Overview
Top reasons to study with us
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Award-winning, purpose-built performance and practice facilities
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Work with community theatre groups and performance professionals
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World Top 50 Arts & Humanities THE World University Rankings 2024
Why Lancaster?
- Enrol on a truly unique programme of study that puts environmental and political challenges at the heart of performance practice
- Learn how to inspire social and political change through a variety of theatrical forms, from applied and community theatre to professional performance practice
- Participate in workshops with professional theatre makers at the forefront of their fields
- Develop a theoretical and philosophical understanding of how performance influences society and politics
- Gain the professional insight needed to make a difference in roles within the arts, education, charities, businesses, and government
How can actors, directors, applied theatre facilitators and playwrights inspire real change in a developing world? What role do theatre and performance play in the face of climate change, global conflict, economic crisis and other social issues? This degree will help you to develop creative performance practices that challenge, inspire and disrupt the social status quo.
Theatre that shapes the future
This unique course will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to have a genuine impact on the world around you. You’ll further your practical skills through workshops with visiting professionals and community organisations.
Throughout the programme, we’ll examine how professional theatre makers, applied theatre facilitators, and performance activists have responded to global challenges such as environmental degradation, migration, homelessness, sustainable development, and political engagement.
A flexible approach
We have developed this course of study to empower you with the capacity to make theatre more politically and socially effective. We aim to equip you with the tools to develop bold and original approaches to socially and politically engaged performance. You’ll choose from optional modules that include collaboration with community groups, or development of specific skill sets like performance, playwriting or arts management. You will be able to take optional modules from other related subject disciplines at Lancaster University. The flexibility of this degree makes it suitable to combine with employment, although this will depend on which modules you choose.
Careers
By the time you finish this degree you will have developed the skills and knowledge needed to provoke effective and long-lasting change through creative performance practice.
Graduates of this degree are able to further their careers in:
- Professional theatre
- Applied theatre
- Community development
- Education
- Charities and NGOs
- Activism and political campaigning
Students who complete this degree are well placed to continue their studies at PhD level, where their specialist interests can be pursued through original independent practice and research.
Entry requirements
Academic Requirements
2:1 (UK Hons) degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline
We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.
If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.
Additional Requirements
As part of your application you also need to;
- Take part in an interview
The interview may take place online.
English Language Requirements
We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.
We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum score of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.
If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Pre-master’s programmes
Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master’s pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master’s degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
Course structure
You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.
Core
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The Major Research Project is the culmination of your studies on the MA Theatre for Social, Political and Environmental Change. It offers an opportunity to conduct extended, specialised research into a topic of your choice.
This module equips students with an understanding of key theories and practices that underpin the use of theatre and performance as a tool for social and environmental change. Topics to be explored might include, for example, environmental practices, activist performance, theatre for development, theatre in education, prison theatre, refugee theatre, live art, site specific theatre, environmentally-engaged postdramatic theatre, intergenerational theatre and more.
Through lectures and seminars, this module will introduce a range of qualitative and creative research methods commonly employed in the arts and social sciences, and discuss their relevance to contemporary theatre and performance practice. This will include considerations of various models of practice-based research, and a critical examination of modes of knowledge production through creative practice.
Optional
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The module introduces you to the role of management in arts organisations and the systems and processes that are present in these businesses. We will explore the different challenges that arts organisations face and reflect on the implications that this has for traditional management concepts.
This module addresses applied performance projects that are co-created in collaboration with community groups. This may include people living within specific geographic areas, but it might also encompass shared identity traits, experiences, or interests. Students will explore a range of practices that facilitate collaboratively-designed theatre as a means of bringing about positive changes within these communities, and their broader social and cultural settings. Through a consideration of contemporary practitioners from a range of global contexts, students will learn techniques to develop effective community-based projects and to ensure equitable participation and accessibility. Practices studied might cover topics such as intergenerational theatre, street theatre, staged readings, puppetry, participatory arts, storytelling, environmental performance and more. Students will engage with the theories and practices of the module through a combination of lectures, seminar discussions and workshops, culminating in a short community performance project.
In times when hope and fear about the environmental crisis alternate in our minds, when social and political change play havoc with our interpretation of the historic worlds we inhabit, it is crucial that we examine critically and creatively the ways and means by which such a crisis has come into existence. To do so, the module builds bridges across disciplines.
The module combines a place-based approach (Lancaster, the Morecambe Bay, and the Lake District) and an analytical focus centred on the dissonance and convergence of temporal scales. We seek to answer two questions in close dialogue with students:
- To what extent is the dissonance between the different timescales of the Earth system, the social and built environment, and the human imagination a contributing factor to political inaction and cultural indifference?
- In what ways can we better integrate these timescales while retaining the rigour, criticality, and creativity of the disciplines used to study each?
The module will explore topics such as tidal systems, coasts and estuaries; floods; the rise, fall and rebirth of particular narratives of change; ruins and memory; risk and CO2 trading; glacial archaeology and informality and hope.
This module will equip students with a critical understanding of twentieth and twenty-first century performance practices that respond to anthropogenic climate change. Students will explore a range of theories and practices relating to ecocriticism and environmentalism.
This module examines the ways that performance can reflect, challenge or resist societal norms of gender and sexuality. Students will engage with theories relating to the social construction of gender and sexuality, critically evaluating the applicability of these concepts to contemporary society. Perspectives drawn from feminist, gender, and queer theory will be applied to the discussion and evaluation of contemporary performance examples.
Fees and funding
We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2025/26 entry fees have not yet been set.
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There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
College fees
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2024, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2025 have not yet been set.
Computer equipment and internet access
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
For most taught postgraduate applications there is a non-refundable application fee of £40. We cannot consider applications until this fee has been paid, as advised on our online secure payment system. There is no application fee for postgraduate research applications.
For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, tuition fees are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
Scholarships and bursaries
Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2025-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2024-entry applicants as guidance.
Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.
Important Information
The information on this site relates primarily to 2025/2026 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.
Our Students’ Charter
We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.