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.

BA Drama embraces all forms of drama across stage, screen and beyond.

You will explore everything from literary adaptation to street theatre, from activist performance to audio design, from playwriting to directing, and experimental film cultures.

You will benefit from teaching informed by recent innovations in theatre, performance, and film studies, as well as by historical practices.

Our comprehensive facilities include the purpose-built Martin Harris Centre, home to the John Thaw Studio, a fully staffed, adaptable performance, rehearsal and workshop space.

You will also be able to draw inspiration from the creative beating heart of the city itself, home to countless ground-breaking arts organisations and events - from Manchester International Festival, the world's first festival of original work, to HOME, the largest multidisciplinary arts centre outside of the capital.

You can also take advantage of strong links to partner organisations throughout the city, including TiPP (Theatre in Prisons and Probation Research and Development Centre), based here at the University, and Community Arts North West.

You also can engage with professional practitioners working in the cultural industries through your coursework and through extracurricular events.

Cygnet Training Theatre has a 40-year history of training actors. Its training takes a learn-while-doing approach, giving live performances to paying audiences from term one. Our students learn how to work as an ensemble, with the opportunity to work with multiple directors and visiting industry professionals. While our school ethos is grounded in the work of our late patron, Peter Brook, the training covers an eclectic mix of acting methods and is also able to accommodate for flexibility if the students show aptitude in other areas such as music and dance. Our courses balance classwork with rehearsal. Tutorials and group classes cover acting, voice, singing, movement, text, film, radio, and stage combat. Cygnet offers an unprecedented amount of one-to-one tuition that the larger schools are unable to offer, as well as the opportunity to study in a beautiful city.

Foundation students will have a solid grounding in acting technique as well as the chance to ‘test drive’ some other aspects of the industry such as stage management to consider how they would like to move forward with their career. Students are expected to take the ATCL Diploma (Trinity) with the option to move on to the LTCL if they continue with us. We offer support for auditions with other training providers as well as the possibility to continue training at Cygnet. Continuation of studies will be reassessed at the end of each year.