BA Drama / Course details

Our BA Drama course embraces all forms of drama across stage, screen and beyond.

You will explore everything from literary adaptation to street theatre, from activist performance to audio design, from playwriting to directing and experimental film cultures.

You will benefit from teaching informed by recent innovations in theatre, performance and film studies, as well as by historical practices.

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.

You will also be able to draw inspiration from the creative beating heart of the city itself, 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.

You can also 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.

You'll also have the opportunity to engage with professional practitioners working in the cultural industries through your coursework and through extracurricular events.

We aim to:

• produce students capable of engaging creatively and critically with performance;
• develop your skills in critical analysis, independent research and argumentation, and creative practice;
• provide you with knowledge and understanding of drama as cultural process and artistic discourse, through the study of theatre and film histories, dramatic texts, and performance theory and practice;
• facilitate and support the development of your learning skills, critical perception and dramatic imagination;
• provide a curriculum that reflects the diversity of expertise within the Drama Department and the issues currently defining the field;
• foster knowledge, understanding, and experience of the contribution drama can make to local communities and to society at large;
• equip you with the necessary critical tools and relevant practice to begin to make worthwhile contributions to contemporary theatre, film, television or related fields.

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).

Study an additional subject

Flexible Honours may allow you to study an additional arts, languages or cultures subject.

Societies

Join The University of Manchester Filmmaking Society, which exists to provide a platform for aspiring filmmakers attending the university to meet, exchange ideas and create their own cinematic productions.

Join The University of Manchester Drama Society, which is for anyone with an interest in drama, be that acting, directing, writing, filmmaking, costume, set building, stage managing or just watching. One of the largest in the Student Union, the society has links with many of Manchester's award-winning theatrical venues, including the Contact Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre. Each summer the society showcases at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

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.

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.

I love studying Drama in Manchester because you feel like you are constantly working in a creative atmosphere.  

Manchester is also a vibrant and exciting city to be a part of.  

We have opportunities to collaborate with local practitioners and playmakers, helping us to grow our pieces and develop our own ideas.

Hannah Davies, Drama BA  

One of the best things about studying at the University is the number of opportunities for arts-based work. 

There are so many theatres and creative spaces that offer workshops and work experience and it's invaluable for the field I want to go into. 

I've also been able to get involved in theatre work with the Drama Society and a volunteering course with ODD ARTS.  

Both have been really fun and good experience for building a drama CV.

Evie Appleson, Drama BA

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 page.