Drama and Theatre Arts
Goldsmiths, University of London
UCAS Code: W440 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject specific modules
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
With three Higher Level subjects at 655
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Advanced Higher
Scottish Higher
T Level
Each application will be considered on its individual merits. Where the T Level subject area does not directly match the degree programme being applied for, the personal statement and reference will be particularly important in demonstrating interest, enthusiasm and suitability for the subject.
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
The BA in Drama and Theatre Arts is designed to foster creative, radical theatre-makers and thinkers. It is adventurous in form, international in scope and hands-on in practice.
**The Complete Theatre Maker**
- This degree supports you to become the complete theatre maker. At the heart of the programme is a balanced integration of theory and practice. Knowledge gained through making and doing adds to your conceptual understanding, while the insights gained in writing about theatre and society inform the choices you make in your practice-based work.
- Tutored by our diverse and talented team, you will develop technical skills in acting, directing, writing, sound, lighting, scenography, and costume. Bringing these skills together, you will learn how to collaborate and operate in companies, ready to take your own show on the road.
- You will be introduced to a wide range of theatre thinkers, and explore the history and cultural diversity of performance. You will develop a complex understanding of what it means to make theatre in an increasingly global 21st-century society. And with London’s rich theatre culture on your doorstep, you can draw on an exciting range of contemporary practice to inform your thinking and making.
**Groundbreaking and Diverse**
- The BA Drama and Theatre Arts is a radical and innovative degree. The curriculum is responsive to the global reach of our teaching staff, including expertise in African, American, Francophone, Japanese, and South Asian performance, as well as British, European, and Russian theatre traditions. We prepare theatre-makers who are socially, culturally, and politically engaged.
- The degree explores what it means to perform in contemporary culture, mobilising a range of theatre and performance practices from the interpretation of play texts to devised ensemble work and the possibilities opened up by political protest, live art, and the avant-garde.
- Students on this programme typically develop into bold and versatile creatives. They are practically adept and imaginative, critically agile, able to form companies and to manage the business of production. Our bespoke Personal and Professional Development package combines career support with taught elements and introduces you to our dynamic alumni network, ready to take on the world.
Modules
Year 1- In the first year you study the following compulsory modules:
Critical Dialogues A
Critical Dialogues B
Introduction to Dramaturgy
Scenography
Theatre Making 1
Processes of Performance: Encounters with Space
Processes of Performance: The Ensemble
Year 2 - in the second year you take three compulsory modules:
Theatre Making 2
Modernisms and Postmodernity A
The Goldsmiths Elective
Modernisms and Postmodernity B
You'll choose one module from the theme of Modernisms and Postmodernity B.
Bertolt Brecht and Political Theatre
Postcolonial Theatre
Modernisms and Postmodernity B: Activism and the Theatrical Avant Garde
Samuel Beckett: Performance, Writing and Philosophy
Women, Feminism & Playwrighting
Global Theatre Histories
You'll also choose 1 or 2 modules from the theme of Global Theatre Histories. These modules change from year to year, and recent examples include:
Elements of Theatre History: French Theatre
Elements of Theatre History: African Theatre
Elements of Theatre History: Classical Greek Theatre
Elements of Theatre History: Polish Theatre
Shakespeare and the Early Modern
Elements of Theatre History: American Theatre in the Mid-20th Century
Elements of Theatre History: Russian Theatre
Elements of Theatre History: Post-War British Theatre
Questions of Performance
You will also choose 2 optional modules from the theme of Questions of Performance. Module options change from year to year, and recent examples have included:
QoP: Character I
QoP: Self
QoP: Gendered Performance
QoP: Emotion
QoP: Voice/ Text
Year 3
In your final year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:
Culture and Performance: Critical Cultural Theory
BA (Hons) Drama & Theatre Arts Dissertation
Research Methodologies
You also choose optional modules across the following themes.
Culture and Performance B
You choose 1 optional module from the theme of Culture and Performance B. Options change from year to year, and recent examples have included:
Culture and Performance B: Art and Japan
Culture and Performance B: Theatre as a Learning Medium
Culture and Performance B: Modern Black, British and American Drama
Culture and Performance B: Ecological Theatre
Theatre Making 3
You'll also choose optional modules from the theme of Theatre Making 3. Available modules change from year to year, and recent examples have included:
TM3: Devised Community Performance
TM3: Devised Performance
TM3: Live Art/ Performance Art
TM3: Text and Performance
Work placement
Level 6 students may also take an optional Work Placement module
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
Assessment methods
You will be assessed by a range of methods depending on your module choices. These include coursework assignments such as essays, portfolios, research statements and exams, as well as practical assignments such as practice-based presentations and oral presentations, and in your third year, a 10,000-word dissertation, and participation in a public performance festival.
The Uni
Goldsmiths, University of London
Theatre and Performance
What students say
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Drama
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£14k
£21k
£21k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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