Overview

Taught jointly between King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe, our unique MA course offers you the opportunity to study the theatrical world of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. You will be able to draw on expertise at both King’s and Shakespeare’s Globe, studying Shakespeare in the context of London’s famous reconstructed early modern theatre located just a stone’s throw from where his plays were originally performed. At the Globe you will learn about early modern playhouses, audiences and performance practices and get access to the Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, while at King’s you will study early modern drama and other literary genres, examining the cultural and historical moment in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries were writing, and learning about the long Shakespearean afterlife.

Course detail

This degree is offered jointly by King’s and Globe Education, allowing you to capitalise on the academic and practical expertise of both of these institutions. At the Globe, you will take two compulsory modules, and at King’s you will take a critical methodologies module (‘Working with Early Modern Literary Texts’), which includes training in palaeography (the study of ancient writing systems and the deciphering and dating of manuscripts) and bibliography, along with one optional module. Through this degree you will pursue advanced study of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, making use of the facilities and opportunities provided by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and by King’s. You will develop a detailed knowledge of early modern drama, particularly Shakespearean drama. Between May and September you will write a dissertation, which will be supervised by academics either at King’s or at the Globe, depending on your chosen subject.

Teaching and assessment

We will use a delivery method that will ensure students have a rich, exciting experience from the start. Face to face teaching will be complemented and supported with innovative technology so that students also experience elements of digital learning and assessment. Your performance will be assessed through coursework. Forms of assessment may typically include research essays, editing assignments, critical surveys and the dissertation. Coursework contributes 100% to your final mark.

Career prospects

Our recent graduates have gone on to study PhDs at King’s and at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia, CUNY, California, George Washington and Massachusetts, and subsequently to jobs at Cambridge, Kent, The Shakespeare Institute, Newcastle, and North Carolina. Others are using the skills they developed with us to excel in careers in arts administration at, for example, Globe Education, National Theatre, Barbican and English National Opera and to edit for publishers in the US and UK.