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MAShakespeare

More information

royalholloway.ac.uk/..ish/shakespeare.aspx 

Overview

Interested? To learn more about this study programme, entry requirements and application process, please contact one of our consultants in a country nearest to you.

Programme structure

Core modules
The Works – Plays and Poetry
This module spans Shakespeare’s entire career as a playwright and poet, analysing in detail his nineteen major plays – including histories, comedies, tragedies, romances and problem plays – and the Sonnets. The theatrical, historical and theoretical issues raised by the works will be addressed as they emerge out of individual response and class discussion.

King Lear and The Tempest – Critical Debate and Creative Response
This course aims to engage you in a sustained, intensive study of Shakespeare’s supreme tragic masterpiece, the controversies it has provoked, and the diverse ways in which it has been adapted and transformed by poets, dramatists, novelists, and by film and theatre directors, since Shakespeare’s time. You will begin with detailed discussion of the play itself before turning to critical debate and then exploring the creative impact of King Lear on later poetry, drama and fiction. The second term is devoted to studying the creative response to King Lear in the theatre and the cinema, tracking its performance history on stage and screen through in-depth analysis of landmark productions and film adaptations.

Methods and Materials of Research
This module is designed to introduce you to a number of key topics related to the methods of postgraduate research, and to some of the resources and materials that will be useful to your studies.

Dissertation
This will be a piece of original written work, of between 12,000 and 15,000 words. The topic of the dissertation will be agreed between you and whichever member of staff is allotted as supervisor and is normally required to be submitted by the beginning of September in the year of the completion of the programme.

Career opportunities

Our postgraduates have gone into academic roles at the Universities of Edinburgh, Sussex and Leeds, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the National University of Ireland.

We will prepare you for careers in other areas too, such as teaching, librarianship, marketing, and theatre administration.

Apply now! Fall semester 2023/24
Application period has ended
Notes
Please see the university profile or contact us for the deadlines that apply to you
Apply now! Fall semester 2023/24
Application period has ended
Notes
Please see the university profile or contact us for the deadlines that apply to you