BA Drama (W400)

Course Code UNU1W400301
Duration 3 Years
Attendance Full Time
Award Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Overview
Requirements
Course Profile
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Overview

Drama at the University of East Anglia has been ranked 2nd in the Guardian University Guide 2012, leaving other prestigious theatre and drama schools in its shadow. This programme allows you to combine a strong practical emphasis with the study of the theory, history and social significance of drama, complemented by detailed study of dramatic literature and aspects of visual and technical design. You will participate in a major practical project each year as well as undertaking a wide variety of applied drama work and there is also the opportunity for you to study on placement with professional companies.

The degree interweaves practice and theory throughout the three years and ranges across many periods (Classical Greek to contemporary), performance styles (naturalism to non-Western) and major theoretical and directorial approaches (Aristotle to Artaud, Stanislavsky to ‘physical’ theatre). There is a core of required units (including projects and productions), nearly all of which use practical classes and workshops to approach and link text and performance, periods, cultures and approaches. Technical classes, acting skills and voice work are part of the training offered. Students may have the opportunity to spend a period of time on placement with a professional company or venue (in fields such as TV, radio and film, as well as theatre). Most of the practical work takes place in the Studio, highly adaptable for all stage and auditorium configurations and with full support facilities. In addition to required modules, students have a choice of a wide range of modules on dramatic literature, as well as in areas other than Drama such as Film and Television, American Studies, Modern Languages and History.

Course Structure

Year 1

From the start of the first year all drama students (whatever their programme) are introduced to a range of applied and technical theatre skills (including safe use of the Drama Studio and aspects of lighting, sound, stage management and stage design) as well as basic acting, group work and weekly voice classes. You also begin a study of the historical repertoire, reading dramatic texts from Ancient Greece to the present. Lectures explore history and conventions as well as interpretative and performance strategies for a selection of ‘key texts’. You also choose from a range of optional modules (including Literature in History, Key Issues in Film Studies and Introduction to Philosophy) which equip you to take further seminars in these areas later on. A spring semester module (currently focusing on Post-War British Drama) leads to performance work with staff and MA theatre directors.

In the Autumn semester of Year 1 there are two compulsory modules: Applied Drama and Technical Skills (comprising a number of different practical strands, including basic movement and voice work, aspects of technical theatre, and group-based classes and scene rehearsals on selected texts) and Introduction to World Dramatic Literatures (lectures/demonstrations on major plays and playwrights). The third module can be chosen from film, history or literature.

During the Spring semester you follow Postwar British Drama (which includes some performance work) and Theatre: Theory and Performance. You have a wide range of choice for the third module.

Year 2

The second year introduces a wide range of optional courses (such as detailed acting work in The Actor and the Text; seminars in, for example, Classical Drama, Shakespeare, Contemporary American Drama, Political Theatre or Creative Writing). There is an emphasis on World Performance, exploring non-western theatrical forms. Second-year practical work currently focuses on ‘out-reach’ work, taking performance into a variety of real-world contexts (recent projects include work with school children, the elderly and trainee medical personnel). You can also choose (though this is entirely optional) an internship with a professional venue or company and spend the first semester on placement at a theatre, drama school or with a theatre, film or television company at home or abroad. The only required elements are an assessed production and a unit devoted to the exploration of performance events, their nature and function. Otherwise you choose units from the extensive drama offerings including scriptwriting and from other disciplines.

Year 3

The third year revolves around a final, full-scale, drama production and its related seminar and supervised individual performance projects. Also available as final-year specialisms are a drama dissertation and special subjects in Shakespeare and in problems posed by the adaptation for stage of non-dramatic literary material.

Teaching and Assessment:

Key skills, issues and ideas are introduced in lectures given by all members of faculty, including literary critics, literary historians, and writers. More specialist study is undertaken in small group seminars. These are chosen from a range offered within the School and across the University. You will also spend time studying and researching in the library or carrying out practical work or projects. In most subject areas, you are assessed at the end of each year on the basis of coursework and, in some cases, project and examination results. In your final year, you will write a dissertation on a topic of your choice and with the advice of tutors. There is no final examination. Your final degree result is determined by the marks you receive in years two and three.

Course Organiser

Mr Tony Gash

Course Brochure

View Course Brochure

Related Courses

Entry Requirements

We do not include General Studies in our offers. Applicants to this course are expected to have either Drama and Theatre Studies, Drama, Performance Studies or English Literature at A-Level. The combined English Language and Literature A-level is acceptable in lieu of English Literature but A-Level English Language on its own is not sufficient. Applicants should offer a second Arts or Humanities subject at A-Level in addition to the specified A-Level in Drama and Theatre Studies / English Literature. Students studying the IB programe must offer a second Arts or Humanities subject at Higher Level.

A Level AAB including Drama and Theatre Studies or English Literature
International Baccalaureate 33 points overall including a minimum of 5 in HL English or Theatre Studies
Scottish Advanced Highers AAB including Drama and Theatre Studies or English Literature
Irish Leaving Certificate AAAABB
Access Course Please contact the university for more information
HND Please contact the university for more information
European Baccalaureate 80% overall incl English Literature or Drama and Theatre studies

Students for whom English is a foreign language

If English is not your first language you must have a recognised English Language qualification: Minimum IELTS 6.5 with a 6 in each sub-section, or TOEFL 585 (238 CBT / 93 IBT). Please contact us for more information about other qualifications that we may consider.

Interviews

We operate an initial shortlisting process for this course on the basis of the information an applicant provides on their UCAS form. Candidates who are shortlisted will be invited to interview and audition and offers are only made after a successful interview and audition. These take place on Visit Days and include an opportunity to look around the campus, view accommodation, meet current students, talk to staff members and find out more about the course. The interview and audition itself lasts about half an hour and is with one of our Drama tutors. Candidates are asked to perform a short monologue from a selection provided and there is also a discussion which generally covers topics such as your current studies, reasons for choosing the course and your personal interests and extra-curricular activities.

Gap Year

We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year, believing that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry and may wish to contact the appropriate Admissions Office directly to discuss this further.

Special Entry Requirements

A-Level Drama and Theatres Studies or English Literature. A second Arts or Humanities subject is also required. General Studies is excluded.

Intakes

The School's annual intake is in September of each year.

Alternative Qualifications

We encourage you to apply if you have alternative qualifications equivalent to our stated entry requirement. Please contact our Admissions team for details.

GCSE Offer

Students are required to have Mathematics and English at Grade C or above at GCSE Level.

Assessment

For the majority of candidates the most important factors in assessing the application will be past and future achievement in examinations, academic interest in the subject being applied for, personal interest and extra-curricular activities and the confidential reference. We consider applicants as individuals and accept students from a very wide range of educational backgrounds and spend time considering your application in order to reach an informed decision relating to your application. Typical offers are indicated above. Applicants to this course who are shortlisted will also be required to attend for interview and audition.

Year 1
Year 2
Year 3

Year 1

Compulsory Study (80 credits)

Students will select 80 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Applied Drama and Technical Skills Reserved for students on courses: W400U1, WQ43U1, WW84U1. A mixture of workshops, seminars, physical skills, technical classes, aiming to begin the process of training in all areas related to the delivery of an intelligent performance. more...	LDCD1X01	20	Semester 1
Introduction to World Dramatic Literatures 1 This module examines a wide range of influential plays in several genres, drawn from the work of major European dramatists, and with due attention given to issues of both text and performance. The plays are drawn from the work of Aeschylus, Euripides, Shakespeare, Webster, Wycherley, Moliere and Racine, as well as medieval and non-European theatre. A weekly lecture is accompanied by demonstrations/discussions of central scenes and/or video extracts. more...	LDCD1X39	20	Semester 1
Postwar British Drama This volatile and rich period after World War II in Britain radically transformed the British Theatre and saw the rise of a number of innovative theatre companies throughout the second half of the twentieth century. This module examines British Theatre in context from the 1950s to the 1990s. The module will explore the work of seminal theatre companies, playwrights and directors in the United Kingdom and interrogate the performance styles through the lens of British social history through the decades. Through a detailed examination of dramatic texts, video clips, memoirs, journal articles and newspaper clippings, as well as practical workshops and participatory performances of work from the period under scrutiny, we will explore all aspects of theatrical performance from design to direction. more...	LDCD1X02	20	Semester 2
Theatre: Theory and Performance This module investigates theories of theatre through the reading and discussion of key theoretical texts, and through practical workshops exploring voice, movement and performance processes, while continuing elements of the technical skills training begun in Semester 1. This module is only available to students of the degree programmes: WW84 Scriptwriting and Performance, WQ43 English Literature and Drama and W400 Drama. more...	LDCD1X06	20	Semester 2

Option A Study (40 credits)

Students will select 40 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Analysing Film and Television The module is designed to provide students with core study skills and techniques and methods of textual analysis. The module will cover the analysis of a range of formal features and frameworks such as narrative, mise-en-scene, camera work, editing and sound used in the analysis of film and television. The study skills covered will include use of the library and internet for research, as well as note taking, essay planning and the conventions of academic writing. In the process the module will cover issues such as referencing and plagiarism. It will be taught by lecture, seminar and screening. more...	FTVF1F09	20	Semester 1
Introduction to Cultural Studies This module will introduce students to the development of cultural studies in this country and the work undertaken in the field. While it is a core module for those in Literature and History, it is suited to all those interested in interdisciplinary study and the history of academic disciplines, and it will introduce students to a range of approaches in study. It is taught through seminars. more...	LDCE1F05	20	Semester 1
Introduction to Medieval History This module is designed to provide an introduction to medieval history both for first year historians and students from other schools. It surveys the history of medieval Europe, including England, from c.1000 to c1300, and also examines some archaeology, literature, art, and architecture from the period. The module also aims to introduce students to a range of primary sources, including some of the physical remains to be found in East Anglia. more...	HIS-1A13	20	Semester 1
Introduction to Modern History This module provides a wide-ranging introduction to the political, social and economic transformation of Britain and Europe from the early nineteenth century to the First World War. Among the themes it considers are industrialisation and its impact; revolution and reform; nationalism and imperialism; gender and society; great power relations; the impact of war and the collapse of the old Europe in 1917-18. more...	HIS-1A19	20	Semester 1
Literature in History 1 This is the main introductory module to the study of literature. It aims to help new students to read historically, by offering a range of models of the relationship between literature and history, explored through the study of selected historical and literary moments. The module is taught by a weekly lecture, with an accompanying seminar. more...	LDCE1F01	20	Semester 1
Literature in History II This module follows on from Literature in History I, taking in more recent history, and including discussion of how writers of the present make use of the past. The module is taught by lectures, with an accompanying seminar. Attendance at both lectures and seminars is compulsory. more...	LDCE1F10	20	Semester 2
Reading Plays THIS MODULE IS RESERVED FOR STUDENTS ON W400 ONLY. A seminar based module specially aimed at first year members of the Drama programme. It develops a vocabulary for the analysis and close reading of dramatic texts, including their implicit visual and interpersonal dynamics. The playwrights treated will vary each year. more...	LDCD1X08	20	Semester 2
Reading Texts II This module seeks to build on and develop the work of the Autumn semester, in particular that of Reading Texts and Reading Translations. The focus will fall again on small-group discussion and on the reading of a small number of texts - one creative, and one critical - chosen by the tutor from a set list. With this close attention to reading at its core, the module will also look at a number of the terms and ideas central to the study of literature and to the practice of interpretation. Not available to Visiting Students. more...	LDCE1F08	20	Semester 2
Reading Texts: Tutorial Class This module provides the opportunity to work closely on selected texts within the contexts of a small group. It aims to develop and explore modes of textual analysis. By the end of the module the students will have highly developed reading skills, a sense of the implications of interpreting texts and the individual research skills essential for a university degree. Not available to Visiting Students. more...	LDCE1F03	20	Semester 1
Reading Translations: Tutorial Class This module provides the opportunity to work closely with texts in translation, looking at how we read and analyse them and how we consider their relationship to the originals. We aim to develop the skills necessary for working with foreign texts in English translation. A thorough reading knowledge of another language besides English is essential. more...	LDCE1F13	20	Semester 1
Writing Texts This module explores the culture and anthropology of writing, and addresses issues such as the differences between writing and speaking, between literary and non-literary texts, and the writer's relationship with readers. In weekly lectures and seminar groups, we will look at the writing process itself - drafting, revising, editing, translating - and will explore how and why texts come into being, and how they work to position the reader or to generate readerly interaction. The module is taught by a lecture, with an accompanying seminar. more...	LDCE1F14	20	Semester 2

Year 2

Option A Study (100 credits)

Students will select 100 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Adaptation: Shakespeare On Stage and Screen This module explores the rich dramatic and cinematic traditions of Shakespearean adaptation. It considers a range of adaptations, from the seventeenth-century restoration versions of Macbeth, King Lear and The Tempest to more recent film versions of Shakespeare's plays, examining the light that adaptive transformations may cast on both the original plays and on the different social and cultural circumstances of the new productions. Through exploration of specific adaptations of Macbeth, King Lear and Henry V, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, the module explores the place of Shakespeare's plays on the Caribbean stage, in Japanese film, in Germany and Britain in the 1930s and 1940s, and in more contemporary twentieth and twenty-first-century culture. more...	LDCD2X45	20	Semester 1
Creative Industries Research Internship (Aut) Supervised placements and internships in one or other of the performance orientated creative industries in Britain or elsewhere. As with LDCD2X35, this module is available to students on the three Drama programmes (W400, WQ43 and WW84) in LDC and elsewhere, on prior approval of a viable proposal by the Drama faculty. more...	LDCD2X19	40	Semester 1
Creative Industries Research Internship (Spr) Supervised placements and internships in one or other of the performance orientated creative industries in Britain or elsewhere. As with LDCD2X36, this module is available to students on the three Drama programmes (W400, WQ43 and WW84) in LDC and elsewhere, on prior approval of a viable proposal by the Drama faculty. more...	LDCD2X20	40	Semester 2
Creative Industries Research Project (Aut) Either an extended piece of research and writing on a drama-related topic selected by the individual with the approval of the module organiser, or an approved and supervised solo performance piece. As with LDCD2X20, this module is available to students on the three Drama programmes (W400, WQ43 and WW84) in LDC and elsewhere, on prior approval of a viable proposal by the Drama faculty. more...	LDCD2X35	20	Semester 1
Creative Industries Research Project (Spr) Either an extended piece of research and writing on a drama-related topic selected by the individual with the approval of the module organiser, or an approved and supervised solo performance piece. As with LDCD2X20, this module is available to students on the three Drama programmes (W400, WQ43 and WW84) in LDC and elsewhere, on prior approval of a viable proposal by the Drama faculty. more...	LDCD2X36	20	Semester 2
Creative Writing: Scriptwriting (Aut) WW84 STUDENTS TAKE THIS MODULE AND THE SPRING MODULE (LDCC2W24) AS COMPULSORY MODULES. STUDENTS ON OTHER PROGRAMMES MAY TAKE EITHER THE AUTUMN MODULE OR THE SPRING MODULE, BUT NOT BOTH. This module develops students' abilities to invent and understand dramatic texts. Methods include structured exercises in writing drama and the exploration and analysis of a range of plays. Students may specialise in writing for stage/radio or film/television. more...	LDCC2W05	20	Semester 1
Creative Writing: Scriptwriting (Spr) WW84 STUDENTS TAKE THIS MODULE AND THE AUTUMN MODULE (LDCC2W05) AS COMPULSORY MODULES. STUDENTS ON OTHER PROGRAMMES MAY TAKE EITHER THE AUTUMN MODULE OR THE SPRING MODULE, BUT NOT BOTH. This module develops students' abilities to invent and understand dramatic texts. Methods include structured exercises in writing drama and the exploration and analysis of a range of plays. Students may specialise in writing for stage/radio or film/TV. more...	LDCC2W24	20	Semester 2
Drama Outreach Project Reserved for students on courses: W400U1, WQ43U1, WW84U1. Group practical theatre work which entails public performance to target audiences in the community or on campus. more...	LDCD2X30	20	Semester 2
Erasmus Exchange: Spring Semester LDC students going abroad under the ERASMUS exchange scheme for the Spring semester must enrol for this module. Students going abroad under the ERASMUS exchange scheme to Dublin will need in addition to enrol for module LDCE2A01. Further details on the ERASMUS scheme are available from the Study Abroad Office. more...	LDCE2A02	60	Semester 2
French Language in Action (Level 2) This module is designed to increase your confidence in speaking French in public via the transferable skill of oral performance while enabling you to further your knowledge of French culture and society. You will study and practise delivery of an oral text in a number of forms such as news reports, documentary voice-overs, speeches, interviews, songs, stage and film performance texts. The coursework element will involve the devising of your own oral text while the project element will involve the transcription and delivery of an agreed oral text and an essay on the content and context of this text. Assessment commensurate with level. more...	LCS-2F36	20	Semester 2
From Tragic to Epic Performance Through readings of classical and neo-classical generic criticism, as well as through an investigation of performance and staging demands, the module examines classical, post-classical and early modern forms of tragedy, and contrasts them with the complex emergent forms of tragicomedy and (later) epic, which, in different ways, re-model or resist the central experience of tragic reception. The course will look at plays selected from different genres, countries and periods, e.g. classical Greek (Sophocles) and Roman (Seneca) French Neoclassical (Racine), Spanish golden age (Lope de Vega Calderon), English Jacobean (Middleton and Rowley, Ford), Japanese Kabuki, post-revolutionary German (from Schiller to Brecht). By positing strategies for reading and performing such plays, it will thus develop a deeper knowledge of stage history and of complex theatrical styles. It will also engage with critical discourse, especially in aesthetics and genre criticism (Zeami, Aristotle, Castelvetro, Dryden, Lessing, Brecht). more...	LDCD2X47	20	Semester 1
Literature Studies Semester Abroad: Australia (Spring) A semester spent at an Australian university taking an approved course of study. Restricted to students on Q300U1, QT37U1, Q3W8U1, QV31U1, W400U1, WQ43U1. WW84U1. more...	LDCE2A04	60	Semester 2
Performance Skills: the Actor and the Text This module is reserved for Drama majors (W400), Drama/Literature Joints (WQ43), Scriptwriting and Performance (WW84), and Theatre Directing Masters students. Drama Minors wishing to apply must first seek approval for inclusion from Mr T. Gash. The main methods of study are through: (1) individual performance of poems and speeches, (2) scene classes, (3) character study of roles in classic plays. more...	LDCD2X27	20	Semester 1
Political Theatre This module examines the use of theatre and performance - by the State, by oppositional groups, by political activists and by theatre and performance practitioners - to solidify or challenge structures of power. The course looks at specific examples of how theatre and public spectacles have been used in the twentieth century to control or contest the political stage. Examining American, South America, African, Russian, and Eastern European performance in the twentieth century, this class will document and explore through specific performances, videos, dramatic texts and theoretical essays, how performance in theory and practice can be used to explore issues to race, ethnicity, gender, political upheaval and social change within a society. more...	LDCD2X02	20	Semester 2
Shakespeare The aim of this lecture-seminar module is to help you become a better reader of Shakespearean drama. He was writing between about 1590 and about 1610; obviously his plays speak to us over a great cultural distance, and we can find fresh ways of reading them by exploring the theatrical, generic and historical frameworks in which they were written and staged. The lectures, then, will introduce a range of contexts, and the seminars will seek to turn them to account in the reading of the dramatic texts themselves. more...	LDCE2Y04	20	Semester 2
Theatres of Revolt: Nineteenth-Century European Drama Beginning with Ibsen and Strindberg, this module examines the development of modern forms of drama during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, addressing modern concerns - self and society, gender, sexuality, social and class conflicts, creation and destruction, the unconscious - and deploying experimental types of theatre by Chekhov, Maeterlinck, Wilde, Hauptmann, Buchner and Wedekind, as well as the two seminal Scandinavians. We will be looking at versions of Naturalism, Symbolism and Expressionism as modernist modes in drama and suggesting ways in which these shape and anticipate later developments. There will be opportunities to view some of the plays on film. Assessment is by means of seminar participation, one piece of textual analysis and one longer essay. Drama students may include a performance element as part of the assessment. more...	LDCE2X07	20	Semester 1
World Performance	LDCD2X16	20	Semester 2
You may also pick any of the modules that begin with: LDCD2X48 LDCD2X03

Free Choice Study (20 credits)

Students can select modules worth 20 credits from the course catalogue with the approval of their School.

Year 3

Compulsory Study (90 credits)

Students will select 90 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Drama Production (Year 3) This module covers the development and delivery of a full-scale theatre production (usually of a scripted, possibly classical play): involving planning, rehearsal, technical contribution, performance and self-evaluation. more...	LDCD3X33	60	Semester 1
Drama Projects Individual performance projects with supervision, leading to presentation (usually before the external examiner). Only available to Drama majors, approved minors and Drama/Literature joint students. more...	LDCD3X38	30	Semester 2

Option A Study (30 credits)

Students will select 30 credits from the following module(s).

Name	Code	Credits	Period
Contemporary Drama and Film The module will examine emergent voices and trends in recent theatre, film and television (mainly British but with some American or European contributions). Issues covered include the (questioned) demise of explicitly political drama and the appearance of previously silenced voices (e.g. gay and lesbian themes, feminist playwrights and writing ethnicity, physical theatre practitioners). more...	LDCD3X34	30	Semester 2
Creative Writing Dissertation (Spr) This is an advanced level module which is for final year CW minors. The module allows students an opportunity to write a substantial short story (approximately 6000 words) or drama script (60 pages) or collection of poems (15-25 poems, totalling between 270 and 290 lines) and to develop an understanding of their own motivations, influences and processes through the production of a reflective self-commentary (2000 words). This module aims to encourage independent learning and the initiation and development of new creative material in a way that provides a grounding in the disciplines necessary both for postgraduate research and the professional practice of writing. more...	LDCC3X08	30	Semester 2
Drama and Literature: the Question of Genre This seminar will explore the boundaries between drama and other genres (kinds, art-forms, media) in an attempt to investigate a number of interrelated theoretical questions. We shall explore these issues via various types of activity - practical criticism, critiques of literary theory, performance analysis, dramatising prose narrative. The set texts are works of literature which do not quite fit generically - particularly plays that seem to be in some sense 'epic', or novels in some sense 'theatrical', ranging from Shakespeare in the 17th century through to Gay and Fielding in the 18th and Dostoyevsky and Chekhov in the 19th. more...	LDCE3X06	30	Semester 2
Drama Dissertation An independently researched dissertation of 8,000 words on some aspect of drama or dramatic literature, performance theory and practice. This may treat drama in the medium of theatre, TV, film or radio, or it may take the form of a drama script (45 - 60 minutes running time). more...	LDCD3X36	30	Semester 2
Shakespeare: Shadow and Substance Platonist epistemology permeated Elizabethan culture: the aim of this module is to explore the relationship of Shakespeare's topic of the world as a stage to Neoplatonic conceptions of perception, politics, poetry and love. more...	LDCE3Y36	30	Semester 2
You may also pick any of the modules that begin with: LDCD3X46

Disclaimer

Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules and regular (five-yearly) review of course programmes. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, there will normally be prior consultation of students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff or sabbatical leave. Where this is the case, the University will endeavour to inform students.

UEA

Literature, Drama and Creative Writing Courses

Literature, Drama and Creative Writing

BA Drama (W400)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3