Delve into the relationship between literature and performance, where your analytical skills will unlock fresh interpretations of texts and stylistic nuances of plays. You'll be inspired to stage work in unconventional spaces, guided by your growing creative and critical insight.
for student experience in drama and dance
of students are in work and/or further study 15 months after graduating
University of the Year finalist
Recognised for our graduate success, we’re shortlisted for University of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards 2025.
Overview
Studying English Literature and Theatre, Acting and Performance allows you to develop as a performer while exploring literature from the sixteenth century to the present day. Our teaching team will encourage you to analyse plays and prose, then apply your understanding of character, theme and context to your own performances. From Elizabethan drama to contemporary theatre, you’ll explore how literature and performance reflect and shape society.
Most of your learning will take place in small group seminars and practical workshops, giving you the chance to collaborate closely with your course mates. During these sessions you’ll have access to industry-level theatre spaces and editing suites and be encouraged to perform in both traditional and unconventional venues.
In your final year, you will undertake either a final performance project or literary dissertation, allowing you to take your interests further with a topic or genre of your choice. Our students have received recognition for the quality of their research in Literature dissertations considered for the Early Modern Research Group Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.
You’ll study in – and explore the literary heritage of – an ancient Cathedral city. Our students benefit from research trips to the Cathedral Library, with its priceless collection of rare books and manuscripts and are given opportunities to perform in local theatres and community spaces.
Placements
In your third year, you will have the option to complete our work experience module with options to try various theatre-related roles, including stage management, theatre in education, arts marketing and acting.
Our students have attended many successful professional placements including:
- Mask workshops with Vamos Theatre
- Stage management for Malvern Theatres
- Acted for Reaction Theatre Makers
- Supporting youth and community groups
For some students, this module leads to a career with their placement organisation.
Course content
Each year you will study a mix of mandatory and optional modules. Our diverse curriculum, taught by active writers and performers, will allow you to explore many different literary themes and eras before you choose your dissertation specialism in Year Three.
We regularly review our courses to reflect the latest research and developments in the subject area, as well as feedback from students, employers and the wider sector. As a result, modules may change to ensure the course remains current and relevant. Optional modules will run if enough students choose to study them. It is not guaranteed that all modules will be offered every year.
Careers
Our course has been designed with your future in mind, meaning you’ll graduate with valuable transferrable skills in critical thinking, storytelling, performance, collaboration and communication. Our graduates go on to work in the arts, set up their own companies, or pursue careers where strong writing, research and presentation skills are valued.
A degree in English Literature and Theatre, Acting & Performance could be your first step toward your career as a:
- Publishing proofreader
- Digital copywriter
- Web content manager
- Performers
- Theatre technicians
- Voice actors
- Arts marketers
Opportunities to progress
You may wish to take your learning further and progress onto postgraduate study. Relevant postgraduate degrees at Worcester include:
Course highlights
Teaching and assessment
Our course has been designed by academics and practitioners to prepare you for a career in the arts. Our teaching has an emphasis on academic skills and developing technical, digital theatre and stage management skills.
Teaching and assessment contents
You are taught through a combination of practical workshops, lectures and seminars. The course aims to teach theory through practice so your practical work is integrated with reference to relevant texts and journals and lectures providing a context for each module.
In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.
Meet the team
Get to know a few of the Institute of Arts and Humanities lecturers you'll be learning with.
Dr Sharon Young
Dr Sharon Young is a Fellow of the HEA and her teaching interests include, Renaissance, Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, women's poetry, and literary theory.
Sharon's research focuses mainly on women's poetry of the early modern period, Renaissance revenge tragedy and women's manuscript culture. Sharon has published on female poets and the critical debates of the early eighteenth century and Mary Leapor.
Dr Ildikó Rippel
Ildikó is a performer, writer and lecturer. She is co-founder and artistic director of Anglo-German performance company Zoo Indigo, devising autobiographical performance that engages with social and political themes of gender, cultural identity, displacement and migration. Zoo Indigo’s work combines dark humour, song and multimedia in a postmodern and kaleidoscopic approach, producing politically charged performances.
Dr Daniel Somerville
Daniel Somerville is an artist practitioner, senior lecturer and practice researcher. His research interests are in the fields of performance, theatre, gender and opera studies, with particular focus on the concept of the ‘operatic’ and how it manifests in terms of movement, performance practice and convention, and how this may be applied to contemporary performance making. As an artist practitioner he has choreographed, directed and performed nationally (including at Edinburgh Fringe, The Place, Chisenhale Dance Space and Duckie in London, and for Birmingham Rep) and internationally (including National Theatre Namibia, Market Theatre - Johannesburg, Liberdade Provisoria - Lisbon and on a tour of the Czech Republic).
Dr Lucy Arnold
Dr Lucy Arnold is a specialist in Contemporary literature, with particular research interests in contemporary gothic, narratives of haunting, contemporary women’s writing and psychoanalytic criticism. Her teaching experience spans a wide range of periods and genres but focusses on twentieth and twenty-first century literature. Her published work to date has concerned the writing of Booker Prize winning novelist Hilary Mantel, with her monograph, Reading Hilary Mantel: Haunted Decades, published with Bloomsbury in 2019.
Dr Sharon Young
Dr Sharon Young is a Fellow of the HEA and her teaching interests include, Renaissance, Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, women's poetry, and literary theory.
Sharon's research focuses mainly on women's poetry of the early modern period, Renaissance revenge tragedy and women's manuscript culture. Sharon has published on female poets and the critical debates of the early eighteenth century and Mary Leapor.
Dr Ildikó Rippel
Ildikó is a performer, writer and lecturer. She is co-founder and artistic director of Anglo-German performance company Zoo Indigo, devising autobiographical performance that engages with social and political themes of gender, cultural identity, displacement and migration. Zoo Indigo’s work combines dark humour, song and multimedia in a postmodern and kaleidoscopic approach, producing politically charged performances.
Entry requirements
UCAS tariff points required: 104
| Qualification | Grade |
|---|---|
| A-level | BCC |
| BTEC National Extended Diploma | DMM |
| T-level | Merit |
We do accept Access to HE Diplomas and other qualifications which may not exactly match the combinations above. Work out your estimated points with the UCAS tariff calculator.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please call our Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk.
Fees
Fees contents
UK and EU students
In 2026/27 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees is £9,790 per year.
Tuition fees are reviewed annually and may increase each year for both new and continuing students.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
International students
In 2026/27 the standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees is £17,200 per year.
Tuition fees are reviewed annually and may increase each year for both new and continuing students.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
Student success
Find out more about what our students have gone on to.
Laura Kane - Loving Life In La La Land
Many aspiring actors grow up dreaming of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. From Sunset Strip to the Santa Monica Pier and the Griffith Observatory, the landmarks of Los Angeles are immortalised in our minds by the movies, mapping out a land full of adventure and possibility.
But dreams can come true, and for University of Worcester graduate Laura Kane, Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Beach are no longer the names of exotic locations thousands of miles away, but rather a new home where she is building a successful career as an actor.
Laura Kane - Loving Life In La La Land
Many aspiring actors grow up dreaming of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. From Sunset Strip to the Santa Monica Pier and the Griffith Observatory, the landmarks of Los Angeles are immortalised in our minds by the movies, mapping out a land full of adventure and possibility.
But dreams can come true, and for University of Worcester graduate Laura Kane, Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Beach are no longer the names of exotic locations thousands of miles away, but rather a new home where she is building a successful career as an actor.
Laura Kane - Loving Life In La La Land
Many aspiring actors grow up dreaming of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. From Sunset Strip to the Santa Monica Pier and the Griffith Observatory, the landmarks of Los Angeles are immortalised in our minds by the movies, mapping out a land full of adventure and possibility.
But dreams can come true, and for University of Worcester graduate Laura Kane, Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Beach are no longer the names of exotic locations thousands of miles away, but rather a new home where she is building a successful career as an actor.
How to apply
How to apply contents
Applying through UCAS
UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for full-time undergraduate courses in the UK.
Read our how to apply pages for more information on the application process, or if you’d like to apply for part-time study.
English Literature and Theatre Acting and Performance BA (Hons) - WQ43
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