MPhil Performance Practice in Exeter United Kingdom | University of Exeter

Exeter's Drama department is a globally recognized hub for practice, research, and education, providing an inspiring and nurturing space for postgraduate studies that attracts international scholars.
The MPhil/PhD in Performance Practice enables you to expand and critically examine your creative performance work. Your specialization can encompass any discipline within your field, whether that's playwriting, acting, directing, physical theatre, dance, musical theatre, or musical performance.

Your doctoral work will primarily consist of creative projects that explore your research questions through practice. These projects are supplemented by analytical commentaries typically limited to 10,000 words each. Collectively, the written components for a Performance Practice PhD usually total around 40,000 words.

Our approach incorporates creative practice, historical research, socially-conscious inquiry, ethnographic methods, and cross-disciplinary partnerships. We focus particularly on examining systemic biases in British theatre, Asian performance traditions and diaspora expressions, as well as cultural dimensions of pressing global issues like environmental challenges, public health, urban development, and rural communities.

Our research spans diverse performance forms - from applying performance theory to everyday cultural expressions to studying mainstream theatrical genres. We're particularly known for our expertise in theatre history, contemporary performance, and community-engaged theatre practices.

Our department fosters a collaborative environment where staff and postgraduate researchers uphold strong ethical principles while working to dismantle colonial, patriarchal, class-based, and gendered power structures.