Course summary

MA Performance Making at Aberystwyth University is designed to support your development as a performance-maker and creative thinker. The course offers an enquiry-based and interdisciplinary approach, enabling you to experiment with a range of performance practices including live, site-specific, intermedial, scenographic, and object-based processes. Located between the Cambrian Mountains and Cardigan Bay, Aberystwyth offers an inspiring natural and cultural environment with plenty of possibilities for research and creation. It’s one reason why Aberystwyth has an established international reputation for site-specific and intermedial performance making. You’ll be taught in a dedicated co-working studio space which is yours to use throughout the course to propose, test and try ideas. Here you’ll conceive, develop and produce three original creative works, develop your ability to critically reflect and evaluate, and learn how to engage with institutions, funders and the public. The course culminates in a major practical project. Taught by a team of internationally recognised practitioners and academics, you’ll develop your portfolio and profile as a performance-maker through sustained practical experiment and critical reflection. Why choose Aberystwyth?

• Dedicated access to a co-working studio space throughout your studies.

• You’ll have access to three fully equipped performance studios, our dedicated scenography studio, and our sound recording studio and production facilities.

• You'll acquire specialist skills in research, creation and public engagement.

• Located in an extraordinary and inspiring natural and cultural environment.

• You’ll take part in workshops and masterclasses with visiting artists and our annual programme of departmental research seminars.

• You’ll join a department with an established reputation for experimentation in performance and scenography - we were the first in the UK to offer undergraduate degrees in Performance Studies and Scenography.

• Enjoy our close partnership with the Aberystwyth Arts Centre - one of Wales’s best-known venues, presenting everything from live music concerts, stand-up comedy, theatre and dance performances to visual art exhibitions and film screenings.

• You’ll have access to the magnificent collections and archives at the National Library of Wales, just a five-minute walk away.