
- UCAS course code
- WQ4H
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course description

The TiPP (Theatre in Prisons and Probation) course unit in my final year was predictably life-changing.
I always wanted to explore how drama can be used in other contexts. This gave me that chance.
Cara Looij / Graduate
Our BA Drama and English Literature course embraces all forms of drama across stage, screen and beyond, while exploring a wide range of texts from a variety of periods.
In your Drama units, you will explore everything from literary adaptation to street theatre, from activist performance to audio design, from playwriting to directing and experimental film cultures.
For English Literature, you'll explore written forms ranging from illuminated manuscripts and graphic novels to poetry and postmodern fiction, covering areas from the Anglo-Saxon period to American literary and cultural studies, from the Renaissance to the contemporary.
You will benefit from teaching informed by recent innovations in theatre, performance and film studies, as well as by historical practices. You will also become part of a thriving community of students, lecturers and writers at The University of Manchester, based in the heart of a UNESCO City of Literature that has produced some of the world's greatest writers and has a thriving literature and arts scene, including major events like Manchester Literature Festival.
Our comprehensive facilities include the purpose-built Martin Harris Centre, home to the John Thaw Studio, a fully staffed, adaptable performance, rehearsal and workshop space.
Drawing inspiration from the creative beating heart of the city itself, you will study in a city that is home to countless ground-breaking arts organisations and events - from Manchester International Festival, the world's first festival of original work, to HOME, the largest multidisciplinary arts centre outside of the capital.
Aims
We aim to:
- produce students capable of independently evaluating and engaging creatively and critically with performance and, as appropriate, capable of developing technical and artistic skills, critical analysis and argument for themselves;
- provide you with a knowledge and understanding and some experience of drama and performance as cultural process and artistic discourse, through the study of theatre and media history, text, dramatic theory and performance practice;
- offer substantial opportunities to pursue, in parallel, the study of English Literature from the Medieval to the Modern period;
- approach the two subjects as discrete but complementary areas of study;
- facilitate and support the development of your learning skills, critical perception and dramatic imagination;
- provide you with coherent programmes that reflect the diversity of expertise within, and available to, the subject areas of Drama and English and American Studies;
- foster independent learning, evaluation and research;
- foster a knowledge, understanding and, where appropriate, experience through outreach activities, of the contribution drama can make to the local community;
- equip you with the necessary critical tools and relevant practice to begin to make a worthwhile contribution to contemporary theatre, film, television or related fields.
Special features
Placement year option
Apply your subject-specific knowledge in a real-world context through a placement year in your third year of study, enabling you to enhance your employment prospects, clarify your career goals and build your external networks.
Study abroad
You may apply to spend one semester studying abroad during Year 2. Exchange partners are offered through the Erasmus Exchange scheme (in Sweden) and the Worldwide Exchange scheme (eg USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore).
Partner links
You can take advantage of strong links to partner organisations throughout the city, including TiPP (Theatre in Prisons and Probation Research and Development Centre), based here at the University, and Community Arts North West.
Networking opportunities
You'll have the opportunity to engage with professional practitioners working in the cultural industries through your coursework and through extracurricular events.
Teaching and learning
Drama
Manchester is distinct from an acting conservatoire; rather than offering purely vocational training, we bring together theory and practice in the study of Drama as cultural process and artistic discourse.
Your studies will encompass stage and screen, the ancient and the contemporary, the mainstream and the avant-garde.
You'll develop skills in critical thinking, creative problem solving, and the clear articulation of ideas, learning through lectures, seminars, practical workshops, masterclasses and group work.
You will engage with the theories and techniques of practitioners past and present in our dedicated studio spaces.
Practical work is generally workshop-based and not all projects culminate in public performance.
English Literature
Teaching takes the form of tutor-led sessions, lectures and seminars.
A significant part of your studies will be spent reading, taking notes, preparing presentations, and writing essays.
Classroom time is frequently supplemented by new media, such as the virtual learning environment, Blackboard. You will also have access to other digital resources to support your learning
For some course units, you'll join in group work and other forms of collaborative learning.
Coursework and assessment
Assessment includes:
- coursework essays;
- written examinations;
- research reports;
- practical tests;
- learning logs;
- web contributions;
- oral presentations;
- small-scale practical assignments;
- a final-year dissertation or research essay.
The final degree result is based on 25% from Year 2 and 75% from Year 3.
Course unit details
Students who wish to continue the study of literary forms other than Drama might consider this joint course, where you can have a choice of studying the two subjects together in a variety of flexible permutations.
You may therefore take Drama as your 'major' subject (up to 80 credits in any one year) with English as your 'minor' subject (40 credits), or vice versa. Or you may study the two subjects equally (60/60 credits).
Joint Honours students who are not majoring in Drama still have the same access to practical courses as single honours students.
It should also be noted that, should you wish to do a PGCE secondary course in English and Drama after your degree, you may experience difficulty if you have done a 80/40 degree with Drama as the major subject.
This is because some institutions (but by no means all) will only take students who have completed 50% of their studies in English.
Course content for year 1
Course units for year 1
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Theatre & Performance 1 - Texts | DRAM10001 | 20 | Mandatory |
Reading Literature | ENGL10021 | 20 | Mandatory |
Theory and Text | ENGL10062 | 20 | Mandatory |
Literature and History | ENGL10072 | 20 | Mandatory |
Theatre & Performance 2 - Concepts | DRAM10002 | 20 | Optional |
The Art of Film | DRAM10031 | 20 | Optional |
Performance Practices 1 | DRAM10101 | 20 | Optional |
Performance Practices 2 | DRAM10102 | 20 | Optional |
Introduction to Early and Classical Cinema | DRAM13331 | 20 | Optional |
Mapping the Medieval | ENGL10051 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 2
Explore drama practitioners in their historical, cultural, and political context from the birth of modernism to the present day. Weight your studies according to your interests with optional course units ranging from Shakespeare to gender studies. Opt to develop practical skills in writing for performance or another creative discipline. Choose an area of research in either subject for your final year dissertation project.
Course units for year 2
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Theatres of Modernity: the Popular and the Avant-Garde | DRAM20051 | 20 | Mandatory |
American Literature and Social Criticism, 1900-Present | AMER20481 | 20 | Optional |
Contemporary British Cinema | DRAM20031 | 20 | Optional |
Screen, Culture and Society | DRAM20041 | 20 | Optional |
Performance after Modernity: Conflict and Commerce | DRAM20052 | 20 | Optional |
Black on Screen | DRAM20092 | 20 | Optional |
Post-Thatcher British Theatre: New Writing Since 1992 | DRAM20101 | 20 | Optional |
Texts in Rehearsal/Texts in Performance | DRAM20192 | 20 | Optional |
Dramaturgy: Professional Practices | DRAM20291 | 20 | Optional |
A Score is Born: History and Ideology in Hollywood Film Music | DRAM20711 | 20 | Optional |
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Course content for year 3
Continue to weight your studies according to specific fields of interest. Specialise in areas such as poetry, modern literature, Old and Middle English, applied theatre, directing or playwriting. Research and write your dissertation or research essay.
Course units for year 3
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
---|---|---|---|
Climate Change & Culture Wars | AMER30572 | 20 | Optional |
Progressivism in the United States | AMER30581 | 20 | Optional |
Beat Writing | AMER30792 | 20 | Optional |
Long Essay in Drama | DRAM30000 | 20 | Optional |
Video Project 2 - Docufiction | DRAM30062 | 40 | Optional |
Applied Theatre: Theatre in Prisons | DRAM30112 | 40 | Optional |
Writing For Performance | DRAM30212 | 40 | Optional |
Performing America | DRAM30221 | 20 | Optional |
Directors Project | DRAM30412 | 40 | Optional |
Films about Film | DRAM30801 | 20 | Optional |
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Facilities
Home to Music and Drama at Manchester, the purpose-built Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama includes:
- the John Thaw Studio Theatre, a flexible, fully equipped performance space with seating for 150 people;
- workshops, rehearsal rooms and screening rooms, including sound and video-editing suites;
- the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, an acoustically designed auditorium seating up to 350 people;
- the Lenagan Library, our dedicated performing arts library.
The University is also home to internationally renowned cultural assets such as:
- the multi award-winning Whitworth Art Gallery;
- the John Rylands Library, home to one of the world's finest collections of medieval illuminated manuscripts and rare books;
- Manchester Museum, home to important prehistoric, classical and ethnographic collections.
Globally renowned for its arts and cultural offer, Manchester is home to the second highest concentration of theatres in the UK, as well as Manchester International Festival and the £110 million development, The Factory.
Learn more on the Facilities pages for Drama and English Literature .