Drama and English Literature

Pursue your creative passions while gaining a professional skill set with our combined English and Drama degree.

• Explore the diversity of literature and drama to develop your own critical and creative work.

• Work beyond the university, with communities, internationally renowned playwrights and directors, theatre companies, venues, and local cultural projects.

• Your projects – your way – with our support: from performances and devising plays to essays, digital work and producing podcasts.

On this combined English and Drama degree, you’ll explore your creative and artistic passions in a way that ensures you’ll graduate with the practical and professional skills to support your future goals.

Your English Literature studies will expose you to a wide range of genres, periods and approaches, encouraging you to think differently about what literature can be, and how it might apply to current challenges and debates in society. Your Drama studies provide opportunities to develop your creative skills, to work as part of a theatre company and to develop your performance, writing and production skills.

By studying these subjects together, you’ll gain a deep appreciation of how language can be brought to life to inspire and change perspectives – whether on paper, on the stage or on screen. Your combined studies will improve your ability to analyse, communicate and collaborate, and help you to develop a broad, practical skill set that will benefit you in many career paths.

Year one
The first year introduces key concepts and skills that underpin the subjects of English Literature and Drama Education Studies and allows you to ask questions, challenge your own assumptions and interrogate a range of critical evidence, texts and authors.

You’ll gain skills in performing and directing, theatre production, performance, and working with play texts as part of a theatrical ensemble.

Year two
You’ll focus on developing your own critical voice through the study of texts and reading practices that speak to diverse audiences.

You'll get the opportunity to apply yourself in a variety of performance projects and create original work. You can explore particular areas such as physical theatre, applied theatre, musical theatre and theatre production.

You can also choose to take a Professional Placement Year between the second and third year.

Year three
In English Literature we enable you to focus your studies on particular topics. You can also opt for an extended piece of writing and research or choose from a variety of practical projects. Previously, students have created digital resources, worked at literary festivals, and produced educational materials, to name a few examples.

You’ll be able to choose from optional Drama modules in areas that are of particular interest to you, with an emphasis on collaboration, industry input, and creating work for a variety of audiences, including the general public.

Assessment varies across the two subjects and includes essays, journals and magazines, presentations, performance, playwriting and script analysis.