Drama and
Performing Arts
Casualty, Hollyoaks, The Night Manager,
Assassins Creed, Warhammer 40,000,
The National Theatre of Scotland,
Dundee Rep and The Traverse have all
recently featured the work of QMU
alumni. And it is not only on stage and
screen that our graduates can be found,
many will go on to use their creative skills
in education, health and wellbeing,
tourism and arts management.
Let’s set the scene...the UK has the
largest creative sector in Europe.
Scotland’s creative industries generate
more than £5.2 billion and employ in
the region of 60,000 people. Cultural and
creative experiences stimulate individual
curiosity and expand our collective imagination.
It is no wonder that the performing arts is such
an inspiring field to study and work in and
the theatre, film and TV
industries are always
looking for graduates
with creative talent,
skills and ideas.
At QMU, you’ll learn skills and build
relationships that will prepare you for a
rewarding career in the flourishing
creative sector. Our highly respected
Drama and Performing Arts courses will
give you the theoretical understanding,
hands-on expertise, and creative
stimulation that will help you to turn your
creative ambition into an exciting and
sustainable career.
Why QMU?
Go to the theatre, watch TV, listen to the
radio or play your favourite computer
game and you’ll soon see the work of
one of our Performing Arts graduates.
Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders, The Cry,
River City, Outlander, CBeebies,
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We offer courses in Acting for Stage and
Screen, Drama, Costume Design and
Construction, and Theatre and Film. The
creative industries are very competitive
fields, and trying to enter them can seem
a daunting prospect. However,
employers are looking for graduates who
have developed the specialist
knowledge, up-to-the-minute working
practices, and high-level communication
skills that enhance their natural creative
enthusiasm. And that’s what you can
expect to learn on all of our Performing
Arts degrees.
While each course has its own specific
emphasis, they all provide students with
a comprehensive critical understanding
of the processes and practices by which
new creative work is generated. Our
teaching focuses on the role that the
dramatic arts has in the construction of
public culture, in the creation of new
expressive forms, as the basis for a
range of professional practices, and in
shaping everyday social and
psychological life. Through both theory
and practice you will explore a broad
range of creative and cultural activity. In
doing so you’ll engage with current
debates in these exciting fields of study,
while critically engaging with the
historical evolution of particular genres,
aesthetic traditions, and the way in which
plays and screen texts organise
understandings, meanings and effects.
As part of this engagement, you will have
opportunites to work individually and in
small groups to produce your own
performances, scripts, screenplays,
designs, costumes or short films.