M.A (Playwriting & Dramaturgy)

Course Overview

The MA in Playwriting and Dramaturgy cultivates the growth of the individual writer through an intensive one-year immersion in an ensemble-based learning environment. Based at the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance, you will be immersed in a natural environment for creating and thinking about theatre practice. 

As a student, you will take modules on playwriting and other forms of theatre practice through which you will have the opportunity to specialise further, based on your own skills and interests. You will cultivate your skills as writers of dramatic texts (playwriting) but also increase your knowledge of a wide range of theatrical structures and forms (dramaturgy) to expand yourrange as artists. As a writer on this programme, you will hone your craft through intensive mentorship and a rigorous programme of modules, workshops and theatre trips that places your individual work in the context of the contemporary theatre industry and the history of theatre craft. The programme concludes with a playwriting dissertation advised by a professional writer and features a public reading of the your new work at the O’Donoghue Centre.

Why choose this course?
The course draws on NUI Galway’s long track record of producing award-winning playwrights, theatre critics, academics and practitioners. The course facilitates the development of the your individual  playwriting craft by exposing you to a range of theatre practices within an ensemble-based learning environment. You are are based at the world-leading centre for study and research in Irish theatre and performance. Given  NUI Galway’s rich tradition of student productions, you will also have ample opportunities to stage their plays. And with Galway’s vibrant creative scene, you can see world-class work throughout the academic year. 

NUI Galway also has one of the world’s great Irish theatre archives. As a student on this course, you will be able learn from the best—consulting manuscripts and promptbooks by such writers as W.B. Yeats, J. M. Synge, Sean O’Casey, Tom Murphy, Brian Friel, Thomas Kilroy, Marina Carr, Enda Walsh, and many more.

Scholarships available