Drama Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Course summary

The BA (Hons) Drama programme is built to achieve the core Graduate Attributes: a Creative Maker, Critical Thinker, who is Work Ready with a clear emphasis on learning through practice. The purpose of the programme is to nurture students’ creativity, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to compete in an ever-changing work environment, whether as makers in the UK’s world-leading creative industries sector, or in the wide variety of modern industries that increasingly require flexible, creative and critical skills. 

 

Drama at UWS is characterised by a focus on process-driven creative practice, enabling students to work in experimental and dynamic ways that go beyond traditional modes of theatre-making and is grounded in an established tradition of theatre practice in Scotland.   

 

The programme focuses on the pillars of collaborative making, critical analysis and autonomous development. Over four years, students are led through processes of performance making that align them with current industry standards and position them within the contemporary Scottish theatre industry. Students are grounded in critical analysis skills, developing sophisticated approaches to engaging with and thinking about their work and the world around them. Through the development of their collaborative practice and critical skills, supported by a programme-wide commitment to authentic assessments, our student develop autonomy, responsibility, and knowledge they need to succeed as graduates of UWS. We also actively broaden the scope of real-world industry knowledge and employability for our students through embedded partnerships with a variety of organisations at different scales in Scotland’s theatre industry, including established relationships with the Citizen’s Theatre (Glasgow), Gaiety Theatre (Ayr), and Stellar Quines (Kirkcaldy). The BA (Hons) Drama provides a route to further study and training including postgraduate research and taught programme pathways, teacher training, and other professional development opportunities. 

 

Programme Highlights

BA (Hons) Drama is delivered by a highly research-active team working across the key practical and critical disciplinary areas of the programme, each of whom directly incorporate elements of their research and creative practice into the design and delivery of the teaching. 

 

The programme is underpinned by the process of creative practice and all modules ultimately serve this function. Key to the programme is learning through doing, meaning that theoretical concepts explored during the programme will be interrogated in the performance studio.

Programme Details

Whatever your eventual career goal, the Drama programme at UWS is designed to empower you to explore and build your creative skills and interests to pursue a variety of possible pathways. We recognise the important role that having practical, industry-focused experience has on securing a graduate career, which is why this programme offers a range of real-world professional settings to help you hone your practice.

By offering a combination of practical and theoretical study, this programme will provide you with the opportunities to work across multiple disciplines so that you can learn and create independently and collaboratively in a variety of contexts, from professional performance making, to community arts, education, and further research.

Careers

The BA (Hons) Drama programme UWS will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to kick-start the following career pathways:

Performer

Director

Producer

Writer

Community theatre maker

Teaching and facilitation

Postgraduate study and research