Undergraduate Curriculum
Our undergraduate curriculum offers a wide range of opportunities to work with leading teachers and researchers in the theories, histories and practices of live performance and moving image. Here you will gain hands-on experience of making theatre and moving image works. You will also learn about performance, film and television histories, theories and criticism. You will study a range of practices including: early modern drama, Classical Hollywood, contemporary film industries, contemporary playwrights, national cinemas and popular theatre; artists’ cinema, documentary, live art and experimental performance.
You will gain practical theatre-making and film-making skills, including lighting design, costume, stage-management, directing, camera-operating, video editing. You will develop skills across practical project units and lecture and seminar units that will make you attractive to employers in a wide variety of fields. These skills include research and communication, critical thinking, confidence and self-presentation, ability to take and make use of constructive criticism, teamwork, project management and the ability to organise your time effectively and work to deadlines.
The BA course comprises core mandatory (for both Joint and Single Honours) and optional project units, that are available to both Joint and Single Honours students. These enable you to develop practical capabilities alongside critical and theoretical awareness, and many graduates go on to distinguished careers in areas such as acting and directing, scenic design, lighting and stage management, as well as producing, editing and sound design for the screen.
The Wickham Theatre and our smaller, ‘black box’ Theatre 2 provide teaching, rehearsal and performance spaces for realising the union of theory and practice. Facilities include a design studio, model-making, carpentry and costume workshops. These are facilities that service productions and are themselves specialised teaching areas.
Film and television production resources are also extensive, and enable the practical exploration of the medium at an advanced level. The Brandt Cinema is a specialized screening space for students and for research events. First Year students are introduced to narrative construction through understanding concepts of cinematography, sound and editing by using simple, robust equipment. Students move on in the second and final years to use production resources that include Final Cut Pro edit suites and tapeless Panasonic HVX HD video cameras.
Joint Honours students spend half their time in Drama and the other half in the partner department. Joint Drama and Modern Language students spend their third year abroad and return for the final year in their fourth year of study. While you will take all mandatory units, your choice of options may be limited by the schedules in your partner department.
Study Abroad students are welcome in the Department but should note that only a restricted range of units are likely to be available. Enrolment should be negotiated with the Director of Study Abroad.