Drama & Performance BA (Hons)

This creative and academic programme allows you to focus on areas of particular interest whilst developing a deeper and real understanding of drama and performance.

Throughout the degree the emphasis is placed on learning through practice. Teaching takes place in well equipped studios and there are many opportunities for public performance and for working with leading professional theatre practitioners.

The Drama Subject Area is a lively, caring, close-knit community of staff and students. Independent thought and innovation are always encouraged and all our students have equal opportunities to act, direct, write, devise and design performance work.

We have close links with the profession at local, national and international levels which means that students are at the hub of a network of theatre specialists and producers.Leading theatre companies and practitioners regularly visit for workshops and projects with Drama students and there are many valuable opportunities to get involved in professional projects designed to enhance your employability.

The degree is a forward looking course. As you develop practical performance skills, you also learn about the cultural context and theory of drama. You can explore its diverse applications in live theatre, TV, film and new media and also study the social and historical significance of drama and the role it plays in education and community provision.

The programme comprises a choice of modules allowing you to customise your degree according to your skills and interests. Our large team of academic staff and professional theatre practitioners offer expertise in diverse areas, including: Contemporary Performance Practice; Dance and Physical Theatre; Performance Writing; Theatre and Education; Staging Shakespeare; Singing; Site Specific Performance ; Television Drama; Multi-Media Performance and Political Theatre.

Leading theatre companies and practitioners regularly visit for workshops and projects with Drama students. Recent visiting companies have included: Punchdrunk www.punchdrunk.org.uk; Complicite Theatre Company www.complicite.org/flash and Shared Experience www.sharedexperience.org.uk

There is also a range of theatre organisations that have partnerships with the University and work extensively with students. These include: the performance and digital media company C+T; Vamos, the mask and physical theatre company; Attic Theatre for children; and Dreamcatcher, which makes theatre involving people with disabilities. Popular student societies include Loco, which produces a musical theatre performance every term; the Drama Society, which focuses on new writing ; the University Choir; and the Dance Society.

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UCAS code

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK. For the latest information, check the UCAS website at www.ucas.com

Drama & Performance BA (Single Honours) W400 BA/DPSt

Study options

Options to work with resident professional theatre companies and work placements opportunities.

An emphasis on experiential learning through practice and exciting theatre trips to a range of easily accessible venues in Birmingham, Coventry, Worcester and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Opportunities to study abroad for a semester at one of our Partner Universities.

Excellent, modern facilities including Studio Theatre, Digital Arts Centre, Dance Studios and Art Studios.

Opportunities to win funding and awards for self initiated Drama projects. For information visit the Business Start-Up page and the Worcester Award page.

On completion of their degree students may go onto take a Drama MA at the University of Worcester – a new practice based post graduate course with close links to the profession.

Top-up years enable students with an HND in Performing Arts to progress to an Honours degree in Drama.

Joint honours

It is also possible to study Drama and Performance as a joint degree with another subject. Students studying Joint Honours have the option to specialise through major/minor study form their second year.

The combination subjects available are: Art and Design, Business Management, English Literary Studies, Film Studies, Fine Art Practice, Psychology and Screenwriting.

The University of Worcester’s degree combinations add breadth to your studies and enhance your employability.

Get in touch

Admissions Office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk

Liz Swift
Drama Subject Leader
01905 855319
e.swift@worc.ac.uk

Stuart Currie
Drama & Performance Admissions Tutor
01905 855291
s.currie@worc.ac.uk

Visit the Drama Studios page

240-300 UCAS Tariff points

Single Honours Drama & Performance also requires a minimum of 200 points from 2 A Levels or equivalent, including 1 in a related area.

Applicants are invited to attend an interview.

Modules

Bodies, Voices, Spaces
Contemporary TV Drama
Dance Styles & Techniques
Devising Performance
Directors & Directing
Documentary Theatre
From Stage to Screen
European Mask Acting
Inscribing the Classics
Kitchen Sink to Fringe
New Voices in British Theatre
Renaissance Drama in Performance
Running a Theatre Company
Sexuality in Performance
Site-specific Performance
Solo Voices
Staging Shakespeare Today
Studies in American Theatre
The American Musical
Theatre & Digital Media
Theatre & Disability
Theatre, Ideology & the American Dream
Women in Performance
Women’s Writing
Politics & Performance

Assessment

Drama deploys a wide range of teaching methods: lectures, seminars, small and large group textual workshops and improvisation, theatre visits, film and video.
Both practical and written assignments, including portfolios, essays, performance, theatre reviews and practical and written Independent Study.

Facilities
All the related spaces are located within easy access of each other and include:
The Studio Theatre - this is a 120 seat, flexible space which has been purpose-built and comprises adjoining Dressing rooms, Green Room and storage. This has the capacity to accommodate a wide range of staging options and is linked to;
The Digital Arts Centre - this state of the art development enables experimental work combining live and recorded performance and digital media.
The Dance Studio - this is a similar sized space the Studio Theatre and again has the advantages of being flexible. The Art Block affords usable practical spaces for work on the scenographic aspects of production.

Sarah Gilbert

Drama and Performance BA (Hons)

“The course offers a wide range of modules that can be tailored to fit your interests and the professionalism and experience of the lecturers is second to none. Worcester University offers a creative and relaxed environment in which to explore your interests and is undoubtedly one of the best courses in the country.”

Academic department

Institute of Humanities & Creative Arts

“We are a lively community of scholars, researchers and creative practitioners, intent on supporting and encouraging students to expand their intellectual horizons, grow their creative and professional ambitions, and achieve their potential.”
Professor Antonia Payne, Head of Institute

Employability

There are excellent career opportunities for our 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.

A proportion of our students always go onto postgraduate study towards higher academic or professional qualifications. 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.

Drama & Performance students are given opportunities to develop significant professional experience and to earn money alongside their studies.

The course has extensive links with the profession regionally, nationally and internationally, and Worcester therefore provides a hub of engagement with theatre and arts employers. All students are able to register as student members of Equity.

Paid work available to drama students ranges from performing in touring productions for schools and colleges, to leading drama workshops for local young people, to undertaking commissions for companies or engaging in Academic Research. Examples of projects in 2012 include:

- A funded national tour of a new production of Oscar Wilde’s A Picture of Dorian Grey
- Paid research work into music and theatre provision
- Involvement in a new production of Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ to be presented at Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and the new Hive Library in Worcester.
- A new touring ‘theatre and science‘ production in collaboration with university biology department
- A new Children’s Theatre Production premiered at Malvern Theatres
- A Theatre in Education production about University life touring to schools in the region.

Drama & Performance students also have the opportunity to become involved in paid work for the successful Attic Theatre Company which is based at the University and produces performances and outreach activities targeted at young audiences. Examples of employer and professional links in Drama & Performance in 2010 include: Malvern Theatres; Pegasus Theatre, Oxford; Superstars educational development company; primary and secondary schools in Worcestershire and Herefordshire and The Swan Theatre, Worcester.

Latest News

Former Drama & Performance student, Ricky Dukes, has just won a major award for his work as Artistic Director of his own London based theatre company.

Ricky , who graduated from University of Worcester in 2006, set up his own company, ‘Lazarus’, in order to focus on the production of Classical plays on the London Fringe theatre circuit. His productions have won major acclaim in the capital and beyond and now his theatre directing work has been recognised with a major award from the prestigious ‘Fringe Report Awards 2012’ for Artistic Director.

“I believe the University of Worcester placed me in a fantastic position to have a successful future, I owe a lot of my confidence and ability to those running the drama department,” said Ricky, aged 27.

Ricky’s latest productions of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ and ‘King Lear’ will be produced in Rep at The Space theatre, London in May and June.