MA Directing
Leeds, United Kingdom
MA
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 14,400
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
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This degree will give you contemporary, practical training to become an integral part of the next generation of theatre directors.
Through skills classes and project-based learning, you will be given the time, resources, and rehearsal room access you need to develop your craft.
Teaching will be delivered by industry practitioners and Masterclass guests, with mentorship and placement opportunities. Each is designed to support you in clearly defining your artistic voice, aligning your passions, skills, and ambitions, ready for a portfolio career.
Your collaborative curriculum
Collaboration is at the very heart of what we do at Leeds Conservatoire. You’ll share core modules with students from the other Theatre MAs, generating new work in a collaborative environment.
You’ll work on the conservatoire’s MA Theatre Festival and have access to rehearsal rooms where undergraduate students create their annual Season of Live Performance. Through these projects and creative relationships, you’ll establish performances and a creative network, ready to transfer into your professional life.
Master your skills
You’ll develop the skills required to lead a company and creative team, and contractors, shape theatrical performance, and ensure aesthetic integrity in the staging of work.
Working with visiting professional teams in a range of rehearsal settings, you’ll further your theatrical literacy and vocabulary and find your own voice as a director.
As a graduate, you’ll be able to lead a company of actors and creatives in realising a singular vision for a theatrical production as a theatre director.
Performance opportunities
The MA Directing leverages the conservatoire’s strong relationships with regional theatres and companies. Our students have worked with productions at partner venues such as Leeds Playhouse, Slung Low, and Leeds Heritage Theatres. These connections not only ensure program relevance but also broaden your professional network.
During your placement, you’ll contribute to both external and internal productions. The School of Drama's season of live performances offers extensive access across two actor-musician productions, four plays, and three musicals.
Your industry
This course offers an immediate introduction to the industry by working with leading professionals, as well as taking advantage of the richly diverse theatrical community on our doorstep. Partnerships include Leeds Playhouse, Red Ladder, Chapel FM, Opera North, and Slung Low.
Introduction to Collaborative Practice (Trimester 1)
This module is designed to introduce students to the principles and techniques behind successful, collaborative arts practice. The module will develop the student’s knowledge and understanding of collaborative performance settings, expanding their knowledge of how work is made.
The module emphasises the ability to critically analyse personal and professional experiences, allowing students to engage in deep reflection. Through this module, students develop as reflective practitioners who understand the value of their artistry in a collaborative setting and proactively seek to develop their skills.
Through this module, students will study the process of successful collaborators who work across disciplines to make original performances. They will work together in interdisciplinary teams, using their individual experiences and expertise to generate ideas and creative responses to given briefs and present ideas to the audience for funding/development support.
Skills for the Musical Theatre Creative (Trimesters 1 and 2)
This module aims to develop the core skills of each creative within their chosen field of study; theatre direction, composition, book writing, lyric writing, choreography, or other areas of multi-disciplinary theatre-making (puppetry, physical theatre, spoken word, etc).
This module aims to develop the student's own individual practice, working with specialists in their fields in mentorship and skills development capacities. Each creative has an area of specialism which they will explore by taking part in classes, and placements/shadowing opportunities both within the conservatoire and with our external partners.
Rather than follow a strict module outline, the content and therefore learning will be bespoke, tailored for each individual creative, relative to the area of their skill needing the most focused development.
This approach allows students to build strong industry relationships throughout the program, gain authentic industry experience, and develop specific skills relevant to future employment. The learning and teaching approach is varied and responsive to the opportunities that we can share with our professional partners.
Placement Module (Trimesters 2 and 3)
This module aims to provide students with opportunities to apply their work to a range of professional and/or educational contexts, either within the conservatoire or with external providers.
Students will be given placements which are working with PG or UG students at Leeds Conservatoire. In addition, placement opportunities will be sought through external providers and contributors. Partnership placement opportunities vary annually in response to the student's specialism and institutional partnership relationships.
Students will also be supported and encouraged to develop their own placement opportunities with organisations that closely align with their personal intentions and ambitions for development on the programme and beyond.
Major Project (Trimester 3)
The Major Project aims to give students the opportunity to develop autonomous theatre-making projects based on learning they have undertaken as part of the degree. Here, students will be given full creative control for the project and can choose their assessment output based on their proposed activity. Students may work in groups or individually.
Assessment
Trimester 1:
- Introduction to Collaborative Practice – assessed by portfolio
- Skills for the Musical Theatre Creative 1 – assessed by presentation and portfolio
Trimester 2:
- Skills for the Musical Theatre Creative 2 – assessed by presentation and portfolio
- Placement 1 – assessed by presentation and written reflection
Trimester 3:
- Placement 2 assessed by presentation and written reflection
- Major Project – assessed by practical assessment 50% of the mark: Vive Voce oral assessment 50% of the mark
Students may graduate into traditional positions in the field, such as Directors or Artistic Directors.
However, this course is designed to encourage students to make their own work and have the skills to produce it and fund it themselves.
We envisage small theatre companies emerging from these MAs as the courses give the students the skills not only to follow employment opportunities but to generate work for themselves.