BA (Hons) English Literature and Drama
Course options
Key Details
- Award
- Degree of Bachelor of Arts
- UCAS Course Code
- WQ43
- Typical Offer
- ABB
- Contextual Offer
- BBC
- Course Length
- 3 years
- Course Start Date
- September 2025
Why you should choose us
Course Overview
English Literature and Drama both explore how characters, stories, and forms of expression allow us to reflect on ourselves and imagine new worlds. Working between language, imagery, and imagination, these powerful artforms tell us about our history, and give us the tools to explore who we're and who we could be.
This English Literature and Drama degree offers you the opportunity to study in two brilliant departments, learning from researchers, writers, artists, and literary critics. You’ll learn about writing and criticism across prose, poetry, and drama, and how to bring texts to life in performance.
You’ll encounter literature from across centuries and genres, from ancient epic to modern experimentation, and from medieval quests to contemporary fiction. You’ll explore theatre practices from around the world, on the page, on the stage, and on screen. You’ll learn the art and craft of theatre-making, writing, and production.
You’ll work in our professional Drama Studio. You'll benefit from our highly regarded student-run Minotaur Theatre Company, giving you the chance to gain even more performance, technical, and scriptwriting experience. Studying in Norwich means you’ll have access to a rich arts scene, including Norwich Theatre, Norwich Arts Centre, UEA Live, and the National Centre for Writing.
Through the degree, you’ll learn how to be an engaged reader, thinker, writer, and maker. You’ll be prepared for careers in theatre and film, as a writer or critic, and for a host of other fulfilling professions both within and outside of the creative industries.
Placement Year and Study Abroad
You’ll be able to apply to study abroad for one semester of your second year if you wish. Studying abroad is a wonderfully enriching life experience, giving you the opportunity to study literature and drama in a new cultural context, as well as the freedom to explore a new city and make lasting new friendships.
At UEA, you’ll also be surrounded throughout your degree by the many students we welcome from around the world to study with us.
For further details, visit the Study Abroad section of our website.
Study and Modules
Structure
In your first year, you’ll lay the foundations for your practical drama work and begin to explore acting techniques while also developing your knowledge of technical areas such as stage management or lighting. You’ll sharpen your analytical skills in our varied literature modules, reading texts spanning centuries and extending your knowledge of literature and drama. You’ll also get a grounding in dramatic traditions from across the globe and across time in a module which introduces you to world dramatic literatures and performance practices.
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
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. Practical workshops in technical theatre and performance underpin your creative journey. You'll get to grips with plays in drama seminars where you might find yourself workshopping parts for performance in order better to understand them. Our team of literary critics gives compelling lectures, packed with new ideas. You'll benefit from lively discussion of the books you've been reading in literature seminars, including in small groups. You'll meet your academic adviser, who will support you through your whole degree with everything from choice of modules to launching your career.
If you’d like to get a sense of what sorts of texts and performances you might study in your first year, take a look at our list of suggested (but entirely optional) reading for incoming students for Drama and for Literature!
Independent Learning
You'll spend time doing everything from reading plays to rehearsing parts for the stage, at the same time as benefitting from our 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. On the literature side, you’ll read extraordinary books, with a framework of guided tasks provided by your lecturers to help you get the most out of them. You'll explore the library, discovering a wealth of new resources to enrich your studies.
Assessment
Assessment
Our BA English Literature and Drama modules do not have written exams (apart from one technical theatre test). The technical theatre 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, as will elements of your contribution to classes and creative processes. You'll develop renewed enthusiasm for writing academic essays, and express your thinking in a diverse variety of forms, like reviews or personal reflective writing.
Feedback
You're given constant feedback on your practical work, helping you to deepen your craft as a performer. To prepare for coursework, you'll receive feedback on pieces of 'formative' work from your tutors in one-to-one tutorials. Feedback on assessed work will be returned within 20 working days (after it has been carefully marked and moderated). As your first year does not count toward your overall degree result, it's the perfect moment to experiment and take risks.
Structure
In the second year of your English and drama degree, you’ll have a wealth of options, both theatrical and literary-critical, allowing you to build a programme that suits your developing interests. You'll learn about theatre and the creative industries, the range of work done in theatre both within and outside of traditional theatre buildings, and how theatre is funded, programmed, and advertised. Alongside this, you can choose modules that explore devised performance or directing, or focus on performance skills. Other modules concentrate on drama, from Shakespeare to current work, or literature, from medieval tales to contemporary fiction, or allow you to pursue a short-term work placement in an external organisation. You can also sample our world-famous creative writing tuition or experiment with one of our innovative creative-critical hybrid modules.
Compulsory Modules
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 0, Max Credits: 60)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)Optional C Modules
(Min Credits: 40, Max Credits: 60)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, and you might also decide to specialise in areas such as directing, acting, or technical work. If you take a scriptwriting workshop, you'll benefit from the guidance of a published, practising writer as you develop your work. Lectures and seminars will immerse you in particular eras of literature, while you might also take seminars in more vocational topics like journalism or publishing (using our state-of-the-art Media Suite). You might also decide to take a placement-based module, where you put your knowledge and skills into professional practice.
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'll continue to master the craft of literary criticism and discover where your real literary passions lie. You'll gain the confidence to take more risks in your academic work, finishing the year with a real sense of how your love of literature and theatre will underpin your career.
Assessment
Assessment
You'll continue to be assessed on your practical work in all its forms, whether that's acting, directing, filmmaking, technical theatre, or collaborative work. You'll also continue to submit coursework for all your literature modules, taking your essay writing to new heights (in projects of around 2500 words) and becoming increasingly daring in your work. While essay writing remains the cornerstone of your degree, you might also submit podcasts, videos, or exhibition plans, or experiment with 'creative criticism', for instance by writing a short story to show off what you've learnt about that form.
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, from both your English Literature and Drama tutors.
Structure
In the second year of your English and drama degree, you’ll have a wealth of options, both theatrical and literary-critical, allowing you to build a programme that suits your developing interests. You'll learn about theatre and the creative industries, the range of work done in theatre both within and outside of traditional theatre buildings, and how theatre is funded, programmed, and advertised. Alongside this, you can choose modules that explore devised performance or directing, or focus on performance skills. Other modules concentrate on drama, from Shakespeare to current work, or literature, from medieval tales to contemporary fiction, or allow you to pursue a short-term work placement in an external organisation. You can also sample our world-famous creative writing tuition or experiment with one of our innovative creative-critical hybrid modules.
Optional A Modules
(Min Credits: 60, Max Credits: 90)Optional B Modules
(Min Credits: 30, Max Credits: 60)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 final year, you can take specialist modules in both disciplines. On the literature side, you'll have the chance to explore cutting-edge literary topics, such as banned books or early modern women’s writing, in our three-hour seminars, taught by a subject-specialist. You’ll have the option to spend the whole second semester of your final year working as part of a near-professional theatre company in our Drama Studio to create a production. You'll be led by a member of our core Drama teaching team and mentored by professionals in stage management, costume design, set building, movement, and marketing.
Independent Learning
You'll either collaborate with your peers in the drama production or work independently on projects in each of your modules. You'll be doing research and spending time in rehearsal, developing your independent skills in understanding and making theatre. At the same time, you'll bring together all the skills and confidence you've developed in independent research and critical writing, as you master the fields of literary study that have come to matter the most to you
Assessment
Assessment
If you choose to take part in the drama production, 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. On the literature side, you'll continue to submit 100% written coursework, perfecting the craft of essay writing in more substantial and independently conceived projects (3500-5000 words). You might also find yourself submitting reflective writing about your performances, scripts, or pieces of creative-critical writing, where you fuse critical with imaginative writing.
Feedback
As well as constant advice on your practical work as it develops, you'll receive written feedback on this work, too. Written work in your third year continues to be supported by feedback on formative writing. All the feedback you've received on the literature side enables you to graduate with highly developed skills in writing and argument which are hugely valued by employers.
Entry Requirements
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
We welcome and value a wide range of qualifications, and we recognise that some students might take a mixture of different qualifications. We have listed typical examples that we accept for entry.
You should hold or be working towards the specified English and Mathematics requirements and one of the examples of typical entry qualifications listed below. If your qualifications aren’t listed, or if you are taking a combination of qualifications that isn’t specified, please contact Admissions.
- English and Mathematics
All applicants must hold or be working towards GCSEs in English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade C or grade 4.
In place of Mathematics GCSE we can also consider Functional Skills Level 2 Mathematics.
We accept a wide range of English Language qualifications, please see our English Language equivalencies page.
- Contextual Offers
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.
- Typical UK Entry Requirements
A levels
ABB including English Literature or one of the subjects listed below.
Contextual: BBC including English Literature or one of the subjects listed below:
English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
BTEC
Level 3 Extended Diploma: DDM plus A-Level grade B in English Literature or one of the subjects listed below.
Contextual: DMM plus A-Level grade B in English Literature or one of the subjects listed below:
English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
Combinations of BTEC and A levels
Diploma: DD plus B at A-Level in English Literature or one of the above subjects.
Contextual: DD plus C at A Level in English Literature or one of the above subjects.
Extended Certificate: D plus BB at A-Level including English Literature or one of the above subjects.
Contextual: D plus BC at A Level including English Literature of one of the above subjects.
BTEC in Public Services, Uniformed Services and Business Administration are all excluded from our BTEC offers.
Access to HE Diploma
Access to Humanities and Social Sciences Pathway. Pass Access to HE Diploma with Distinction in 30 credits at Level 3 and Merit in 15 credits at Level 3.
T levels
Not accepted
Foundation Year options:
If you do not meet the academic requirements for direct entry, you may be interested in one of our Foundation Year programmes such as: BA English Literature with a Foundation Year
- Further Examples of Typical Entry Requirements
International Baccalaureate
32 points overall including 5 in HL English, History, Global Politics or Psychology.
Irish Leaving Certificate
3 subjects at H2, 3 subjects at H3 including English Literature or one of the following subjects: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
Scottish Highers
AAABB including English Literature, or one of the following subjects: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
Scottish Advanced Highers
BCC, including English Literature or one of the following subjects: English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
A combination of Advanced Highers and Highers may be acceptable.
- 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.
- Admissions Policy
Our Admissions Policy applies to the admissions of all undergraduate applicants.
- This course is open to
UK and International fee-paying students. Choose UK or International above to see relevant information. The entry point is in September each year.
We welcome and value a wide range of qualifications, and we recognise that some students might take a mixture of different qualifications. We have listed typical examples that we accept for entry.
You should hold or be working towards the specified English and Mathematics requirements and one of the examples of typical entry qualifications listed below. If your qualifications aren’t listed, or if you are taking a combination of qualifications that isn’t specified, please contact Admissions.
- English and Mathematics
All applicants must hold or be working towards GCSEs in English Language and Mathematics at minimum grade C or grade 4.
In place of Mathematics GCSE we can also consider Functional Skills Level 2 Mathematics.
We accept a wide range of English Language qualifications, please see our English Language equivalencies page.
- Typical International Entry Requirements
A levels
ABB including English Literature or one of the subjects listed below:English Language and Literature, English Language, History, Ancient History, History of Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classical Civilisation, Classical Studies, Politics, Government and Politics, Sociology, Drama, Theatre Studies, Film Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Media Studies, Psychology or Law.
International Baccalaureate
32 points overall including 5 in HL English, History, Global Politics or Psychology.
We accept many international qualifications for entry to this course. For specific details about your country, view our information for International Students.
- 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.
- 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):
-
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.
-
- 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.
- 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 other course-related costs.
How to Apply
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 English Literature and Drama graduates go into careers in theatre, film, or radio, as writers, 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 The Crown and House of the Dragon) and the presenter of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Greg James. For others, the degree is a stepping-stone towards careers in the arts, media, publishing and politics, charities and NGOs, teaching, and the commercial sector.
Our award-winning 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 and literature into a foundation for your future career.
Careers
Examples of careers you could enter include:
- Theatre and film
- Journalism
- Media
- Teaching
- Finance
- Publishing
Discover more on our Careers webpages.