Lancaster's degree in Theatre and Creative Writing is taught jointly by the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) and the Department of English and Creative Writing. It combines the study of Theatre with the writing of original and imaginative fiction, poetry or plays. These two different focuses reinforce and complement each other.

Studying Theatre at Lancaster gives you the opportunity to learn about innovative twentieth and twenty-first century theatre and performance through an exciting and varied mix of practical and academic approaches. You will be taught by internationally esteemed, award winning theatre practitioners and scholars and will gain critical and creative skills that open up possibilities for working in theatre, while making you attractive to a wide range of other employers.

Your Creative Writing courses are taught by a team of widely published authors through a combination of lectures, readings, practice and discussion in regular tutor-led workshops. Your degree includes an Introduction to Creative Writing in your first year, and in your second and third years of study you will choose additional genre-specific units such as Short Fiction, Poetry Writing or Creative Non-fiction.

You will begin your degree with core courses including, an Introduction to Theatre Studies and Creative Writing. In your second year you’ll move on to subjects such as Theatre Techniques, Performance Composition, Work Placement, Intermediate Creative Writing and Critical Reflections. You will then complete your degree by choosing from a selection of Theatre and Creative Writing modules on offer including a final year theatre production module.

Our dynamic, flexible degree programme allows you to study literature from different periods and cultures, and across the range of principal literary genres. You will not be restricted to studying the printed word: we are intrigued by the connections between literature and film, art, history, technology, language, and everyday life, and our teaching reflects these interests. You will learn how literature addresses social, environmental, and economic concerns with the aim of creating a better, more inclusive world and developing sustainable solutions for the future of the planet.

The Creative Writing element of the programme provides you with the opportunity to progress from introductory modules on reading and writing creatively to specialised work within specific forms and genres such as fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and scriptwriting, culminating in the production of an extended collection of creative work.

Throughout the programme you will be encouraged to stretch yourself intellectually and imaginatively by exploring literature as both a creative practitioner and a critic. Our approach will help you develop an understanding of the creative process, as well as enhancing your knowledge of genre, literary history, and the varied and dynamic academic field which is English Literature.

You will focus on becoming a careful, attentive, and informed reader and writer, sensitive to the nuances of language and style and able to produce polished and sophisticated creative work.

You join a friendly and supportive environment with an international reputation for both teaching and research. Our talented Creative Writing team regularly scoop national and international awards, and collectively share experience in theatre, television and film. Our public platforms Cardiff BookTalk and Cardiff Poetry Experiment are popular and hugely engaging.

BA (Hons) Technical Theatre and Stage Management is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to pursue a career in the live arts, entertainment, and events industry. The programme focuses on developing theatre professionals with a theoretical and vocational understanding of theatre industry roles and responsibilities, including academic knowledge and practical experience of the following subjects: stage management; stage lighting; live audio; design for the stage; health and safety; and the technical standards for places of entertainment.

The Technical Theatre and Stage Management programme takes a forward-facing approach to technical theatre, promotes exploration of new practices and technologies, teaches the fundamentals of the industry, and balances vocational training with academic study.

This degree has been designed to develop industry techniques and to nurture the next generation of highly competent industry professionals, with the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience working in a number of professional theatre settings.

Students have regular access to the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, a well-equipped, multi-functional venue with a professional theatre and multiple studio spaces. The theatre presents a varied programme of live performance and events throughout the year.

This course offers a dynamic combination of practical and theoretical study. With a focus on collaborative, contemporary performance, you’ll investigate different types of professional practice and actively engage with the cultural industries locally, regionally and internationally.

You’ll develop your own creative practice within small groups at our specialist studios, based in our on-campus professional theatre, stage@leeds. Using digital technologies, you’ll having the opportunity to work with external partners and community groups which may include: Leeds Playhouse, Opera North and local theatre companies, schools, galleries, museums and institutions within the criminal justice system.

You’ll also be introduced to a range of devising techniques and to digital performance as a key manifestation of contemporary performance practice. You’ll learn through a combination of lectures, workshops, practical experimentation and working with both specialist and readily available digital technologies.

A distinctive feature of the course is an engagement with the social impact agenda, where you'll be invited to interrogate and practice the ways in which performance can make a difference to society and to consider themes such as sustainability, ethics, responsibility and inclusivity. You'll to reflect on the impact that performance has on societies and the place that performance occupies globally.

You’ll work in collaboration with external agencies and organisations as a compulsory aspect of your studies and learn to apply performance skills in challenge-based projects for public audiences. You'll become an advocate of the creative arts and apply socially engaged performance practices in diverse ways.

With compulsory and specialist optional modules spanning theatre, performance, applied theatre, design, digital performance, directing, musical theatre, event management, acting and collaborative practice, you’ll be able to follow a broad range of interests suited to your own academic and professional development.

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