Do you want to explore theatre and performance, learn about the origins of current practices, and develop your hands-on skills in making new work across a rich variety of genres? Are you ready for the challenge of a company production, as well as group devising, and solo performance? If yes, then this Drama and Theatre degree is for you.
As part of Liverpool Hope University’s world-class creative community you will have the opportunity to develop practical skills including acting, directing, devising, applied theatre, and solo performance. You will make performances and present ideas verbally, as well as improving your skills in critical and reflective writing. We also make full use of the many theatres in Liverpool and you will spend time watching and reviewing work from the Everyman and Playhouse, as well as our own Capstone Theatre.
The degree is taught at the Creative Campus near Liverpool city centre, giving you the benefit of a small campus experience that is supportive of big ambitions, plus several well-equipped studio theatre spaces. Drama and Theatre do not exist in a social vacuum. They are an essential reflection of lives lived, lost, and longed for. Throughout your studies you will be asked to explore performance in relation to contemporary social and ethical contexts, helping you understand of the critical place of performance in twenty-first century society.
Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, rehearsal/seminars of smaller groups of around 15-20 students, and tutorials which typically have no more than 10 students. In your first year of study there are approximately 12 teaching hours each week, which reduces to approximately 10 teaching hours in your second and third years.
On top of teaching hours, you will also be expected to spend a number of hours studying independently each week, as well as rehearsing for group assessments or performances.
There are a variety of assessments that you need to complete, including coursework comprising of essays, reviews, and self-reflective writing. Practical work is assessed through presentations and live performances. In your final year, you will complete a dissertation.
The Foundation Year is a great opportunity if you have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualifications required to enter directly onto our degree programmes. A significant part of the Foundation Year focuses upon core skills such as academic writing at HE level, becoming an independent learner, structuring academic work, critical thinking, time management and note taking.
Successful completion of the Foundation Year will enable you to progress into the first year (Level C) of your chosen honours degree. Further details can be found here.
In your first year, you will be introduced to key texts and acting approaches through explorations of Liverpool's rich creative history, equipping you with essential subject-knowledge while developing your understanding of contemporary arts communities within a major world city. You will work collaboratively to create new performances responding to theatre history, and to the spaces and places which have helped to shape the city’s creative self-expression. You will also benefit from specialist classes on key acting skills, such as improvisation and vocal technique.
Your second year allows you to investigate key intellectual and creative issues such as disability, gender, identity, and community. You will also learn about research techniques, as well as honing your presentation skills. You’ll begin to investigate a signature practice in depth. For example, you may choose to focus on the development of applied theatre as a field of practice and its many areas, such as Community Theatre, Prison Theatre, Theatre/ Drama in Education, Arts and Well- Being, and Museum Theatre. You will additionally participate in a major staff-directed production, which result in fully-staged public performances of classic and contemporary plays.
In your final year, you will complete an individual research project with specialised supervision from within the School. Technique-focused classes will develop your skills in movement and ensemble. You will specialise in two of the programme’s signature practices. For example, you can choose to set up a theatre company and deliver a drama programme within the community, create a piece of contemporary multimedia performance, or adapt a classical play for new audiences. You can also opt to direct a play with a cast of first year students, work intensively towards the public rehearsal of a scene from classic drama, or create a solo spoken-word storytelling show.
There is a range of career opportunities available to Drama and Theatre graduates. For many of our students, their degree will lead to a PGCE, and a rewarding career in teaching. Other graduates choose to work with young people or communities across a range of settings, as applied drama practitioners in the areas of youth work, addiction and recovery, and theatre-in-education. For some, professional training in dramatherapy will offer a pathway to using healing aspects of drama as part of the therapeutic process. Many of our graduates take up front-line roles across the creative industries; as actors, performance-makers, stage-managers, writers, and directors. Some choose to form their own theatre companies, creating touring or site-specific performances across the UK. Jobs in creative development, audience engagement, and arts management are also exciting destinations for graduates. Or, if you wish, a Drama degree equips you to take up the challenge of postgraduate study.
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
The tuition fees for the 2020/21 academic year are £9,250 for full-time undergraduate courses.
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,250.
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
As well as tuition fees, you will also need to consider the cost of your accommodation each year whilst you study at university. Visit our accommodation pages for further details about our Halls of Residence.
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
The International tuition fees for the 2020/21 academic year are £11,400 (provisional) per year for full-time undergraduate courses.
Visit our International fees page for more information.
With Foundation year, this degree is only available to study as a Single Honours course.
Department staff