Undergraduate Degrees in Theatre and Performance Studies

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Theatre is an ancient art form that enjoys continuing popularity in many societies. In Theatre and Performance Studies, we ask why this is so by exploring theatrical events, practices and ideas. Our investigations are built on understanding of the skills and approaches required to create theatre, and of the historical and cultural contexts in which people have made and watched it.

Some Theatre and Performance Studies programmes, including ours, take a broader view of the subject by studying the relationship of performance to other art forms and cultural practices. At NUS, alongside the study of theatre, we also examine media, popular culture, and performance in everyday life. As a result, Theatre and Performance Studies is a wide-ranging discipline combining creative practice, analytical inquiry, and critical thinking. Graduates leave equipped with both specialist knowledge of a living art form and the cultures it is part of, and transferable skills in communication, interpretation and imagination.

The aim of the NUS Theatre and Performance Studies curriculum is to provide a balanced education for students in all areas of theatre and performance history, production and interpretation. To graduate with a degree in Theatre and Performance Studies, all students must complete a range of courses, which are grouped under broad strands.

TS Strands for Cohort 2019 onwards

Framing Histories courses examine theatre and performance histories: how theatre and performance practices are transmitted, how they travel and transform. For example:

  • Global Theatres
  • Making Contemporary Performance
  • Voice and Text
  • Acting for the Screen

Cultures in Practice courses explore a range of relationships between theatre and its cultural environment. For example:

  • Crossing Boundaries in Performance
  • Marketing the Arts and Leisure Services
  • Acting and Directing in Asian Theatre
  • Intercultural Theatre

Researching Performance courses cultivate a close attention to a specialised approach to theatre and performance, including inter-disciplinary topics and cross-medium practices. For example:

  • Introduction to Performance Studies
  • As If: Actors and Acting
  • Applied Theatre
  • Performance Research

TS Strands for Cohort 2016 to Cohort 2018

Timeframes courses focus on the framing of performance in history, and vice versa. For example:

  • Modern Drama in Asia
  • Making Contemporary Performance
  • Film Genres: Stars and Styles
  • History and Theory of Western Theatre

Cultural Practices courses offer study of the diverse ways in which performances communicate, reflect, critique, intervene in and change with their socio-cultural environment. For example:

  • Cultural Policy, the Arts and Society
  • Acting and Directing in Asian Theatre
  • Southeast Asian Performance
  • Singapore English-Language Theatre

Perspectives on Performance courses explore specific approaches to understanding performance, including inter-disciplinary and inter-medial topics. For example:

  • Introduction to Performance Studies
  • Digital Archiving and Performance
  • Applied Theatre
  • Performance Research

 

Students can pursue a Theatre Studies degree through one of the following programmes: