BA (Hons) English and Drama with Employment Experience

English and Drama at the University of Exeter is a challenging and flexible degree that builds on two internationally-renowned centres of excellence in research, teaching and theatre practice. Our teaching grows out of our wide-ranging, world-leading research interests and we provide a supportive and high-quality environment for learning. Throughout the programme you will get equal opportunities and challenges to act, direct, write or create dramatic events, providing you take the pre-requisite modules for practical options.The programme provides you with a sense of the range and variety of literary works, introduces you to theoretical approaches that enable you to engage critically with texts understood in their historical and cultural contexts, and develops your critical, imaginative and practical engagement with the social, historical and cultural contexts of theatre. English modules are taught by staff with expertise in literature from the Middle Ages to the present, in cinema throughout the 20th and 21st centuries and in creative writing practices in poetry, prose and screen-writing. Drama modules are taught by staff with expertise in theatre, drama and performance theory from the classical era to the present, and in practice fields including acting, directing, scriptwriting, voice, applied theatre, live art, digital theatre crafts, music theatre, puppetry, dance and intercultural performance training. Your first year will give you a solid foundation in the skills, methods and principles involved in both English and Drama. You will be introduced to pre-1800s English literature, and have the opportunity to rethink Shakespeare as well as considering the principles of collaborative studio work and the examination of the influence and work of key modern theatre practitioners. By your second year you will build from the learning and skills developed in your first year through a range of optional modules in Drama and English alongside a compulsory seminar-based module which studies key theoretical approaches to analysing contemporary performance and the place of performance within culture.In the final year of your degree you will have the opportunity to focus your studies on particular areas of individual interest. You will take four modules from a wide range of options in both English and Drama. In addition you will either write a Dissertation in the areas of either English or creative writing or take the module Theatre Praxis, an in-depth independent study of a chosen area of theatre and performance. This will give you a chance to explore your passion within the subjects in real depth, with guidance from an academic supervisor. Please note that your final year must be equally weighted between English and Drama.