemporary performance. It will also introduce you to critical writing and thinking skills that are essential to both sustained academic research, university study, and to professional creative practice.
This practical unit will introduce you to a range of performance strategies, styles and techniques, with an emphasis on the performer’s integral relationship to the creative process.
This unit provides you with the opportunity to develop and apply performance practice within a staff-led, ensemble-based performance project.
Students have a choice of core units in Year 2, allowing for the development of specialisations in performance and composition, acting and directing, whilst gaining an understanding for the history of theatre throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries. The year culminates in a public-facing performance and critical reflection.
This unit will contextualise contemporary theatre and performance within the historical, artistic and conceptual contexts of the 20th and 21st centuries. The unit will introduce you to the lineages of performance and theatre and its study through the twentieth century, and use that context to discuss and debate current issues in contemporary theatre and performance. Learning will take place through seminars, lectures, independent study, essays, and presentations. Assessed work will include student led presentations on historical cases and an essay on a relevant topic of each student’s choosing based on their own research. This will serve to develop your skills in independent research, organisation, writing, presentation and critical thinking.
This unit facilitates a range of staff-led public-facing performance projects, in which you will engage directly in the creative process, performance, production and critical reflection.
This unit provides you with the opportunity to study the contemporary performance making of leading artists and companies, exploring the work in both practice and theory.
This unit provides the opportunity for you to explore and develop your skills in directing and dramaturgy through practical engagement, in a workshop environment, with a range of dramatic texts.
This unit focuses on stimulating, informing and developing your own work in the composition of original, contemporary, performance pieces, mostly from the position of the performer/collaborator.
This unit provides you with key practical skills in acting and performing in relation to dramatic texts.
In Year 3 students will enhance their understanding of and discuss critical issues in drama whilst developing research skills and self-evaluation methods. The year also features two performance projects undertaken with the supervision of tutors and professional artists.
This final year unit functions as a forum for you to discuss critical ideas, further develop your formal research skills and formulate your thinking about contemporary theatre as a cultural practice. You will develop an independent research project and critically engage and evaluate your creative practice over the course of the year.
This unit enables you to adopt an informed and pro-active approach to the key professional pathways available to you when they graduate, with a focus on professional skills, profiling, contexts, processes and outputs.
This unit provides you with the opportunity to engage in two performance projects, one with the input of a professional artist and the other tutor supervised, with the second responding to the experience of the first.
This unit facilitates a range of student-led, supervised performance projects, in which you will engage directly in the creative process, performance, production and critical reflection.
Whether you’ve already made your decision about what you want to study, or you’re just considering your options, there are lots of ways you can meet us and find out more about student life at Manchester Met.
We offer:
Your studies are supported by a department of committed and enthusiastic teachers and researchers, experts in their chosen field.
We often link up with external professionals too, helping to enhance your learning and build valuable connections to the working world.
GCE A levels - grades BCC or equivalent
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma - grade DMM
Access to HE Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum 106 UCAS Tariff points
UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma - grade of Merit overall
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma - grade DMM
T level - We welcome applications from students undertaking T level qualifications. Eligible applicants will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of Merit as a condition of offer
IB Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum overall score of 26 or minimum 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects
Other Level 3 qualifications equivalent to GCE A level are also considered.
A maximum of three A level-equivalent qualifications will be accepted towards meeting the UCAS tariff requirement.
AS levels, or qualifications equivalent to AS level, are not accepted. The Extended Project qualification (EPQ) may be accepted towards entry, in conjunction with two A-level equivalent qualifications.
Please contact the University directly if you are unsure whether you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
GCSE grade C/4 in English Language or equivalent, e.g. Pass in Level 2 Functional Skills English
Audition required
GCE A levels - grades BCC or equivalent
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma - grade DMM
Access to HE Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum 106 UCAS Tariff points
UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma - grade of Merit overall
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma - grade DMM
T level - We welcome applications from students undertaking T level qualifications. Eligible applicants will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of Merit as a condition of offer
IB Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum overall score of 26 or minimum 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects
Other Level 3 qualifications equivalent to GCE A level are also considered.
A maximum of three A level-equivalent qualifications will be accepted towards meeting the UCAS tariff requirement.
AS levels, or qualifications equivalent to AS level, are not accepted. The Extended Project qualification (EPQ) may be accepted towards entry, in conjunction with two A-level equivalent qualifications.
Please contact the University directly if you are unsure whether you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
There’s further information for international students on our international website if you’re applying with non-UK qualifications.
Audition required
Full-time fee: £9,250 per year. This tuition fee is agreed subject to UK government policy and parliamentary regulation and may increase each academic year in line with inflation or UK government policy for both new and continuing students.
Full-time fee: £20,000 per year. Tuition fees will remain the same for each year of your course providing you complete it in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study).
A degree typically comprises 360 credits, a DipHE 240 credits, a CertHE 120 credits, and an integrated masters 480 credits. The tuition fee for the placement year for those courses that offer this option is £1,850, subject to inflationary increases based on government policy and providing you progress through the course in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study). The tuition fee for the study year abroad for those courses that offer this option is £1,385, subject to inflationary increases based on government policy and providing you progress through the course in the normal timeframe (no repeat years or breaks in study).
Optional estimate: £600
All of the books required for the course are available from the library. The University also has PC labs and a laptop loan service. However, many students choose to buy some of the core textbooks for the course and/or a laptop. Students may also need to print their assignments and other documents. Campus printing costs start from 5p per page. Estimated costs are £300 for a laptop up to £100 each year for books and printing. Total optional cost: £600.
Compulsory estimate: £200
Students will need to see a number of professional performances over the three years of the degree, mostly in the Manchester area. Some venues will offer special ticket deals for DCP students, so estimated cost: £60-£70 per year.
Find out more about financing your studies and whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships
Money MattersThis course will enable you to gain the skills and understanding to work professionally as a theatre maker, performer, director, producer, facilitator or teacher, or to move into other creative industries, as well as to engage in further academic study and research. You will also develop key transferable skills including teamwork, creative thinking, leadership and communication.
You can apply for the full-time option of this course through UCAS.
UCAS code(s)W410
Institution code: M40
Apply for other study options:
Please contact our course enquiries team.
Get advice and support on making a successful application.
You can review our current Terms and Conditions before you make your application. If you are successful with your application, we will send you up to date information alongside your offer letter.
Programme Review
Our programmes undergo an annual review and major review (normally
at 6 year intervals) to ensure an up-to-date curriculum supported by the
latest online learning technology. For further information on when we
may make changes to our programmes, please see the
changes section of our Terms and Conditions.
Important Notice
This online prospectus provides an overview of our programmes of study
and the University. We regularly update our online prospectus so that
our published course information is accurate. Please check back to the
online prospectus before making an application to us to access the most
up to date information for your chosen course of study.
Confirmation of Regulator
The Manchester Metropolitan University is regulated by the Office for
Students (OfS). The OfS is the independent regulator of higher education
in England. More information on the role of the OfS and its regulatory
framework can be found at
officeforstudents.org.uk.
All higher education providers registered with the OfS must have a student protection plan in place. The student protection plan sets out what students can expect to happen should a course, campus, or institution close. Access our current Student Protection Plan.