Course details

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
Right from the start of your studies, our VLE provides everything you need in one place. Course information, recorded lectures, study skills guidance, and writing support are all accessible whenever it suits you.

Tutorials
Each student is allocated a personal tutor for 1-to-1 support throughout the course. Tutorials take place weekly and can be held either online or in person, depending on availability and preference.

Rehearsal Week
Ahead of practical assessments in April, all studios are made fully available to degree students for rehearsals, giving you the time and space to refine your work.

  • History of musical theatre
  • Academic writing and referencing
  • Learning tools for higher education
  • Theory-focused sessions; feminism, queer theory, semiotics
  • Case studies; Gypsy, Kinky Boots, Hamilton, Billy Elliot
  • Economics of musical theatre
  • Script analysis
  • Budgeting a show on various scales
  • How to fund a production
  • Set design
  • Practitioners of western theatre
  • Creating safe spaces
  • Choreographic plagiarism

Student Services
Our in-house team is on hand to provide a wide range of learning support throughout your studies.

Library Collection
A dedicated selection of books is available on-site exclusively for degree students. These can be used for reference in the building or borrowed on a short-term basis.

Studios
Students can book studio spaces throughout the year for practice, rehearsal, or project work.

University of Portsmouth Resources
As a registered University of Portsmouth student, you’ll also gain access to an extensive collection of online resources, including e-books, e-journals, archives, and audio-visual databases. You’ll also be able to use the University of Portsmouth’s library in person.

Course Guide / Modules

All degree students follow the same course of study, comprising of the following four modules.

Module 1: Mounting a Musical Theatre Production (20 credits)

This module is designed to give you a sound working understanding of the business of producing musical theatre. Areas to be covered will typically include: contracting with venues; budgeting a range of theatrical scales; company structures; pay scales; funding. Emphasis will be placed on your ability to produce your own work. You will identify a small to medium-sized venue on which to base your planning, and decide on a suitable musical to stage there.

Assessment: Business Plan (2,500 words)

Module 2: Creating a Musical Theatre Production (20 credits)

This module builds on Module 1 and requires you to develop a reasoned, original, practicable artistic proposal for your chosen musical.

Assessment: Portfolio (2,000 words) and Presentation (10 mins)

Module 3: Critical Analysis of Musical Theatre in Production (20 credits)

In this module, you will identify an area of research interest and produce an in-depth, critical analysis of a chosen musical. You will analyse the concept and style of the production; the contribution of performances, choreography and direction to the nature of the production, and the production values including consideration of the influence of venue, performance, and set, lighting and costume design on the audience experience.

Assessment: Essay (2,500 words)

Module 4: Production in Musical Theatre Practice (60 credits)

This dissertation module accounts for 50% of your final grade. It enables you to bring together practical, theoretical and critical skills, working collaboratively to stage an extract from a musical to a professional standard. You will elect to be assessed as a performer, director or choreographer, and compile a production notebook which will encourage you to reflect critically on your process. Styles of musical theatre performance and the ways in which performers, directors and choreographers work together in service of theatrical ‘truth’ in the musical theatre context will be considered. Techniques of performance, direction or choreography will be investigated for ways in which creative challenges may be approached and solved.

Assessment: Research Portfolio (2000 words), Performance (20 minutes), Viva Voce (20 minutes) 

The Musical Theatre Landscape

This area of study runs across the entire degree and encourages students to broaden their understanding of the industry. Tasks are completed on a weekly basis and do not contribute to the final degree mark.