BA (Hons) Drama and Creative Writing
Key Details
- Award
- Degree of Bachelor of Arts
- UCAS Course Code
- WW84
- Typical Offer
- AAB
- Contextual Offer
- BBB
- Course Length
- 3 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2023
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Why you should choose us
Course Overview
This unique degree unites UEA’s strengths in creative writing and in drama to give you an exhilarating immersion in writing and performance.
You will have the opportunity to study all kinds of creative writing, with a particular focus on writing for theatre, cinema, television, and radio. Alongside, you'll be exploring the contemporary practice, criticism, and history of dramatic writing and performance. Your writing will be enriched by an awareness of theatrical and literary traditions from around the globe.
You’ll take practical drama modules, and you’ll have full access to our professionally equipped 200-seat Drama Studio. This comprehensive grounding in acting, directing, and all other aspects of stagecraft will enable you to graduate as a writer with an instinctive feel for the world of theatre and performing arts.
Our BA Drama and Creative Writing is ranked 6th for Creative Writing by 'The Guardian University Guide 2023'.
You'll gain a thorough grounding in writing for stage and screen, which will be complemented by opportunities to develop your skills in non-dramatic writing, too. Your stage and screen writing will be improved by getting to grips with the ins-and-outs of theatrical performance, while you become better able to analyse dramatic language by writing it yourself.
At the heart of your degree are scriptwriting masterclasses with practising writers, where you’ll discover the formats, conventions, and techniques of writing for different
dramatic genres and media. You’ll learn by writing scenes and short scripts, offering critiques of each other’s work, and by working closely with other Drama students.
In your second and third years, you'll be able to develop your craft as a writer by taking workshops in prose or poetry, working closely with our world-famous creative writing colleagues.
Throughout your degree, you will gain hands-on experience by participating in production and practical project work. You’ll have the keys to our professionally equipped 200-seat Drama Studio, giving you the chance to control everything in your own productions. You’ll also have access to performance and placement opportunities, including a creative industries internship in your second year, which involves a work placement in a drama-producing organisation or environment.
You’ll encounter an astonishing array of drama and a wealth of performance styles, from naturalism to Noh theatre. You’ll engage with major theoretical and directorial approaches, from Aristotle to Boal, from live art to physical theatre. And you can examine the use of theatre and performance – by the state, by political activists, and by theatre and performance practitioners – to solidify or challenge structures of power.
You’ll benefit from our highly regarded student run Minotaur Theatre Company, which gives you the chance to gain additional performance, technical and scriptwriting experience, as well as exciting chances to share your writing at events such as New Writing Live. Find out more about life in the School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing on our Instagram @uealdc.
Placement Year and Study Abroad
You have the option to apply to study abroad for one semester of your second year. Studying abroad is a wonderfully enriching life experience – you will develop confidence and adaptability, and will have the chance to deepen your understanding of drama and writing while learning about another culture. At UEA, you will also be surrounded throughout your degree by the many students we welcome from around the world to study with us.
For further details, visit the Study Abroad section of our website.
Study and Modules
Structure
Your first-year module Scriptwriting and Performance sets up a conversation between writing, doing, and thinking, which continues throughout your degree. You’ll experiment with a wealth of new techniques in dramatic writing while also taking advantage of developmental acting exercises. In addition, you'll start to hone your creative writing across a range of literary forms in the module Creative Writing: Autumn Semester. You’ll develop your performance and technical skills further on the Applied Drama and Technical Skills module. You’ll then encounter rich traditions of dramatic writing in the Introduction to World Dramatic Literatures module, exploring how contemporary writers are reimagining or contesting older traditions. You’ll unite theory and practice in Theatre: Theory and Performance. Your practical work on the stage culminates in the module on modern British theatre.
Compulsory Modules
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. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with 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. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
You'll begin your development as a writer in workshops focussed on scriptwriting led by a member of our world-famous creative writing team. Your Drama tutors combine a wealth of practical experience in all kinds of performance with deep academic knowledge of the history, theory, and contemporary practice of theatre. Practical workshops in technical theatre and performance will underpin your development on the stage. You'll get to grips with plays in drama seminars – where you might find yourself workshopping parts for performance in order better to understand them!
Independent Learning
You'll spend time doing everything from reading plays and writing your own scripts to rehearsing parts for the stage, at the same time as benefitting from student-run theatre company, Minotaur, where you can gain even more experience in practical performance or get a chance to turn your own original scripts into productions.
Assessment
Assessment
Our BA Literature and Drama modules do not have written exams (apart from one technical theatre test). As a Creative Writer, in the first year you'll be led through a series of writing exercises and discussions to help you produce a short, complete script. The technical theatre skills you're developing will be assessed through tasks such as making a 3D model of a set, designing a costume, or placing mics on a soundstage. Your performance work will be graded, and so will the rehearsals for your end-of-year production, capturing your development in the round.
Feedback
You're given constant feedback on your practical work, helping you to deepen your craft as a performer. You'll receive feedback on your writing from your tutors and your peers in workshops. Feedback on assessed work will be returned within 20 working days (after it has been carefully marked and moderated). As your first year does not count toward your overall degree result, it's the perfect moment to experiment and take risks.
Structure
In your second year, you’ll extend and refine your scriptwriting skills in the Creative Writing: Scriptwriting modules, where you learn how to write for stage/radio and film/television. Alongside this you’ll have an opportunity to tackle poetry or prose writing in a dedicated workshop, and an array of opportunities for practical dramatic work. For example, you can take an internship, engage in outreach work, take modules to build your performance skills for stage and screen, or take an innovative module on the director, the actor, and the script. You can also choose to study journalism or publishing, or choose modules in literary, film or cultural criticism.
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 20)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 20, Max Credits: 40)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)Optional D Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 20)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. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with 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. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
Your creative work will now be taken to the next level through the 'workshopping' process (pioneered in the UK by UEA), where you'll get feedback on your writing from your peers under the direction of one of our creative writing tutors, and learn the art of offering constructive critique of your peers’ writing too. You'll concentrate intensively on scriptwriting (for the stage, radio, TV, and film), and will also have the chance to get to grips with prose or poetry. You'll have a wealth of opportunities to make your own theatre with the support of our staff, experimenting with different directorial theories, developing skills in devising plays, discovering radical performance modes, or delving into political theatre (e.g. Feminist Theatres or Queer Theatre). If you choose to produce work for the screen, you'll be supported by a well-regarded independent filmmaker.
Independent Learning
As you make theatre and performance work with greater confidence, you'll naturally work with greater independence as both a writer and a performer. This might mean deepening your collaborations with your peers or making solo projects that showcase your development as a writer.
Assessment
Assessment
Your creative writing will flourish as you produce more substantial scripts for stage, radio, or screen (c.20-30 minutes in length), and, if you wish, pieces of prose (e.g. a 1250-word short story or longer 2000-word narrative), or a portfolio of poetry. You can try your hand at devised performances and write reflective pieces to understand better your own creative processes. You might write essays on books or plays. You'll continue to be assessed on your practical drama work in all its forms, whether that's acting, directing, filmmaking, technical theatre, or on your collaborative work with an external organisation.
Feedback
Your creative work will be deepened by your immersion in the workshop environment, where you receive feedback from your peers and learn to give feedback on their work, an enormously valuable skill in many careers. Your practical work is constantly enriched by your drama tutors' feedback during rehearsals, and you'll continue to receive advice on 'formative' writing, too, from both your literature and drama tutors.
Structure
By your third year you will have found your voice as a playwright or screenwriter. The keystone of this year is your Creative Writing Dissertation where, with one-to-one support from your supervisor, you’ll produce a substantial piece of writing, which in most cases will take the form of a script for stage, screen, or radio. Alongside this you can choose from a range of options, either throwing yourself into the third year Drama Production, pursuing an individual drama project, focusing intensively on dramatic literature (via modules on drama and literature, or contemporary drama and film), broadening out into other literary realms, taking a prose or poetry workshop, or studying creative work in the media industries.
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 30, Max Credits: 60)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 60, Max Credits: 90)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 30)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. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with 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. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
Your journey as a writer culminates in your creative writing dissertation, in which you'll work one-on-one with a member of our creative writing team as you plan, develop, and write a more extended project. You can choose to spend the whole first semester of your third year working as part of a near-professional theatre company in our Drama Production module, where you'll be led by a member of our core Drama teaching team and mentored by professionals in stage management, costume design, set building, movement, and marketing. Or, if you'd prefer, you can pursue a solo venture in our Drama Project, where you'll be supervised to create an individual performance or film of your devising.
Independent Learning
You'll spend much of your own time writing in the forms that have come to matter to you the most. You'll either collaborate with drive and passion with your peers in the third-year production or bring together everything you've learnt across the degree by working independently on a Drama Project (supervised by a member of our Drama team or a relevant industry professional).
Assessment
Assessment
In your Creative Writing Dissertation, you’ll produce a substantial piece of work that truly reflects the writer you’ve become, whether that’s a 60-page script, or a collection of stories or poems. You’ll also write a reflective self-commentary on your creative process. If you choose the intensive Drama Production module, your rehearsal and technical work will be continuously assessed by the drama tutor who's leading the whole project, and your final performance will be marked, and that mark moderated by an external examiner. You might write academic essays, reflections on your performances, or pieces of creative-critical writing, where you fuse critical with imaginative writing.
Feedback
For your Creative Writing Dissertation, you'll work one-on-one with a member of our creative team, receiving regular feedback on your progress. As well as constant advice on your practical drama work as it develops, you'll receive full written feedback on your work in either the Drama Production or Drama Project modules, as well as regular feedback on formative written work for all your modules.
Entry Requirements
- A Levels
- AAB including one of the following subjects: Drama, Theatre Studies, English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law If you are taking an EPQ and three A-levels, we may offer you a one grade reduction on our advertised typical offer, if you achieve an A in the EPQ.
- T Levels
- Not accepted
- BTEC
- DDD in an Arts/Humanities subject (usually Performing Arts). BTEC Public Services, Uniformed Services and Business Administration are not accepted
- Contextual Offer
A Level – BBB
BTEC L3 Extended Diploma – DDM
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
- Scottish Highers
- AAAAA including one of the following subjects: Drama, Theatre Studies, English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- Scottish Advanced Highers
- BBC including one of the following subjects: Drama, Theatre Studies, English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- Irish Leaving Certificate
- 4 subjects at H2, 2 subjects at H3 including one of the following subjects: Drama, Theatre Studies, English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- Access to HE Diploma
- Access to Humanities & Social Sciences pathway. Pass Access to HE Diploma with Distinction in 36 credits at Level 3 and Merit in 9 credits at Level 3
- International Baccalaureate
- 33 including HL5 in one of the following subjects: Drama, Theatre Studies, English Literature, English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology, Law
- GCSE
- You are required to have Mathematics and English Language at a minimum of Grade C or Grade 4 or above at GCSE.
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
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IELTS: 6.5 overall (minimum 5.5 in all components) for year 1 entry
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:
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- Interviews
- We will request a sample of your creative dramatic writing, which could be a monologue, duologue, a couple of scenes or a short film.
- Deferred Entry
- We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year. We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.
- Intakes
- This course is open to UK and International applicants. The annual intake is in September each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
If you do not have an A-Level or equivalent qualification in one of the subjects listed above, once you have submitted your UCAS form we may then contact you to ask you to submit a short analysis of a passage of a literary text in support of your application.
We welcome and value a wide range of alternative qualifications. If you have a qualification which is not listed here, please contact us via Admissions Enquiries.
If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes
Important note
Once enrolled onto your course at UEA, your progression and continuation (which may include your eligibility for study abroad, overseas experience, placement or year in industry opportunities) is contingent on meeting the assessment requirements which are relevant to the course on which you are enrolled.
International Requirements
We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. View our International Students pages for specific information about your country.
Fees and Funding
Tuition Fees
View our information for Tuition Fees.
Scholarships and Bursaries
We are committed to ensuring that costs do not act as a barrier to those aspiring to come to a world leading university and have developed a funding package to reward those with excellent qualifications and assist those from lower income backgrounds. View our range of Scholarships for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
View our information about Additional Course Fees.
How to Apply
Apply for this course through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS), using UCAS Hub.
UCAS Hub is a secure online application system that allows you to apply for full-time undergraduate courses at universities and colleges in the United Kingdom.
Your application does not have to be completed all at once. Register or sign in to UCAS to get started.
Once you submit your completed application, UCAS will process it and send it to your chosen universities and colleges.
The Institution code for the University of East Anglia is E14.
View our guide to applying through UCAS for useful tips, key dates and further information:
Employability
After the Course
Some graduates go into careers in film, drama, radio, and scriptwriting, as writers, developers, agents, casting directors, or artistic directors of their own companies. Recent graduates from our drama degrees include the actor Matt Smith (famous for his portrayal of Doctor Who and his leading role in The Crown), the presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Greg James, and the playwright Tom Morton-Smith (whose 2015 play Oppenheimer was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company). For others, this degree is a stepping-stone towards careers in the arts, media, publishing, politics, charities, and NGOs, teaching, and the commercial sector. Our Careers Service is here to support you in launching your career by advising with CV writing, internships, and much more. Every year we run an event, Working with Words, which gives current students the chance to meet and hear from successful UEA alumni from across the creative industries.
UEA also has its own in-house student publishing project, Egg Box, along with many other exciting initiatives that give you opportunities to turn your love of writing and performance into a foundation for your future career.
Careers
A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.
Examples of careers you could enter include:
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Scriptwriting
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Theatre and film
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Journalism
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Media
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Teaching
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Publishing