Course Catalogue

The Single Honours degree programme in Drama and Creative Writing gives students the opportunity to study two distinct but cognate academic disciplines. Both subjects are concerned with the ways in which cultural artefacts express meanings that are central to an experience of life through their respective modes of story-telling. Creative Writing emphasises the crafts and histories of the creation of a range of texts including prose, poetry and script while Drama focuses on texts in production and performance, their production and history as well as the development of a range of new theatre crafts and new work. Key bespoke Drama modules allow students to explore the idea of signification through non-verbal performance texts and the performance skills in body and voice that enable students to present their own creative writing. In Drama there is an emphasis on group work, production and performance combining the theoretical with the creative and practical such that learning is achieved both through the collaborative process and individual study. Although group discussion is central to the study of Creative Writing, there is more emphasis on students working as individuals engaged in reading and writing. In combination, the two disciplines aim to : • Provide students with appropriate development in and synthesis of kinaesthetic and performative skills with analytic and verbal abilities • Extend students’ ability to analyse critically and work creatively with a variety of cultural texts, both literary and performative • Enable students to develop their abilities to work both independently and collaboratively, as critical and creative thinkers and communicators. • Enable students to view their own work in the wider context of employability and possible graduate pathways. • Promote the development of graduates who are critical independent thinkers possessing a range of transferable skills. Within this broader context, the specific aims of the Drama and Creative Writing programme are: • Provide a collaborative and co-operative context in which to explore Drama and Creative Writing as media of communication for the individual and the group, paying due regard to audience and the marketplace; • Foster students creative enthusiasm for Drama and Creative Writing and develop the capacity to respond creatively to a broad range of stimuli , by engaging in scholarship through practice; • Facilitate opportunities for students to develop the technical skills and the artistic and cognitive insights necessary to engage effectively in the study and practice of Drama and Creative Writing

The knowledge and understanding is acquired via skill based and exploratory workshops, lectures, seminars, production work and discursive sessions in tutorial. Knowledge and understanding is assessed via coursework, including group and individual practical work supported by evaluative statements/reports, formal essays, oral presentations, dissertations and viva voce, including self and
peer assessment where appropriate.
Intellectual (thinking) skills are promoted through teaching in lectures, practical class, seminar group discussion and tutorial. Learning to apply these thinking skills to drama is achieved by practical production work, formal essays and independent projects. Intellectual (thinking) skills are assessed by coursework essays, oral presentations and viva. At level six, students, with appropriate guidance undertake extended independent research and write a dissertation, which both addresses and measures key thinking.
Workshop based classes and production projects are the fundamental means of teaching and learning practical skills. Self, group and tutor evaluation inform the learning process at all levels but particularly so at Levels 4 and 5. 

At level 6 students' independence to experiment, develop and test their practical skills in creative projects is supported by regular meetings with staff and peers. Students set themselves targets for the acquisition of specific skills following Personal Development Planning (PDP) meeting with tutors and have the opportunity as the course progresses to identify a particular area of specialism in Drama practice for Level 6 study, which is related to their understanding of their own employability or pathway after graduation. In addition, a range of options in Creative Writing allow students of focus study to their individual interests and developmental needs. PDP further functions as a forum for discussion and a conduit for advice towards furthering the progress of the practice and the attendant
skills. Specialist teachers are employed as necessary on courses requiring specific skills relevant to production and creative projects. 
Assessment of the practical skills is via coursework, workshop and production projects. Drama assessment often involves the staff team monitoring and marking both the process and performance against agreed and written criteria. Assessment of process learning is facilitated by tutor observation, individual logs, self-evaluative essays, self and peer assessment, and viva voce.
Transferable skills are taught and developed through seminars, group work, tutorials, independent study, and work related learning. Sustained independent learning is supported by individual or group tutorials, individual or group supervision, and the formulation of learning agreements. Independence both artistically and in terms of scholarship increases incrementally with the levels. Students receive induction into basic IT skills at Level 4 and are encouraged to use these skills throughout all levels. CANVAS is used to support students' learning on all modules. The ethic of group work is established at level four, based on industry best practices, and developed throughout the programme.
Communication and creative skills and endeavour are central to the programme and inform all practical and production work at all levels.
Assessment of transferable skills is through coursework at all levels. The forms of assessment are structured over the three years of the degree to allow students to develop certain transferable skills, such as those of presentation (oral or written) and communication, collaboration, self-reflection and the skills involved in learning independently.
Overall, academic support and mentoring through the Personal Tutor system allows for a holistic view of each student and their aspirations after graduation.

All students in their first year of study (Level 4) will have an opportunity to engage with the university’s career development and employability programme, as an integral part of a core module of study, establishing a context of assessing personal employability, within which students are encouraged to view their overall study. Further opportunities for work-related learning on the Drama and Creative Writing programme are also offered by modules at Level 6. Drama and Creative Writing students work with published poets, novelists, short story writers, playwrights, publishers, literary editors, film directors and producers and community arts project managers. They also benefit from external links with the publishing and related industries, principally in the form of the work related learning module, The Writer at Work. Writing as professional practice is embedded in all modules throughout the Creative Writing strand. Work-related learning has also been refined by the tutors and students of the Drama department over the past twenty years. The course encourages and facilitates student found placements and work related learning opportunities where appropriate at Level 6 especially in Advanced Theatre Practice modules or as practice connected to Drama Dissertation. There have been many examples of students gaining professional employment as a consequence of placements at Level 6 in professional environments such as; building based theatres (front of house, marketing, community outreach) small scale theatre companies (acting, tour booking, stage management) school drama departments( assistant teachers), casting agencies or media companies (production runners etc). Furthermore the course provides students with input from the staff who collectively have professional credits as actors, playwrights, designers, stage managers and drama teachers. Crucially this input is supplemented by guest speakers who are currently working professionally in the field. Many alumni of the department contribute to the course, including those who have successfully established new theatre companies. Work-related learning is embedded in the practical and theoretical work throughout the programme.