BA (Hons) Drama with a Placement Year
Course options
Key Details
- Award
- Degree of Bachelor of Arts
- UCAS Course Code
- W40P
- Typical Offer
- BBB
- Contextual Offer
- BCC
- Course Length
- 4 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2024
Why you should choose us
Course Overview
Offering an exhilarating immersion in all aspects of theatre, this drama course combines a comprehensive grounding in acting, directing, theatre-making, and practical stagecraft with the thoughtful and inventive study of plays and performances. You’ll explore a range of theatre and performance practices from around the world, combining theoretical and historical knowledge with practical exploration and skills in all elements of theatre-making.
Throughout your drama degree, you will learn from practising directors, scriptwriters, and theatre-makers alongside academic experts in theatre and performance. Once you graduate, your BA Drama degree will open the doors of the theatre world to you – or you might choose to take all the skills you've learnt to any number of careers across the creative industries and beyond.
Our professionally equipped 200-seat Drama Studio will be at the centre of your Drama degree at UEA. You'll have the keys to this amazing space, giving you the chance to control everything in your own productions, from performance and staging to costume, lighting, and sound-design. You'll have similar opportunities to immerse yourself in practical stagecraft to those on offer in a Drama School.
But your Drama degree doesn't only offer a practical training ground.
At UEA, you’ll encounter an astonishing array of drama, theatre and performance. You’ll engage with major theoretical approaches, actor- and director-training, and techniques for creating and writing your own work. You’ll examine the politics of theatre and performance – and its use by the State, by political activists and by theatre and performance practitioners – to solidify or challenge structures of power. You’ll also discover the cutting-edge theatre companies that are shaping the contemporary performance landscape.
Everything you're learning will deepen your practical work in the theatre. Our drama seminars offer you unrivalled opportunities to master theoretical approaches to dramatic writing and performance analysis. As you get inside the words of plays in the seminar room, you'll become better able to release their energies in your own performance. Each year, you will bring everything that you’ve learnt together in practical projects, and will undertake a wide variety of applied drama work.
You'll also benefit from our highly regarded student-run Minotaur Theatre Company, which gives you the chance to gain even more performance, technical, and scriptwriting experience. Find out more about life in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing on our Instagram @uealdc.
On Drama with a Placement Year, you’ll normally spend 9-12 months of your third year in a placement, gaining invaluable working experience and employability skills in a relevant area of your choice.
Placement Year and Study Abroad
Want to graduate with professional experience? On this course, you will normally spend 9-12 months of your third year* in a placement, gaining invaluable work experience and employability skills in a relevant area of your choice. You will be expected to seek your own work placement, and will be supported in doing so by UEA’s Career Central Service and your School. Support for you to find your placement will start early in the first year and will be tailored to the particular needs you will have at various stages of the process.
The field in which you will do your placement will depend on your own interests, and some of the preparatory workshops will help you have a clearer idea of what these are, what your values are, and which career they may lead to. Drama graduates go into a wide range of sectors, and so placements can be done in fields such as heritage, business, the public sector, creative industries and many more. We will, however, require that the tasks you will conduct as part of your placement meet the required learning outcomes and are complex enough to help you develop a range of skills that you will be able to translate and use during the final year of your degree and your post-graduation career.
*Placements may be shorter on some occasions, or take place during different years of the degree, but this has to be agreed by the Placement Director and Learning and Teaching Services.
Have a business idea? If you have an idea you think would make a great business, you may be able to turn your Placement Year into a ‘Year in Enterprise’*. Your idea (business plan, budget etc.), motivation and academic record would have to be assessed by our team. Should you be given the go-ahead, you could use the year to start your businesses in a structured and supportive environment, accessing numerous training courses and extensive mentoring.
*Note that if you’re studying with us on a Student Visa, you can’t currently undertake a Year in Enterprise due to Visa rules.
Study and Modules
Structure
In your first year, you’ll receive the keys to the kingdom – or rather, the Drama Studio. But you have to earn them first, through an intensive induction course in all aspects of safe studio use. This practical focus continues throughout the year with training in lighting, sound, stage management, workshop skills, costume, and stage design. You’ll develop your on-stage skills through actor- and performer- training, with the option to take an intensive module on Acting. This will be enriched by your study of plays from across the globe and across time, as you explore how contemporary writers are reimagining or contesting older traditions. You’ll also encounter the exciting world of contemporary theatre companies, and think about how you might enter that diverse ecosystem. This rich mix culminates at the end of the year with a practical project from a work of modern British theatre.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 20)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
Your Drama tutors combine a wealth of practical experience in all kinds of performance with deep academic knowledge of the history, theory, and contemporary practice of theatre. You'll benefit from visiting artists' workshops and the chance to hear from renowned, award-winning playwrights. You'll hone your practical drama skills in workshops and technical classes, and learn the fundamentals of the actor's craft (such as movement and breath control). You'll study plays and get to grips with the contemporary theatre landscape in seminars. But at UEA there's no division between 'academic' and 'practical' study of theatre – in those seminars, you'll find yourself workshopping parts for performance in order better to understand them!
Independent Learning
You'll spend time doing everything from reading plays to rehearsing parts for the stage to discovering the theatre scene in Norwich, at the same time as benefitting from student-run theatre company, Minotaur, where you can gain even more experience in practical performance. Your technical training will qualify you to work independently in our professionally-equipped Studio.
Assessment
Assessment
Our BA Drama modules do not have written exams (apart from one technical theatre test). The technical skills you're developing will usually be assessed through tasks such as making a 3D model of a set, designing a costume, or placing mics on a soundstage. Your performance work will be graded, and so will the rehearsal process, capturing your development in the round. You'll also write analytical essays, creative responses, or pieces where you reflect on your own practice in the theatre. You only need to pass your first year and your marks do not form part of your final degree, which makes it the perfect opportunity to take risks and develop as a performer and thinker.
Feedback
You're given constant feedback on your practical work, helping you to deepen your craft as a performer. When it comes to written work, you'll often submit 'formative' work which leads towards your final submission and on which you receive feedback. You'll be supported by an academic adviser, who oversees your whole journey as a Drama student at UEA.
Structure
By your second year, you’ll be ready to take flight, engaging in practical work in a variety of real-world contexts. This could include schools, hospitals, and local theatre companies. You may also take up an internship with a professional venue or company, and focus intensively on your performance or practical skills. You’ll have the option to explore what it is to direct and act for the camera, with the intention of drawing out the most exciting and edgy filmic performances. Other options allow you to study drama from the traditional repertoire, like Shakespeare, right up to new, cutting-edge contemporary drama, political and feminist theatre, queer theatre, or technical theatre. You can also try your hand at scriptwriting, under the supervision of our leading creative writers, or branch out into other literature or writing modules.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 60, Max Credits: 100)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 20)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 20)Optional D Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 20)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
In the second year, you'll continue to explore and discover new areas of practice – including more radical performance modes or forms of political theatre – and you might decide to specialise in areas such as directing, acting, or technical theatre. You'll have a wealth of opportunities to make your own theatre with the support of our staff. For instance, you'll be mentored through the process of producing a piece of theatre with an organisation such as a school, museum, or charity, demonstrating the value of theatre in a community context. If you choose to produce screen work, you'll be mentored by a well-regarded independent filmmaker. If you take a scriptwriting workshop, you'll benefit from the guidance of a published, practising writer.
Independent Learning
As you make theatre and performance work with greater confidence, you'll naturally work with greater independence. This might mean deepening your collaborations with your peers or making solo projects. You might choose to take a supervised short-term industry placement to build up your professional experience.
Assessment
Assessment
You'll continue to be assessed on your practical work in all its forms, whether that's acting, directing, filmmaking, or technical theatre. This year, you’ll have lots of chances to create your own performances. Your writing will be assessed, too, but this year you might also submit creative writing inspired by one of our celebrated scriptwriting workshops. When you produce theatre with an organisation such as a charity or museum, the entire process through which you devise your piece in collaboration with a real-world client will form part of your final mark, and you'll write an essay which reflects on that process and evaluates your project's success.
Feedback
Your practical work is constantly enriched by your drama tutors' feedback during rehearsals, and you'll continue to receive advice on 'formative' writing, too. In a scriptwriting workshop, you'll benefit from the constructive critique of your workshop's leader (a published, practising writer), and of your peers. When you’re collaborating with a client, you will be informed by the regular advice of your drama tutors, and you'll receive feedback from the client at the end.
Structure
Your third year will be spent on your placement, providing you with the opportunity to experience the world of work while applying some of the skills and knowledge you’ve developed during your first two years of study.
Compulsory Modules
Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
You’ll spend your third year on a placement. You will be responsible for securing the placement, supported by UEA’s well-established connections throughout the UK and beyond. During your placement, you’ll be supported by a placement mentor, who will regularly monitor and review your progress with you, and you’ll have access to remote support from UEA, too, to make sure everything is going smoothly and that you’re getting the most of your experience.
Assessment
You will be asked to reflect on your placement by, for instance, offering a self-appraisal of what you have learnt and demonstrating your broader commercial awareness of your placement’s sector.
Structure
Your fourth year brings together all the skills you’ve developed so far in a major production, realising a single play or group of plays in a full production in the Studio. You and your peers will work together on all aspects of the production process, from the earliest planning stages, through rehearsal and publicity, to taking your final bow. You’ll also engage in an individual project (often a performance, script, or film), and may opt to write a dissertation (which might be an extended piece of critical analysis or an original script) or to take another specialist module.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Credits: 30)Whilst the University will make every effort to offer the modules listed, changes may sometimes be made arising from the annual monitoring, review and update of modules. Where this activity leads to significant (but not minor) changes to programmes and their constituent modules, the University will endeavour to consult with students and others. It is also possible that the University may not be able to offer a module for reasons outside of its control, such as the illness of a member of staff. In some cases optional modules can have limited places available and so you may be asked to make additional module choices in the event you do not gain a place on your first choice. Where this is the case, the University will inform students.
Teaching and Learning
Teaching
You'll spend the whole first semester of your fourth year working as a near-professional theatre company. You'll be led by a member of our core BA Drama teaching team and mentored by professionals in stage management, costume design, singing, set building, movement, and marketing. Elsewhere in the fourth year, you might find yourself in a creative writing workshop, literature seminar, or working one-on-one with a member of our Drama team on your dissertation (which can take the form of your own original script, if you wish).
Independent Learning
As well as collaborating with drive and passion with your peers in the Drama Production, you'll also bring together everything you've learnt across your degree by working independently on a Drama Project (supervised by a member of our Drama team). Recent superb examples have ranged from a documentary on mental health in black communities in London to a piece of solo gig theatre focussed on a woman imprisoned for smuggling drugs, which went on to become the award-winning show HATCH.
Assessment
Assessment
In your final year drama production, one of the capstones of your degree, your rehearsal and technical work will be continuously assessed by your mentor and the drama tutor who's leading the whole project, and your final performance will be marked and that mark moderated by an external examiner. Your Drama Project will also be assessed and externally moderated to ensure robust fairness and transparency. In the fourth year, you might find yourself writing reflections on your performances, academic essays, scripts, or pieces of creative-critical writing, where you fuse critical and imaginative writing.
Feedback
As well as constant advice on your practical work as it develops, you'll receive full written feedback on your assessed practice work in the fourth year. Written work in your fourth year – which may also include a choice between research-led seminars or a full-length dissertation in either a creative or a critical mode – continues to be supported by feedback on formative writing.
Entry Requirements
- A Levels
- BBB
- T Levels
- Not accepted
- BTEC
- DDM. Excludes BTEC Public Services, Uniformed Services or Business Administration See below for accepted subjects and combinations
- Contextual Offer
A Level – BCC
BTEC L3 Extended Diploma – DMM (in an Arts/Humanities subject)
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
- Scottish Highers
- AABBB
- Scottish Advanced Highers
- CCC A combination of Advanced Highers and Highers may be acceptable
- Irish Leaving Certificate
- 2 subjects at H4, 4 subjects at H3
- Access to HE Diploma
- Access to Humanities and Social Sciences Pathway. Pass Access to HE Diploma with Merit in 45 credits at Level 3
- International Baccalaureate
- IB 31
- GCSE
You are required to have Mathematics and English Language at a minimum of Grade C or Grade 4 or above at GCSE.
- English Foreign Language
Applications from students whose first language is not English are welcome. We require evidence of proficiency in English (including writing, speaking, listening and reading):
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IELTS: 6.5 overall (minimum 5.5 in all components)
We also accept a number of other English language tests. Review our English Language Equivalencies for a list of example qualifications that we may accept to meet this requirement.
Test dates should be within two years of the course start date.
If you do not yet meet the English language requirements for this course, INTO UEA offer a variety of English language programmes which are designed to help you develop the English skills necessary for successful undergraduate study:
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- Interviews
Most applicants will not be called for an interview and a decision will be made via UCAS Hub. However, for some applicants an interview will be requested. Where an interview is required, the Admissions Service will contact you directly to arrange a time.
- Deferred Entry
We welcome applications from students who have already taken or intend to take a gap year. We believe that a year between school and university can be of substantial benefit. You are advised to indicate your reason for wishing to defer entry on your UCAS application.
- Intakes
This course is open to UK and International applicants. The annual intake is in September each year.
Additional Information or Requirements
Extended Diploma: DDM
Diploma: DD plus B at A-Level
Extended Certificate: D plus BB at A-Level
Not all BTEC routes are accepted.
If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes
UEA are committed to ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all, regardless of their background or experiences. One of the ways we do this is through our contextual admissions schemes.
We welcome and value a wide range of alternative qualifications. If you have a qualification which is not listed here, or are taking a combination of qualifications, please contact us via Admissions Enquiries.
International Requirements
We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. View our International Students pages for specific information about your country.
INTO UEA
If you do not meet the academic and/or English language requirements for direct entry our partner, INTO UEA offers progression on to this undergraduate degree upon successful completion of a preparation programme. Depending on your interests, and your qualifications you can take a variety of routes to this degree:
International Foundation in Business, Economics, Society and Culture (for Year 1 entry to UEA)
International Foundation in Humanities and Law (for Year 1 entry to UEA)
Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.
Fees and Funding
Tuition Fees
View our information for Tuition Fees.
Scholarships and Bursaries
We are committed to ensuring that costs do not act as a barrier to those aspiring to come to a world leading university and have developed a funding package to reward those with excellent qualifications and assist those from lower income backgrounds. View our range of Scholarships for eligibility, details of how to apply and closing dates.
Course Related Costs
Please see Additional Course Fees for details of course-related costs.
How to Apply
Apply for this course through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS), using UCAS Hub.
UCAS Hub is a secure online application system that allows you to apply for full-time undergraduate courses at universities and colleges in the United Kingdom.
Your application does not have to be completed all at once. Register or sign in to UCAS to get started.
Once you submit your completed application, UCAS will process it and send it to your chosen universities and colleges.
The Institution code for the University of East Anglia is E14.
View our guide to applying through UCAS for useful tips, key dates and further information:
Employability
After the Course
Some of our BA Drama graduates go into careers in theatre, film, television, or radio, as performers, writers, directors, developers, agents, casting directors, or artistic directors of their own companies. Recent graduates from our drama degrees include the actor Matt Smith (famous for his portrayal of Doctor Who and his leading roles in Netflix's The Crown and HBO’s House of the Dragon) and the presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Greg James. For others, the BA Drama degree is a stepping-stone towards careers in the arts, media, publishing, politics, charities, NGOs, teaching and the commercial sector. Our Careers Service is here to support you in launching your career by advising with CV writing, internships, and much more. Every year we run an event, ‘Working with Words’, which gives current students the chance to meet and hear from successful UEA alumni from across the creative industries. UEA also has its own in-house student publishing project, Egg Box, along with many other exciting initiatives that give you opportunities to turn your love of drama into a foundation for your future career.
Careers
A degree at UEA will prepare you for a wide variety of careers. We've been ranked 1st for Job Prospects by StudentCrowd in 2022.
Examples of careers you could enter include:
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Theatre and film
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Journalism
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Media
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Teaching
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Finance
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Publishing
Discover more on our Careers webpages.