Theatre Arts

Theatre arts is a discipline that integrates the study and practice of performance, design, direction, and the wider craft of making theatre. It is a practical subject that takes ideas seriously, asking students to think about what theatre is, what it can do, and how the choices made in production create or undermine meaning, while also developing the technical and creative skills to put that thinking into practice. Studying it means working in the space between the theoretical and the made, understanding that these are not opposites but aspects of the same activity.

At the University of Derby this programme is delivered at Derby Theatre, a fully equipped professional venue and major live performance space. This means your learning happens in a genuinely professional environment, giving you industry contacts and experience as part of your course rather than as an add-on. The programme includes a foundation year, a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement, making it a comprehensive and professionally grounded education.

The foundation year gives you additional time to build core skills before the main degree, and the sandwich and placement years ensure that professional experience is woven through your studies rather than deferred until after graduation.

Graduates from theatre arts programmes work across the performing arts as actors, directors, designers, stage managers, producers, and in community and applied theatre contexts. The skills developed in the course, including collaboration, creative problem-solving, communication under pressure, and the ability to take and give critical feedback, are valued well beyond the theatre sector. Many graduates also go on to postgraduate training in acting, directing, design, or theatre education, while others build careers in arts management, education, and the broader creative industries.

The Derby Theatre connection means many students leave with real professional relationships already established.