The MA in Shakespeare and Theatre course
is actually, it's quite a flexible course,
it allows students to study a range of
different areas of Shakespeare. It has a
core course which is called
Shakespeare's Theatre. There is a focus
on Shakespeare in performance as opposed
to just Shakespeare on the page. I chose
the program in the first instance
because it seemed like the middle ground
between the Shakespeare Studies course
and the Shakespeare and Creativity
course. The Creativity course has more of
an emphasis on the practical side of
things, whereas the Shakespeare
Studies course has more of an emphasis
on the textual side. But  what
Shakespeare and Theatre allows you to do is
to explore those aspects of
Shakespeare's plays and equal measure,
dependent on the modules that you take
yourself. The Shakespeare Institute is
obviously a brilliant place to study
because you're studying Shakespeare in
his hometown, and the resources are
extraordinary really. I mean the
Institute itself has an internationally
renowned Shakespeare library, with a lot
of specialized Shakespeare archives
particularly performance focused
archives.
You've got the Shakespeare Birthplace
Trust just up the road which holds the
whole of the Royal Shakespeare Company
archive amongst many many other things,
and you've got the Royal Shakespeare
Company itself.
Students have the opportunity to take
workshops with RSC practitioners. Each
year there are different activities that
the RSC will send us something saying
would any of your students like to do X
or Y or Z, so there's plenty of
opportunity. The first time I went to see
King John I went really for the
enjoyment of it, and then the second time
we were given the opportunity to go
again and I was able to look for more
sort of academic things within that
particular viewing of it. We've also had
during the weekend classes for
Shakespeare's theatre, actors and
assistant directors come in from the RSC
to do q and a's and workshops with us,
as well and in February we're running a
research workshop week as well with
Eleanor Rhode who's the director of
the current production of King John
which I'm really looking forward to. 
Stratford-upon-Avon is an extraordinary
place to come and study for students.
It's a destination, it's a center of
Shakespeare studies for the world. And so,
although it's a market town in the
middle of England, actually you find
yourself next to, literally next to,
scholars from around the world, student
visiting groups from around the world, as
well as artists at the absolute top of
their game internationally. That as a
melting pot for a student is a very
vibrant, exciting and alive place to be.
We get a really wide range of students
on the MA in Shakespeare and Theatre.
Some students come essentially straight
from doing a BA, a number of students
have been working for a few years and
maybe they're looking for a change in
career, or maybe acts they're just
looking for something to do in their
spare time, because they are interested
in studying Shakespeare. A number of
teachers take the course, and a number of
people take the course in retirement and
it's been interesting to see people
who've had careers that have had
absolutely nothing to do with
Shakespeare, but but once they've got
into retirement they thought this is my
treat to myself.
 
