UCT Drama

UCT Drama

UCT Drama, The Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies (CTDPS) teaches Dance and Theatre performance as modes of critical inquiry, creative expression, pedagogy and public engagement. We see performance as a public forum for contemporary ideas, allowing us to test and debate the central concerns of our time in a space that is at once critical, emotional, and collective. Through performance training and research, we aim to produce graduates with expanded analytical, technical and imaginative capacities. As a public institution, we place diversity and inclusion at the centre of our teaching, performance-making and public programming. Our curriculum ranges from the classics to the contemporary with Africa as the central theme; cutting across the traditional theatrical, dance and drama disciplines; spanning all corners of the globe while being cognisant of our place in Cape Town, South Africa and using the site of performance to deepen UCT’s critical education in the Humanities.
The CTDPS is committed to producing mature, highly skilled, independent and creative practitioners capable of creating, producing and managing their own work. The close, nurturing, and supportive environment found within the centre is central to our success in achieving this goal. Students work closely with our experienced staff, all of whom are themselves practitioners and research-active scholars, a number at the forefront of their fields.
The rich and varied research activity of recent years is due to the popularity of our range of coursework MA degrees that allows for advanced research in dance, theatre and performance through practice. These programmes are in line with growing international interest in the activities of performance as dynamic areas of research. Our department participates in an international enquiry into practice as research in performance (PARIP) through the ongoing development of our postgraduate degree programmes as well as through the particular research areas of our staff. The coursework degrees allow for a stimulating cross-section of hands-on exploration, studio work, ensemble practice, individual endeavor and staff-led coursework. Our formal theatre spaces are never dark and partnerships with communities, professional groups, companies and other institutions find our graduates active both on campus and beyond.