Drama and English Literature

Drama and English literature share a deep historical relationship. Many of the most significant works in the English literary tradition were written for performance, and understanding dramatic texts requires an appreciation of staging, embodiment, and audience that literary reading alone cannot fully provide. Conversely, the analytical and interpretive skills that literary study develops, close reading, attention to language, and critical thinking about meaning and context, illuminate dramatic work in ways that purely practical theatre training does not always reach.

Studied together, these disciplines open each other up.

At the University of Manchester, this three-year full-time degree embraces drama across stage, screen, and beyond, while engaging with a wide range of literary texts from different periods and traditions. You will study the history of theatre and performance, dramatic theory, playwriting, and the practical dimensions of drama, alongside the criticism and literary history of English writing from the medieval period to the present. You will develop close reading skills across both dramatic and literary forms, engage with theoretical frameworks for understanding texts and performances, and have the opportunity to create as well as analyse.

Manchester's location gives you access to a rich and varied theatre culture, and the department has strong research and professional connections.

You will develop the analytical precision and creative sensitivity that both disciplines reward, alongside strong skills in written and verbal communication. The capacity to interpret complex texts, understand historical and cultural context, and communicate ideas persuasively is valuable in many professional settings.

Graduates move into careers in theatre and performance, screen and broadcast media, journalism, publishing, education, the arts and cultural sector, arts administration, and the civil service. The skills developed through drama and literary study are also valued in law, marketing, public relations, and any field that places a premium on communication and interpretation. Postgraduate study in drama, theatre studies, English literature, or creative writing is a natural route for those drawn to research or further specialisation.