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Drama BA (Hons)

UCAS code: W402

Act. Create. Produce. Find your voice as a student of drama as part of our creative community. Probe the social and political impact of theatre and performance in the 21st century. We’ll develop your performance skills and help you discover the many opportunities presented by a life in the creative industries.

Overview

Course length: 3 years full-time
6 years part-time
Start dates: September 2024
September 2025
Location: Edge Hill University
Example offers: BBC-BBB (A Level) or DMM (BTEC) View full entry criteria
Subject(s): Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre
Faculty: Arts and Sciences
Department: English and Creative Arts
A student participates in a drama performance while one of their peers watches on from behind.

What is drama? Why do we need it? You’ll challenge the meaning of popular entertainment and engage in artistic debate on our drama degree.

Live performance is central to our ethos. On this drama course, we’ll encourage you to develop your artistic skills and vision in the theatres and studios of our Arts Centre. Join workshops with professional directors and companies. Try new techniques for acting, improvisation, rehearsal and performance as you collaborate on stage and in the studio. Explore the process of making socially-engaged theatre and performance both with and for specific audiences and communities.

Interrogate plays across time and culture to answer questions on the origins, development and value of drama. You’ll examine the work of key ensembles in traditional and contemporary theatre, before creating dynamic group productions. And you’ll also have opportunities to push yourself further with our staff- and student-led drama groups.

We want you to feel supported during your drama degree. Our team of experienced actors, playwrights, directors and theatre technicians will work with you as you grow. Together, we’ll connect theory to practice so you graduate as a practitioner with a deep understanding of your profession and real experience of live performance.

Course features

  • Learn a language option available

  • Sandwich year option available

  • Studying abroad option available

  • International students can apply

What you'll study

In Year 1 of your BA (Hons) Drama degree, you’ll look at acting, how theatre gets made and how textual interpretation impacts dramatic messaging. See contemporary and historical productions from around the world through a critical lens. Explore innovative approaches to creating performance in a laboratory environment. Our acting and acting techniques workshops will give you a reflective space to put ideas into practice and find your voice.

Compulsory modules:

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Acting Fundamentals
Acting Techniques
Destabilising the Canon
Devising and Dramaturgy
Performance Contexts

One of:

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Applied, Community and Outreach Practice 1
Introduction to Scriptwriting
Language 1

Learn how different actors approach creating performances and what drove key historical theatre-makers. Explore how culture influences performance, and study a range of alternatives to the traditional Euro-American perspectives on making performance. Devise, rehearse and present work as an ensemble. Choose to focus on writing scripts, creating projects for schools and communities, or explore the use of voice in digital performance.

Compulsory modules:

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Acting: Genres and Styles
Devising and Dramaturgy: Site
Staging the Play
Performance Contexts 2

Two of:

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Applied, Community and Outreach Practice 2
Digital Performance: Voice
The Art of Scriptwriting
Language 2

Work as an independent artist within a collective and explore what it means to create work for a professional tour. Learn how to develop your research into your own performance project as you develop into a critically-engaged emerging artist. Then refine your path with additional optional modules. Dig into acting or delve into screenwriting. Experiment with digital performance, interventionist theatre or question political ideas on stage. In Year 3 of your BA (Hons) Drama, you’ll build the skills and confidence you need to launch your artistic career.

Compulsory modules:

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Creative Entrepreneurship: Production and Touring
Research Project

Three of:

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Acting Reconsidered
Devising and Dramaturgy: Artivism
Digital Performance: Physicality
Performance, Gender and Sexual Politics
Live Art
The Art of Screenwriting
Language 3

Where your course includes optional modules, these are to provide an element of choice within the course curriculum. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by timetabling requirements. Some restrictions on optional module choice or combinations of optional modules may apply.

How you'll study

Through formal lectures and seminars, practical workshop classes, production projects, independent ensemble work and personal research, you will acquire critical and creative skills which will be of use in your future career. Alongside your study programme, you will develop the graduate skills you need for employment.

Our lectures include workshops, tutorials and seminars which provide an opportunity to study a wide range of plays and to interrogate ideas in the history, theory and practice of drama and theatre. Some modules include placements alongside taught sessions.

Through our broad range of modules focusing on acting, live and digital performance you’ll have the opportunity to develop your practical skills in a variety of performance contexts, including in our fully-equipped professional theatre spaces.

Timetables for your first week are normally available at the end of August prior to enrolment in September. You can expect to receive your timetable for the rest of the academic year during your first week. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week. Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities.

How you'll be assessed

Assessment is through a balanced mixture of practical and written work including essays, reflective journals, workshop performances, full productions and oral presentations. Practical work and research go hand-in-hand and all good practice is informed by sound theoretical investigation. In assessment, you can expect to be tested on your practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding. You will be encouraged to reflect critically on your learning and use a range of tools, including journals, to reflect on your personal development.

There are no formal written examinations as part of the current assessment methods on this drama degree.

Who will be teaching you

You will be taught by a dedicated team of academic specialists and professionally-experienced practitioners and benefit from a wide range of learning experiences.

Learning is driven by the principle of research-informed teaching and supported by a team of technicians.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

Typical offer 112-120 UCAS Tariff points. No specific subjects are required.

Relevant experience will be taken into account and all offers are made on the basis of an audition.

Example offers

Qualification Requirement
A Level BBC-BBB.
BTEC Extended Diploma (or combination of BTEC QCF qualifications) Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM).
T Level Overall grade of Merit.
International Baccalaureate (IB) We are happy to accept IB qualifications which achieve the required number of UCAS Tariff points. Subject-specific requirements at Higher Level (HL) Grade 5 may apply.
Access to Higher Education Diploma 45 credits at Level 3, for example 15 credits at Distinction and 30 credits at Merit or 24 credits at Distinction and 21 credits at Merit. The required total can be attained from various credit combinations.

Please note, the above examples may differ from actual offers made. A combination of A Level and BTEC awards may also be accepted.

If you have a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent), there is no maximum number of qualifications that we will accept UCAS points from. This includes additional qualifications such as Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), AS Levels that haven't been continued to A Level, and General Studies AS or A Level awards.

English language requirements

International students require IELTS 6.0, with a score no lower than 5.5 in each individual component, or an equivalent English language qualification.

If your current level of English is half a band, one band, or one-and-a-half bands lower, either overall or in one or two elements, you may want to consider our Pre-Sessional English course.

How to apply

Apply full-time

Apply online through UCAS

Read our guide to applying through UCAS to find out more about the application process.

International

Apply as an international student

Please see our international student pages for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Part-time applications require a direct application to Edge Hill. Please select the year of entry that you wish to apply for.

Apply for September 2024 part-time.

Apply for September 2025 part-time.

Should you accept an offer of a place to study with us and formally enrol as a student, you will be subject to the provisions of the regulations, rules, codes, conditions and policies which apply to our students. These are available at www.edgehill.ac.uk/studentterms.

Did you know?

If you join a full time undergraduate degree at Edge Hill University, we will guarantee you the offer of a room in our halls of residence for the first year of your course.

Discover our accommodation

Facilities

The Arts CentreDance, Drama and Musical Theatre students at Edge Hill University enjoy industry-standard teaching and learning facilities in the £7million Arts Centre which is also home to the Rose and Studio Theatres.

The Department of English and Creative Arts’ outstanding resources ensure you gain practical experience to a professional standard. Contemporary performance environments include dance studios, black box drama studios, rehearsal rooms, a theatre construction workshop, costume construction workshop, scene dock, theatre design studios, digital sound studio, digital design suite, music technology room, music practice studios, a recital room and an outdoor amphitheatre. The Studio Theatre also functions as a fully equipped aerial performance space.

The Arts Centre hosts a diverse range of high-quality productions and performers, including comedy, dance, drama and music, designed to supplement English and Creative Arts programmes and entertain both students and the local community.

Where you'll study

Arts Centre

Finance

Tuition fees

UK Full-Time

£9,250

a year

UK Part-Time

£77 per credit

for 360 credits

International

£16,500

a year

The University may administer a small inflationary rise in tuition fees, in line with Government policy, in subsequent academic years as you progress through the course.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as Irish nationals, may be eligible for the UK tuition fee rate.

Financial support

Subject to eligibility, UK students joining this course can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan from the Government to cover the full cost of tuition fees. UK students enrolling on the course may also be eligible to apply for additional funding to help with living costs.

Please view the relevant Money Matters guide for comprehensive information about the financial support available to eligible UK students.

EU/EEA and Swiss students who have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme may be eligible to apply for financial support. Irish nationals can ordinarily apply to Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI). If you are an EU student who does not have settled or pre-settled status, or are an international student from a non-EU country, please see our international student finance pages.

Your future career

A drama degree develops specialist and transferable skills, so you’ll have lots of exciting career options when you graduate. Our EHU-Arts HUB offers professional opportunities to ensure you are industry-ready. If you decide to kickstart your career straight away, you could go for rewarding roles in:

  • theatre production
  • television production
  • acting
  • drama therapy
  • teaching
  • arts administration
  • community outreach

Many of our students choose to pursue their passion with freelance careers as actors, directors, writers or producers, or by starting their own performance company. Others find alternative paths in the creative industries. We’re proud to have alumni working in casting and theatrical agencies, theatres, media production companies and at arts venues across the UK, including with the BBC and Shakespeare North.

Edge Hill drama graduates sometimes decide to continue studying or go into teacher training. One of our alumni is now thriving as head of performing arts in a secondary school. Other students have explored a wide variety of roles: leading visitor experience teams and managing a busy box office in a nationally renowned theatre, a career in social work, and working as drama therapists.

A drama degree is a great way to explore acting, so if performance is your passion, this is the course for you.

Course changes

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information, however our courses are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may necessitate alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses.

Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of professional bodies, revisions to subject benchmarks statements, to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

Track changes to this course

Discover Uni: Full-Time Study

Discover Uni: Part-Time Study

Download our course leaflet