Our Drama and Theatre Studies Practice-Based programme allows academic research to be conducted through practical experimentation. It also provides a unique opportunity for you to specialise in a particular area of practice (playwriting or performance – which includes directing) and prepares you for your chosen profession. The Department's diverse expertise and exceptional facilities open up a wide range of practical research opportunities, such as the investigation of the processes of theatre making or the practical application of particular aesthetic theories. Your thesis must fully contextualise the practice and substantiate the claim that your work is innovative and demonstrates extension of the boundaries of the chosen field of research and practice. The practice-based PhD thesis is 40,000 words. The MA by Research is assessed by a shorter thesis of 20,000 words. In addition to the thesis, the programme will be assessed by a practice-based component appropriate to the research specialism. For guidance, typical assessment methods for the practice-based component are as follows: Playwriting strand The practice-based component would most commonly be a playtext, with a playing time of up to 90 minutes for the MA by Research and up to three hours for the PhD, or a combination of shorter pieces of comparable length.