Master of Arts in Shakespeare Studies Kings College London, UK

This master’s in Shakespeare Studies is taught jointly between King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe. You’ll get unique access to the education and research team at Shakespeare’s Globe, where you’ll learn about early modern playhouses, audiences and performance practices. You’ll join the Globe’s radical theatrical experiment, which is inspired and informed by the unique historic playing conditions of its two beautiful theatres, the Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Key benefits

• Uniquely taught at King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe by both academics and visiting experts
• Use London as a classroom and study in a theatrical context just a stone’s throw from where his plays were initially performed
• Enjoy a range of cultural events on your doorstep, and access King’s extensive resources and collections

This unique Shakespeare Studies MA allows you to benefit from the academic expertise of both King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe. You’ll study two required modules at the Globe, the first of which will get you thinking about the material, social and economic contexts of the London theatre industry between 1576 and 1642. This will give you a solid framework for understanding how theatre was produced at the great Elizabethan, Jacobean and Caroline playhouses of the time.

The second required module at the Globe will explore the experience of actors, audiences and theatre-going in relation to Shakespeare’s works. You’ll think about early modern audiences and the psychology of spectating, the technologies of performance, the experiences of actors and acting, and the ways that playhouses might influence staging.

You’ll reflect on practice in the Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse during both modules This will allow you to consider, in practical and theoretical terms, the relationship between text and playhouse, the mechanics and material practices of theatre, and how the spaces were as crucial to the creation of drama as language itself.