What You Will Study

With our drama and theatre course you will learn how to deconstruct, analyse, interpret and perform play texts from a wide range of influential writers, while having the opportunity to devise your own original piece of theatre.

During this course you will develop movement, vocal, communication and characterisation skills as well as learning how to use drama related language and terminology. Alongside this, you will have the opportunity to study plays from the point of view of a director, designer, performer and critic. You will learn about theatre history and look in detail at the work and theory of significant theatre practitioners. You will need to enjoy watching and participating in live theatre and to be articulate in your writing and in the spoken word.

You will take part in two public performances: one will be scripted and the other will be put together by you and your classmates, based on a set theme or topic. There will also opportunities to develop additional skills in workshops on topics such as stage combat, puppet making, lighting operation and budgeting for performance companies.

We have a multi-functional theatre space that seats up to 150 people. You will have access to the state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment supported by a resident stage manager and stage technician. We organise visits to local, regional and national theatres to see live theatre productions as part of the course. Previous trips have included visits to the National Theatre in London to see ‘Twelfth Night’, the Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich to see ‘Dial M for Mayhem’ and Norwich Theatre Royal to see Gecko’s production of ‘Kin’. We also regularly have visits, workshops and talks from industry experts – recent examples include an RSC actor, international set designer, a writer and West End director, and a BBC executive and documentary film maker.