Year 1

Compulsory modules

Acting Toolkit

In this module you’ll examine the fundamental theories and practices in actor training. You’ll learn about methods developed by pioneers like Stanislavsky and Brecht. And you’ll explore twenty first century approaches and techniques as well. You’ll be exposed to a diverse mix of plays, which tell stories and create characters in different ways. You’ll also begin to develop your own acting skills. And you’ll have a chance to critically evaluate your own performance, and those of your peers.

Page to Stage

In this module you’ll master the process of delivering a performance - from the initial reading right through to the final performance. You’ll learn how to carry out research. You’ll explore the creative processes that underpin theatre productions. You’ll build your understanding of different genres, acting styles, cultural contexts and performance spaces. And you’ll develop your spatial awareness and understanding of movement on stage.

Theatre Styles and Contexts

Explore how theatre has evolved - and how theatre-makers have innovated over time. You’ll examine how theatre buildings and spaces are used - and how they’ve changed. You’ll consider how technical theatre has developed. And you’ll analyse how acting styles and character development have evolved. You’ll also be introduced to a range of theatrical forms - like:

 naturalism
 political theatre
 melodrama
 polyvocal performance.

Optional modules

Physical Theatre

In this module you’ll examine physical theatre - from its historical beginnings right through to the rise of the director and 21st century actor training. Your weekly workshops will introduce you to the key principles of training the body. And you’ll learn about practices like:

 posture
 balance
 energy
 relaxation
 stage presence
 improvisation.

Introduction to Technical Theatre

Develop hands-on technical theatre skills - from sound and lighting techniques, to stage management. You’ll learn how to create a basic sound design. You’ll master basic lighting design and programming. And you’ll discover how to stage manage a show.

Creative Writing 1: Voice and Craft in Poetry and Prose

In this module, you’ll enhance your power and ability as a creative writer. You’ll attend workshops where you’ll learn through reading, writing, discussion and feedback. You’ll practise your own writing, explore the interplay of creativity and craft, and analyse how you work as a writer. You’ll join other students in exploring key approaches in poetry and prose, through:

 practical writing exercises
 discussing each-other’s work
 critically analysing the work of published writers
 exploring key writing practices.

You’ll produce a portfolio of original creative writing, as well as a study of the aims and processes of your creative work. You’ll develop excellent writing habits, and the ability to reflect on your own writing practices. You’ll also understand the literary and cultural context of your own writing.


Year 2

Compulsory modules

British Theatre: 1950 to the present

In this module you’ll study major pieces of British theatre from a socio-political context. You’ll consider the changing social and cultural values in Britain - from the post-war period right through to the present day. You’ll read key texts in modern British theatre. And you’ll consider the changing theatrical responses to concepts like:

 theatre censorship
 state funding
 feminist, queer and alternative theatres.

Professional Skills Placement
Get firsthand work experience in the creative industries in a semester-long placement. You’ll undertake an internship in the creative sector, where you’ll put skills into action. You could be placed in areas like:

 theatre spaces and theatre companies
 publishing
 museums & galleries
 educational contexts.

We'll work with you to arrange your placement. And you’ll emerge with credible experience in the creative industries to add to your CV. You’ll also refine the skills you’ve gained on the course in a professional setting - like influencing, group collaboration, presenting and more.

Optional modules

Modern British Theatre in Performance

In this module you’ll examine and perform important pieces in modern British theatre. In practical, hands-on workshops, you’ll explore the important and evolving socio-political issues reflected in each piece - like:

 race
 sexuality
 gender
 nationality
 social class.

You’ll emerge with a firsthand understanding of how performance pieces reflect the changing social and cultural values of their era.

Devising Theatre

Build your creative skills in a workshop environment - where you’ll create new performance pieces each week. This module will help you master the process of creating performances. You’ll develop your physical performance skills. And you’ll build your confidence in improvisation.

Sights, Sounds & Scenes: Technical Theatre Project

This module aims to help you apply the skills from the introductory Technical Theatre module in Level 4, to provide technical support from performance creation to final staging of the performance of other students’ work in Modern British Theatre in Performance.

Renaissance Tragedy and Comedy

This module will aim to introduce you to tragedy and comedy through a range of dramatic writings from the Renaissance period. In particular, you will analyse through performance the generic boundaries and rules of tragedy and comedy, exploring the ways in which Renaissance theatre appropriated and redefined genre. The practical element of the module will develop awareness of genre in performance, the limitations and opportunities afforded by different performance spaces, and methods of engaging with spectators.

Perspectives in Directing

You will learn how to read plays and analyse scenes from a director’s creative viewpoint by exploring the approaches of a selection of directors from the early twentieth century to present day, engaging with a range of plays from classical texts to new writing. You will have opportunities to try out a range of strategies and exercises that professional theatre directors use throughout the rehearsal process. You will also build an awareness of how visual and aural elements of theatre design (set, lighting, sound, costume, props, use of space) contribute to an audience’s experience of a theatre production. By looking at Modernist, Postmodern, and Postdramatic theories of theatre and performance, you will see how new dramatic forms impact on approaches to directing, acting, and staging and consider the ways in which earlier plays can take on new life through the application of innovative directorial approaches.

Creative Writing 2: Exploring Genre, Form and Style

You will be encouraged to write within a style that suits your expressive talent and will be taught using a range of material in prose and poetry. You and your fellow student writers will help one another to find out what’s important to you as writers, and how best to articulate it. Through a combination of group discussion, critical analysis, in-class writing exercises and small-group activities you will work on each of these elements

 Technique
 Process
 Reflection.

Independent Study

This module provides an opportunity for you to pursue your own interests, by either further exploring a topic already covered within the course, or to explore an area of academic study not currently covered by the curriculum.

Year 3

Compulsory modules

Advanced Performance Project

You will be given the opportunity to apply the practical, theatrical and theoretical skills and knowledge you’ve gained throughout the course. You will work in groups on self-directed research and rehearsal with supervision to produce and stage your own show. Emphasis will be placed on producing a coherent performance supported by appropriate theatrical methodologies.

Optional modules

Dissertation in Drama, Theatre & Acting

This module will allow you to undertake a lengthy piece of self-guided research, giving you the opportunity to receive individual tuition in areas related to the research interest of the programme’s academic staff. You will be encouraged to make connections between praxis, materials and ideas encountered on earlier modules enabling you to develop an informed, critical, and historical overview of the subjects of drama, theatre, acting and performance.

Research in Action I

You will be introduced to areas of the lecturing teams’ research specialisms, so that you can engage at a sophisticated level with research and/or practice. You'll evaluate it in relation to a body of primary texts, the contexts of original production and subsequent re-production/performance. You'll take control of your own learning - tailored to the specialised options.
Options include, but are not limited to:

Staging Riots, Resistance, and Power: explore how power, revolution and repression are written, refuted and revised through drama. Delve into the interplay between theatre, history, memory, and imagination. You’ll create an original piece of theatre based on research.

Performing Identities: representation and the politics of identity: You’ll explore the performance of identities and the performance of identity politics on the contemporary stage. You’ll explore three key aspects: feminist theatres, LGBTQ performance and black British and American work.

Research in Action II

This module will introduce you to areas of the lecturing teams’ research specialisms, so that you can engage with research and/or practice. You will evaluate it in relation to a body of primary texts, the contexts of original production and subsequent re-production/performance. You'll take control of your own learning - tailored to the specialised options.

Options include, but are not limited to:

Spectacular Origins: Theatre, Madness and the Mind: you’ll explore aspects of theatre, madness and the mind. You’ll engage with ideas from medicine and you’ll investigate, through practice, the historical and theoretical links between madness, the mind, science and performance.

Experiments in Space: Geography and Environments: you’ll examine the potentials of site-specific and site-sensitive performances. You’ll also consider how staging texts in non-conventional sites and found places can open up new nuances and you’ll look at places and how they can be a creative stimulus for new work.

Creative Writing 3: Towards Professionalism and Publication

This module will advance your skills in writing a longer piece of writing and also builds your understanding of how a book works as a whole. Specifically, the module aims to enable you to:

 Focus your creative writing practice towards work of publishable standard
 Engage with the challenges of writing book-length texts with regard to structure, balance and pace
 Create, analyse and edit your work critically and insightfully, with an awareness of its potential market and genre
 Review, reflect on and develop your individual writing practices and habits
 Expand your reading, with a focus on considering and discussing whole published works
 Create for your final submission a piece or collection of writing which achieves a professional standard in form, content and presentation.