MA (Drama and Theatre)

Students select six courses (three in each semester). All students must take the Fieldwork & Theatre Business course (all year), one semester of Reviewing Theatre (course EN510 or course EN515) and four other courses.

DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL 

In early October, classes are suspended from Wednesday through Saturday so all students can make their way to the Dublin Theatre Festival, along with tickets to four performances.

REVIEWING THEATRE IN IRELAND NOW (EN510)
After introductory classroom sessions on the qualities of the review as a genre, the class regularly attend plays in Galway, and sometimes elsewhere, in order to write about them. Class-meetings are workshops centered on these writings and their revision for publication. In addition to reviews, students write feature-articles on playwrights, directors, etc., studies of reception, and more speculative pieces on 'the state of the stage'. (Class size limited to 12)

DISCOVERING THE ARCHIVES (EN511) This course involves learning what archives of primary documents are available in the James Hardiman Special Collections at NUI Galway and how to interpret them by means of secondary sources and reference materials.  Each student will compose an original essay based on personal research. (Class size limited to 12)

IRISH PLAYWRIGHTS SINCE THE SIXTIES (EN512)
An exploration of the rich development of contemporary Irish theatre, which includes study of the texts of seminal plays and a consideration of the impact of their premier performances through artefacts such as theatre programmes and through contemporary reviews and interviews with playwrights and directors. The course includes discussion of theatre in the North of Ireland, women playwrights and politics on the Irish stage. (Class size limited to 15)

PLAYWRIGHT'S WORKSHOP (EN513)
A weekly writer's workshop under the guidance of a playwright-in-residence. At the end of the semester, the students may select one or more scripts to stage for public performance at the university Theatre. (Class size limited to 15)

ENSEMBLE ACTING AND DEVISING (EN539)
A practical and theoretical introduction to twentieth-century acting and performance techniques with special emphasis on Artaud, Grotowski, and Peter Brook.

TWENTIETH CENTURY DIRECTORS AND THEORISTS (EN538)
Based on seminars and workshops, this course explores the work of major directors and theorists before the 20th century. It aims to combine academic study and theatre practice. Students investigate theatre history, examine theoretical articles and study play texts as a basis for their own research and in order to produce individual projects incorporating performance and presentations

PLAYWRIGHTS' WORKSHOP II: (EN537)
A writing workshop based both on the students' own practical work in adapting dialogue and plot (whether original or from published works) for the screen.

THEATRE AND MODERNITY IN THE IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL (EN540)
An examination of the relationship between theatre, politics, and religion in early twentieth-century Ireland through detailed study of plays by Synge, Lady Gregory, Yeats, and others. Special attention is also given to prose writings, letters and manuscript drafts, as well as to the political and social history of the period.

THE ABBEY AND THE GATE (EN518)
A seminar-based course which investigates two of the major theatrical institutions in Dublin. Students engage in critical and historical research and present a series of discussion-papers throughout the semester.

VOCABULARIES OF THEATRE COMPOSITION (EN519)
A practical and theoretical investigation of post-dramatic, avant-garde, and 'festival' theatre pieces.

CHANGING STAGES: PERFORMANCE PRE-1900 (EN567)

Using play texts, primary documents, eye-witness accounts and video resources, the course explores acting techniques, theatre design, and performance space in Europe at different historical periods: Medieval Mystery and Miracle Dramas, the Commedia dell'Arte and Moliere, Renaissance and Restoration theatres, the Victorian Stage and Melodrama, Naturalism and Symbolism.

THEATRE AS A CREATIVE INDUSTRY (EN591) (not offered 09-10)
A study of how literature and other creative arts may be understood in the context of economic and commercial factors, such as risk analysis, marketing, celebrity, branding, staff wages, pricing, awards, and return on investments. The primary focus is on theatre, drawing upon case studies both from Ireland and elsewhere

FIELDWORK AND THEATRE BUSINESS (EN520)
Convenor: Mary McPartlan

A schedule of backstage, participative internships with theatre companies, in order to work with members of the company in dramaturgy, set design, lighting design, costume design, mask and puppet design, directing, improvisation, collaboration, mime, funding, publicity, and other practical elements of theatre business. The written work for this course be a journal submitted weekly (by paper or E-mail), and the whole revised for final presentation at the end of the semester. Attendance at the Friday guest speaker seminars is also an essential part of this course.

FINAL PROJECT: PORTFOLIO (EN590)

The portfolio will contain at least one piece of writing for each course, and a key piece of work that the student has identified for primary attention. Genres in the portfolio may include, for instance, a brief dissertation on the history, theory, or criticism of Irish drama; a widely-based set of reviews and reception studies; a completed play or adapted screenplay; an integrated account of a theatrical production within an Irish theatre company.