Theatre and Performance

Engage with the culture, history, and theory of performance. Learn how to do everything from studying acting and theatre design, through to managing creative projects.

Explore our courses

Bachelor of Arts

Collaborate with industry

Partners include Mona Foma, The Unconformity, Dark Mofo and Ten Days on the Island, to build a professional portfolio.

Build on your major

Add additional theatre electives, or choose units from across the University to develop complementary skills or inspire your practice.

Learn in inspiring spaces

Study in studios such as the Hedberg in Hobart or Inveresk campus in Launceston, which place you in the heart of each city’s cultural precinct.

Study options in this degree

The Theatre and Performance major, offered as part of the Bachelor of Arts, contains the first eight units listed below. You can also expand your Theatre and Performance educational experience by selecting additional elective units.

A major is an area of focus in your degree. During your studies, you’ll choose an area that interests you, and then study a group of units related to that area. Find out more at What is a Major?

Leading theatre performers make the craft seem effortless. These two units build on one another, offering a practical exploration of foundational performance skills, including movement, voice and space, in diverse performance contexts.

These units are part of the Theatre and Performance major

The theatre machine is a device to make sense of the world, generating meaningful experiences for audiences. It's a complex system, balancing diverse artistic forms, media and technologies. Explore this machine from the perspective of the design and technology that goes into a production.

This unit is part of the Theatre and Performance major

This unit explores the ways that dramatic texts ‘speak’ as documents for performance. By engaging with a number of texts, both classical and contemporary, you will encounter the range of interpretive practices that move the text from page to stage, while developing your own interpretive performances.

This unit is part of the Theatre and Performance major

These units are dedicated to the development, rehearsal and performance of a complete theatre production. Classes are conducted as rehearsals of a performance text, selected and directed by your lecturer, who will lead the ensemble in the creation of an innovative performance.

These units are part of the Theatre and Performance major

What does it mean to act in a global media landscape? Examine the evolving relationship between theatre and technology, exploring how performance can offer new ways to understand, critique, and engage with global media networks, as well as create new models of performance.

This unit is part of the Theatre and Performance major

How do theatre design and scenography create performance environments that both convey meaning and generate performance? From costume, lighting and sound design, to the integration of visual and aural elements, explore how technical elements are painted on the performance space and performer.

This unit is part of the Theatre and Performance major

The focus of this unit is exploring the skills of effective storytelling, by studying the elements of drama and dramatic composition, and practicing them through workshops and practical exercises, working to build engaging and meaningful and theatrical moments.

This unit is available as an elective

This unit introduces you to foundational methods and traditions of movement for the performer. You will explore improvisation, the activation of imagination and play, and the creation of original solo and ensemble non-verbal performance pieces.

This unit is available as an elective

Through practical workshops, discussions, readings and individual dramaturgical sessions, you will explore the range of styles, genres, conventions, purposes and methodologies within writing for performance, and approaches to character development and script structure.

This unit is available as an elective

Find out more about what you'll study, entry requirements, fees and scholarships - and to apply.

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Career opportunities

Employment across Creative and Performing Arts activities in Australia is projected to grow 40% above the national industry average over the next five years^.  Some of the fastest-growing jobs include:

9.0%

Actors, dancers and
other entertainers

Projected increase by 2024

8.9%

Arts professionals

Projected increase by 2024

9.5%

Script Editors

Projected increase by 2024

^ ABS Labour Force Survey, National Skills Commission trend data to May 2019 and projections to 2024

Megan Kenna, Theatre and Performance student

Hear Megan talk about her path into studying Theatre and Performance at the University of Tasmania, what she enjoys about the range of options available, and the support offered by her experienced teaching staff.