MA Site-Specific Theatre Practice

Validated by the University of East Anglia

One Year (Full-Time)
Entry from January 2023
Applications now open, view the course sheet here

Site-specific theatre has captured the imagination of theatre and fine art practitioners throughout the UK and internationally. It engages with a chosen site’s history, atmosphere and architecture to underpin devised or text-based narratives. Site-specific theatre allows a space to inform the final performance and acknowledges that the performance can only happen in that specific location.

The first course of its kind in the UK, Mountview’s MA in Site-Specific Theatre is created and led by Geraldine Pilgrim, a leading practitioner in the creation of site-specific theatre and installations, and provided in partnership with Shoreditch Town Hall. The course is aimed at practitioners with a fine art or theatre and performance background wanting to diversify their artistic skills in the area of site-specific performance.

The course is a one-year full time practical-taught MA which takes place from January to December. The teaching structure includes Salons, Seminars and Masterclasses, as well as site visits, practical realised projects and an international or UK site residency. There is strong emphasis on learning through practice, and the training will cover practical skills and creative realisation as well as theoretical and methodological investigation.

A maximum of six students are accepted on to the course, which enables cohesion within the group and favours a great proximity with visiting practitioners. Previous students have gone on to devise their own performances since graduating, and have also worked with companies including Dante or Die, Dash Arts and Dream Think Speak.

Teaching takes place both at Shoreditch Town Hall, an innovative independent arts centre experienced in presenting site-specific performances, and Mountview’s Peckham site. Each student has their own dedicated workspace within the Mountview studio at Shoreditch Town Hall, where they can work and collaborate alongside their peers on the course.

All modules are compulsory and there is continuous assessment as well as submitted essays, journals, presentations, realised exercises and performances. Each student will undertake a work-based learning placement with an artist or company over the summer break, and will be matched with a professional practitioner to provide mentorship and support on their final performance.

Click here to watch videos, talks and footage relating to the course.

Geraldine Pilgrim is the Artistic Director of Geraldine Pilgrim Performance Company and has been making site–specific performances and installations for over 20 years, in sites including empty office blocks, schools, hotels, swimming pools, factories, hospitals, stately homes and public parks. Her links with site-specific companies and practitioners ensure that students will have access to a rich network of contacts.

The guest artists and lecturers on the course are professional practitioners who come from a purposefully eclectic range of theatre and performance practice, including Commedia, ASMR, animating objects, immersive game theatre, writing for performance, design, and creative producing.

Find out more information about the course and apply here.