MA Musical Theatre Creatives (Taught)

Our MA Musical Theatre Creatives is an individually-tailored MA for anyone interested in creating new musical theatre and a professional career as a creative in the industries, whether as a composer, writer, choreographer, lyricist or something that has yet to be defined.

This unique course focuses on students' particular needs to develop their skills in their field (composition, dance and dramaturgy etc), whilst simultaneously generating work as a collective with other creatives across the MAs.

Working with leading institutions from across the North and with practitioners that include composers, lyricists, and book-writers (the creative team of a musical), students will leave the course with a portfolio of work to take into the industry, to peers to build a creative team with, and leave with a unique artistic voice to shape the theatre of tomorrow.

Please note this is a postgraduate course. If you wish to apply to our BA (Hons) Musical Theatre you will need to submit an application via UCAS Undergraduate

Assessment

You will be assessed at the end of each of three trimesters on Applied Musical Theatre Context, Skills for the Musical Creative and Performance Project. These practical assessments will focus on putting into practice the skills received during that trimester. Depending on your chosen specialism, these may invoice composition, writing or choreography. Finally, you will be assessed on your Major Project, which culminates in a production/s in third term. This assessment will cover the Project's inception, development and performance/s, largely based upon a dissertation you will produce.

Creative and Collaborative Thinking

Students will explore various methods of creative thinking and problem-solving, which will become the initial starting points for later development of new work.

Weekly sessions will focus on case studies of performers, work or artists to critically analyse how research is used in the development of new work and in the telling of personal narratives or stories.

Case studies may include practitioners such as Kate Tempest, Frantic Assembly, Pablo Helguera, Javaad Alipoor, debbie tucker green, Lin-Manuel Miranda or other contemporaries.

This work will be student-led, tailored to the student’s area of interest. Students will interrogate the actor's role in the creation of new work, through collaborative work with the other MA’s.

Applied Musical Theatre Context

In this module students will explore the history of musical theatre and use examples as the stimulus to create their own work to be performed in class.

Working alongside the Musical Theatre Company and Musical Directors, Musical Theatre Creatives students will take part in acting through song and musical theatre context classes.

In the first, they will expand their knowledge of repertoire and deepen their understanding of the relationship between performer and material through observation and discussion within these classes.

They will then dissect the key components of song (keys, chord progression and structure etc) and lyrics, and study style and genre in relation to their place and time in the musical theatre landscape.

They will use this as a starting point to develop and perform (with the other students) work of their own creation.

Skills of the Musical Theatre Creative

Drawing on the wide range of internal courses and practitioners across Leeds Conservatoire, each student will further develop the individual skill within their chosen field of study; composition, book writing, lyric writing and choreography.

For example, composers will join the MA Music students for their ‘Creative Practice in Context’ module, where they explore the process behind composition, choreographers may work with guest choreographers on first/second-year projects, and book writers may join the dramaturgical studies, or work on placements.

The learning within this module will be tailored to the specific needs and aims of each student, developing their skills in this area to a professional level and encourage their own individual artistry to shine through.

Performance Project

Working with the performance students, this module gives the students opportunities in small companies, to develop early performance material as part of a short non-décor festival.

These pieces will be semi-directed/tutor-led but will be developed from stimuli founded within the group. By developing original material (or reproducing existing material) in a collective setting, students will develop the all-important collaboration skills necessary in the creation of new theatre.

Within the sessions, students will then work with their assigned tutor/director in developing new performance material which should be appropriate for small-scale touring.

In developing these particular skills, students will have, upon graduation, material which they could tour or develop further.

Major Project

The Major Project will be developed over a term and will be a based on the student’s area of interest, culminating in a performance and/or sharing . Major projects can be in collaboration with other MA students from across the Theatre MAs or something entirely individual.

Each student will also choose how they want to present their work for assessment, either as practical performance, theatre-making or written dissertation. Students will also reflect on their work through a spoken viva voce exam and reflective writing.