Theatre and Film

Theatre and film are two of the most powerful storytelling arts of the modern era, sharing common ancestry but diverging in significant ways in their relationships with time, space, technology and audience. Theatre is immediate and live, dependent on the presence of performers and audience in the same place at the same moment. Film works through the camera lens, editing, sound design and projection, constructing its own temporality and manipulating the viewer's experience in ways unavailable to the stage.

Studying both together reveals how each illuminates the other and how both have shaped and been shaped by the cultures in which they operate.

At Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, this four-year full-time programme allows you to engage with performance and screen arts in one of the UK's most vibrant creative cities, with a strong tradition in both theatre and film. You will study theatre history, dramatic theory, film history and theory, performance practice, directing, screenwriting, dramaturgy and the critical analysis of both stage and screen. Production work, workshops, script development and theoretical study are all part of the learning experience.

You will develop both analytical and creative capabilities, learning to understand and critique theatre and film as cultural forms while also developing practical skills in performance and production. Edinburgh's rich festival culture and creative sector provide an exceptional context for learning about both disciplines as living practices.

Graduates go on to careers in theatre and film, arts administration, directing, writing, production, education, journalism, cultural policy and the broader creative industries. Many pursue further vocational training or postgraduate study in acting, directing, film-making, creative writing or screen studies. The critical and creative skills developed through the programme are valued across many fields beyond performance and the screen.