Drama and English

Drama and English is a combination that makes natural intellectual sense: drama is literature in its performed form, and understanding it fully requires both the analytical skills of literary study and the practical knowledge of how texts come alive on stage. Drama asks how theatre creates meaning through bodies, space, voice, and the relationship with an audience. English literature asks how language, narrative, and form have been used to explore human experience across centuries and cultures.

Together, they give you both critical rigour and creative practice, developing your analytical mind alongside your capacity to make and perform.

At Aberystwyth University, this three-year, full-time programme combines theory and practice, allowing you to explore culture, performance, and society through the interpretation and staging of dramatic texts alongside the study of literary culture more broadly. You will examine how theatre functions as a social and political art form, and you will engage with the full sweep of English literature, asking how writing has shaped and been shaped by the worlds it inhabits. Aberystwyth's Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies and Department of English and Creative Writing bring complementary strengths to the programme, and the combination of perspectives enriches both strands of study.

You will also experiment with creative writing, developing your understanding of how language can be used to transform and reimagine the world.

A typical entry tariff of 120 points reflects an accessible admissions threshold. Graduates from drama and English programmes go on to careers in theatre and performance, education, arts administration, publishing, journalism, broadcasting, community arts, and a wide range of other fields that value the combination of critical thinking, creative practice, and communication skills the degree develops. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in literature, theatre studies, creative writing, or education, while others move into teaching, acting, directing, or writing careers.