Year One
British Theatre since 1939
You will be engaged in an in-depth appreciation of significant and controversial British plays of the post-war period examining the theatre’s response to social and historical trends and becoming familiar with the landmark institutions of new writing Topics include theatrical architecture and design performance styles and the political and philosophical ideas of leading playwrights You will develop analytical skills knowledge of specific productions and the ability to present coherent arguments

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Medieval and Early Modern Literature
Taking you from the mythical court of King Arthur to the real world of ambition intrigue and danger in the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I this module introduces you to early literature written in a range of genres (romance epic fabliau) and poetic forms You will study texts like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Thomas More’s Utopia Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and Shakespeare’s sonnets to explore some of the period’s highest ideals—‘trawthe’ or integrity—as well as some of humanity’s darkest impulses greed deception revenge and desire

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Theatre and Performance in Context
This module considers what theatre and performance can tell us about our histories cultures societies and identities You’ll watch read and study a range of theatre and performance from across historical cultural and geographical borders in order to see how it not only reflects society but also seeks to change and shape it The module is split into four blocks considering theatre and gender race sexuality and class This module will help you to hone your academic writing research and presentation skills which will serve you throughout your degree

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Plus one of the following options

Epic into Novel
Tracking the transition from the epics of the ancient world to their incarnation as texts of modernity this module introduces you to some of the most influential and formative works of world literature You will study central texts of the classical world such as Gilgamesh Homer’s Iliad Virgil’s Aeneid and Catullus; ancient epics from India and Africa; Milton’s Paradise Lost; as well as responses to ancient epic by Tennyson Margaret Atwood Seamus Heaney and Maria Dahvana Headley Reading across history and cultures between languages and genres you will develop the skills to analyse narrative character and style

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Modes of Reading
What is a reader? How is our understanding and perception of a text formed? What does it mean to think critically when we read? This module allows you to explore these questions by putting a spotlight on the question of critical thinking in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries By studying a series of literary texts in relation to some of the most influential literary and cultural theorists of the last hundred you will take your own position on everything from Marxism queer and feminist theory to ecocriticism and postcolonial critique

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From Text to Performance
Through practical exploration of a number of selected plays and texts in this module you’ll investigate the process of taking material from page to stage or performance and the relationship between theory and practice You’ll have the opportunity to experiment practically with realising multiple texts in performance considering aspects such as staging genre narrative structure performance strategies dramaturgical thinking and directorial conceptualization as well as the changing role and function of the audience

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Year Two
Drama and Democracy
You will study major plays written since the beginning of the twentieth century in Ireland South Africa and the USA to investigate how writers have dramatised political racial class and gender issues You will study developments in theatrical form and the work of designers directors and actors to demonstrate your understanding of the shifting relationship between theatre and its impact on political and social change

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Year Three
Shakespeare Text and Performance Now and Then
You will consider the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries such as Marlowe and Middleton both as text and performance Through your experience of performance and understanding of historical context you will consolidate your analytical skills in reading narrative poetry and drama You will gain an awareness of the traditions of criticism and an appreciation of how the plays’ themes continue to challenge readers and audiences today

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Optional modules
Optional modules can vary from to Example optional modules may include

European Theatre
Remaking Shakespeare
Early Modern Drama
Restoration Drama
American Poetry
Queering the Literary Landscape
American Horror Story
The English Nineteenth-Century Novel
Literature Environment Ecology
US Writing and Culture 1780-1920
Romantic and Victorian Poetry
Jane Austen
Women and Writing
The Classical Tradition