Drama and English Literature BA (Hons)

University of Chester

A Combined Honours degree at Chester gives you the opportunity to study two subjects. You will spend a fairly even amount of time studying each subject area, with possible opportunities to declare a major – minor towards the end of your studies.

Drama

Study a unique course where you can creatively engage with both traditional and alternative forms of theatre and performance.

This degree will provide you with opportunities to engage with a wide range of approaches to making theatre and performance. You will study a broad suite of modules which will enhance your knowledge of performance making. This includes looking at traditional forms of theatre, while also engaging with alternative forms of making performance, such as devising.

The degree focuses on practice, theory and industry which allows you to explore performance critically and practically whilst gaining a deeper understanding of diverse performance, as well as creative and research practices. There are also regular guest workshops and talks, and opportunities for work experience through our extensive industry links and our resident, professional theatre companies.

You will work with specialist and highly experienced lecturers, a wide range of professional practitioners and visiting industry professionals with a wealth of industry experience. The team currently includes experienced theatre directors, applied theatre practitioners, and experts in actor training and physical theatre. Alongside this, you can work with specialists in areas such as live art and interactive digital performance. There are a number of extracurricular activities to get involved with, such as regular trips to theatres, galleries and other creative spaces.

English Literature

Discover the power of words, from the earliest times to the present day, as you delve deep into new worlds.

You will study an exciting variety of novels, poems and plays. You might find yourself looking for the psychological undercurrents in a fantasy novel, applying feminist theory to a Renaissance courtly sonnet, studying the motif of the vampire in Gothic horror or exploring the treatment of love in the comedies of Shakespeare. There’s the chance to write a dissertation on a topic of your choosing, exploring your interests. You will develop key skills for the future; our students learn how to frame a convincing argument, express it in discussion, analyse writing in all styles and work independently.

We offer an engaging and supportive atmosphere in which ideas about literature are shared. Group discussion is at the heart of the degree, making the study of literature exciting, varied and dynamic. You can customise your degree as you progress, so by the third year you might be taking several optional modules as well as working on a dissertation that you have created, where you will work individually with a lecturer to complete the project.