MA in Theatre and Performance

Applicants should submit a detailed record of higher education up to the present, including programmes of study taken. Documents can be submitted in Icelandic or English. 

Applicants should write a motivation letter in Icelandic or English (maximum 3 pages in A4) explaining their reasons for applying for the programme and their chosen field of specialization (playwriting, directing, performance making or choreography). Please explain the following points:

• What artistic experience do you have and how that experience has led to the decision to begin your studies.
• The skills you possess that will benefit you in your studies and within your chosen field of expertise.
• Your artistic vision and main areas of interest within your chosen field of expertise.
• Pose your own artistic question in the relevant field of expertise that you want to research in your studies.
• Explain what in your own experience within performing arts and studies has led you to this particular question.
• Share how you think these MA studies would help you deepen your competence.

Applicants must submit a CV that should be written in Icelandic or English. It should not exceed two pages and include artistic activities.  

Images, texts, recorded material, audio and/or video (links to Dropbox, Youtube, Vimeo etc.).   

Applicants must compile samples of their work into a portfolio. The portfolio should contain four samples that reflect the applicant, highlight their areas of interest, and showcase their main artistic concerns within theatre or performance. The samples should demonstrate the applicant’s artistic thinking and their ability to present and communicate their ideas.

Applicants must also submit a written summary for each sample, describing their role in the project, their artistic vision, working process and methods, and how the project reflects their main artistic interests within theatre or performance. The summary for each sample should be no more than 2-3 pages long.

Please note that full-length works are not required. Applicants are encouraged to select shorter excerpts from longer works so that the admissions committee has the opportunity to review all submitted material.  

Submission guidelines: Applicants must submit their portfolio in electronic form. The portfolio must be in PDF format, and the entire portfolio should be submitted as a single PDF document. Audio works, video works, and similar materials should be included as active links within the PDF. The electronic portfolio should be uploaded in the online application under “Application portfolio” or “Links.”

• Creative Capacity: The applicant’s skill in drawing upon intuition to generate, develop, and articulate ideas in inventive and compelling ways.   

• Boldness: The applicant’s curiosity, initiative, and independence in their artistic work, interpretation, processing of ideas, and presentation.    

• Sense of Form: Awareness of the possibilities and limitations of the expressive forms the applicant chooses to work with.   

• Structure: The applicant’s ability to construct written or practical projects. Consideration is given to flow, coherence, dramaturgy, use of stylistic devices, and fragmentation as a means of creating meaning.    

• Reflection: How the applicant discusses their own projects, artistic vision, and working processes.  

The MA in Theatre and Performance is an international programme conducted in English and Icelandic. Students must be proficient in spoken and written English in the academic context. Applicants may be required to submit evidence of English proficiency. Knowledge of Icelandic is not required to complete the programme.

A group task set by the intake committee, where applicants can demonstrate their collaboration and communication skills.

The applicant describes and discusses with the intake committee an artistic project that they have already completed. The presentation with discussions should be no longer than 20 minutes.

Questions to think about while making the presentation:   

• What was the process like?
• What was your role within it?
• What methods and approaches did you use?
• What would you do differently?
• How does this project reflect your artistic vision?
• What would you develop further and how?

Interview with the admissions committee – 30 minutes.

Example questions asked:  

• Why are you interested in Theatre or Performance?
• What kind of theatre or performance are you inspired by?
• Why do you choose this specialty?
• Questions relating to methods and approaches, and experience within the performing arts.
• Questions relating to the intake process.

• Work Ethic: The applicant’s attitude towards work and study, and their ability to work independently and collaboratively. Emphasis is placed on the applicant’s independence and initiative, as well as how they respond to criticism and the ideas of others, and how they incorporate these into their artistic work.     

• Communication Skills and Critical Thinking: The applicant’s ability to articulate their own work, the projects they choose to pursue, and those assigned to them. Also assessed is the applicant’s ability to engage critically with contemporary art, particularly theatre and performance.    

• Reflection: The applicant’s ability to discuss their own projects, working processes, methods, and approaches, as well as their artistic vision and areas of interest within theatre and performance.