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 and caring close knit community of staff and students. Independent thought and innovation is 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. Studying drama at Worcester brings with it 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; Magic Attic Theatre for children; Albion, a political performance company 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 and the University Choir.

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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.

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

Drama & Performance may be studied as a Single Honours or as a Joint Honours in combination with another subject. Popular subjects studied in joint combination with Drama & Performance include English Literary Studies, Film Studies, Fine Art Practice, Psychology, Screenwriting and History. For the latest information, check the UCAS website at www.ucas.com

Study options for drama & performance students include:

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

-Options to work with resident professional theatre companies and on work placements designed to develop your professional experience and employability.

-Access to excellent, modern facilities including Studio Theatre, Digital Arts Centre, Dance Studios, Video Editing Suites and Art Studios.

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

Study options

Single or Joint Honours.

Students studying Joint Honours have the option to specialise through major/minor study from their second year.

Top-up year offered to enable students with an HND in Performing Arts to progress to an Honours degree in Drama
Option to work with resident professional theatre companies and work placement opportunities
Excellent, modern facilities including Studio Theatre, Digital Arts Centre, Dance Studio and Art studios
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

Get in touch

Admissions Office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk

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

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

Visit the Drama Studios page

240-300 UCAS Tariff points including a Level 3 qualification in a related subject e.g. Drama, Theatre Studies, Performing Art.

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.
Various assessment methods are used including rehearsal notes/production files, individual and group practical presentations, theatre reviews, essays and public performances.

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.

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.

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.

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 commercial companies. Examples of projects in 2011 include:

-A funded national tour of a new production of Wedekind’s Spring Awakening
-A commission from Specsavers for students to create a musical street theatre piece to promote contact lenses
-After school clubs in Worcestershire
-Stand-up comedy nights at a local rugby club
-Work with a company that uses drama techniques in employment training

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

Idle Motion Theatre Company brings their new show The Seagull Effect to Worcester Drama Studio after its opening at The Edinburgh Festival. It will be presented to new Drama and Performance first years at a special showing on their first day: Monday September 19th at 6pm, accompanied by a talk by the company. Visit the Idle Motion website.

Spring Awakening
The award winning rock musical about teenage love and angst – will be presented by University of Worcester Drama’s home grown theatre company, Pregnant Fish, at The Angel Centre Worcester on Sept 3 and Oct 1 and 2 at 7.30pm. The student company is fast attracting national acclaim: “The issues dealt with in this story were portrayed with sensitivity and real understanding…Extremely intimate and intense.” -Rob Pudner – www.soundartradio.org.uk. Tickets £5 students. Email: pregnantfish@hotmail.co.uk.

The Ragged Trouser Philanthropists
Robert Tressell’s classic political story of a group of house painters and their struggle for survival in a complacent and stagnating Edwardian England, will be staged at Worcester in a new production by Townsend Productions. The show, which will be staged in the Conference Centre on October 12th at 7.30pm, will feature instrumentation, songs of the period, movement, physicalisation, comedy and characterisation to create the spirit and clarity of the political message. Ticket enquires to Steve Boffy S.Boffy@worc.ac.uk.

Twentieth Century British Theatre, Industry, Art and Empire
The latest book by Dr Claire Cochrane, will be available in October. It explores social and economic factors in different models of theatre across the UK throughout the century will be published by Cambridge University Press.

Reckless Sleepers
One of the UK's most innovative performance companies and a regular collaborator with Drama at University of Worcester presents a new production in the Drama Studio on Thursday October 13th at 7.30pm. They will also be discussing their work with students. Ticket enquiries to Jane George: J.George@worc.ac.uk

The Void Library
In Second Life is a new Virtual Storytelling experience created by Liz Swift, Drama Subject Leader, and the company Void Projects. The Library is open to visitors this autumn and invites you to select books, write your own contributions and travel through a network of virtual rooms, interacting with the environment and its music and embedded stories as you go. Join Second Life to go to the Void Library.

"A Strange, Wondrous, Exasperating Place”
The title of a conference paper being presented by Drama Lecturer Dr Claire Cochrane, at Osaka University, Japan in August. The paper, which looks at Community Priorities and Participatory Theatre in Hull, is to be given at the IFTR Historiography Working Group as part of the IFTR Annual Conference.

Two Marias
Norah's Ark presents Two Marias by Bryony Lavery, a play based on the extraordinary true story of Maria del Amor and Maria del Morte whose identities were switched after a horrific car accident. Two Marias explores love, both gay and straight, and the relationships between mothers and daughters. It is also, to quote Lavery ‘…a play for those scared of losing their loved ones to some unimaginable tragedy. Members of Norah’s Ark all staff, alumni and friendsof the university and Two Marias follows on from the success of their first production was, After Alba, a re-working of Lorca’s The House of Bernada Alba. The company is interested in plays by or about women and in bi-lingual performance. To book please email F.Leighton@worc.ac.uk or phone or text 07981 820110.
In aid of The Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign.