Master of Arts in Drama

Purpose and Rationale of the Qualification

• To equip students with a specialised understanding of the issues and problems pertinent to drama, theatre and performance as a field of human endeavour and a domain of research, debate and artistic creation.
• To this end it aims to supply them with the intellectual cognitive, communicative and creative skills with which to participate successfully in such processes.
• To ensure South Africa has sufficient highly skilled and creative individuals to assume leadership roles in the drama, theatre and performance industry bothers artists and as administrators, by equipping students with a set of specialised performance, technical and/or administrative skills, focussed on an elected area of specialisation.
• To provide students with the advanced academic training and communicational skills required qualifying them for more specialised academic study at Doctoral level in the humanities (including the social sciences).

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

• Access may be gained to the qualification through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

Entry Requirements

• Bachelor of Arts Honours in Drama (BDram Hons) or any Degree that is regarded by Senate as equivalent, Level 8.

Critical cross-field Outcomes

The successful Master of Arts in Drama (MDram) student will have

1. The ability to think in terms of theory, and to integrate such knowledge with an understanding of the practicalities and problems of the arts and humanities.
2. The ability to work systematically, independently and creatively, yet able to function within a production team.
3. The ability to organise ideas and communicate them effectively using visual, linguistic and kinetic skills in oral, written and media formats.
4. The ability to participate in scholarly, artistic, policy-making and other debates in the humanities.

Specific Outcomes

The successful MDram student will have

1. Comprehensive knowledge of and insight into the nature, history and processes of drama, theatre and performance, and their contexts.
2. Mastered the skills and methodologies of theatre persuasion in the discipline; hence the ability to identify and formulate pertinent research problems and their related questions in the field of drama, theatre and performance studies, and to apply the appropriate knowledge and skills to resolve them.
3. Mastery of, and extensive experience in, applying a variety of sophisticated scholarly, creative technical, administrative and performance skills in practical production (e.g. stage, radio, TV and/or film).
4. The ability to promote and teach the discipline at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
5. The knowledge, training and ability to undertake further Postgraduate study in the field.

The assessment of the Master of Arts in Drama (M Dram) is based on one of two possible formats: a purely academic study (option I below) or a combined practical and research option (a combination of I and 2 below):

• The assessment of scholastic skills and knowledge, which takes the form of written and oral examinations, essays and research projects leading to an integrated thesis on a chosen topic of specialisation. Competence in this category will be demonstrated if the information and conceptual content of the work submitted by the student is correct, innovative and demonstrates a clear ability to interpret questions, to analyse and interpret information, to communicate the resulting deductions clearly and logically, utilising the appropriate discipline-specific conventions.
• The assessment of creative, performance, technical, administrative and other practical skills, which takes the form of an assessment of practical work assignments. Competence in this category will be demonstrated if the student has developed the specific skills required in the particular area of specialisation, a thorough knowledge of the related theoretical concepts and conventions, and a clear ability to apply these skills, theories and conventions in a persuasive and creative manner within the broader context of a practical performance.

Integrated Assessment

• Integrated Assessment takes place by means of the evaluation of a thesis submitted for examination at the end of the period of study.
• The research (which may encompass a practical project or projects) entails the application and integration of all the knowledge and skills subsumed within the concept of theatre and performance research, and competence will be demonstrated by the student's ability to integrate and activate such skills and knowledge in a comprehensive work of scholarly and/or theatrical communication.