English Literature and Theatre, Acting & Performance BA (Hons)

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

All Theatre, Acting & Performance modules are 'practice-based' (i.e. you learn primarily through participation in performance). All students have opportunities to direct, write, devise and design performance work. Alongside, you examine the cultural contexts of drama and the theories that have spurred its development and informed how we understand it.

There are opportunities to explore the diverse 'applications' of drama (in TV, live theatre, film and online), its social and historical significance, and its community roles and roles in education. Leading theatre companies and practitioners regularly visit to work with students, to provide workshops and to grow your understanding of the profession in support of your employability. Recent visitors have included Punchdrunk, Stan's Café, Idle Motion, Shared Experience and award-winning children's dramatist, David Wood. The course explicitly addresses the needs of students who, on graduating, are interested in theatre (performance, technical theatre, writing, directing, theatre/arts administration) or in teaching, theatre-in-education, youth theatre or community theatre. Students are regularly involved in public performance and the course's networks of professional and community contacts generate numerous opportunities for 'earn while you learn' paid work.

English Literature provides opportunities to explore literatures from the 16th to 21st centuries, embracing both mainstream, 'canonical' and less familiar, 'marginal' texts. It invites you to share with your lecturers cutting-edge thinking in spheres as diverse as Shakespeare in performance, children's literature, contemporary American writing and ecocriticism (the understanding of literary texts through exploration of the interconnections between human culture and organic and animal worlds).

From the outset, you will develop skills of close and creative reading, as well as a critical awareness of the relationship between texts and their contexts. Increasingly as the course progresses, you will explore literature from a range of theoretical perspectives current throughout the humanities. This, in turn, will support you to specialise in the areas of literature that interest you most. There are also opportunities to explore relationships between literature and other kinds of expression, for example painting and illustration.

For more information about teaching, learning and assessment on this course, please see the single honours course pages for English Literature BA (Hons) and Theatre, Acting & Performance BA (Hons).

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest English Literature programme specification and Theatre, Acting & Performance programme specification documents.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course

Employability

There are excellent career opportunities for Theatre, Acting and Performance graduates. These are both in drama-related areas, such as theatre, education, and the media, and in a wide range of other fields of employment made accessible through skills learned on the course in presentation, performance, critical thinking and writing, creativity, confidence and communication. Former students often set up their own businesses, for example as small scale touring theatre companies or drama education providers. Past students are now working as actors, producers, stage managers and directors for employers across the areas of theatre, TV, radio and film. Teaching and lecturing are very popular career choices for our graduates, as are arts administration and marketing.

Many English Literature graduates will take a fourth year postgraduate Certificate in Education before entering the teaching profession. Other students will take a certificate in TEFL and become teachers of English as a second language at home or abroad. Those graduates who achieve particularly good results in their first degree will choose to progress to a Masters course, which will then often lead to a career as a researcher or further study to PhD. Many students progress to careers requiring good communication skills such as Public Relations or develop research careers with media or publishing companies. Throughout our English Literature degrees, there is a focus on developing employability which includes attractive opportunities for work experience on an optional work project module. Students are also strongly encouraged to take up the opportunity to study abroad for a semester.

Part-time applications

If you would like to apply to study this course part time, please complete our online application form.