Take centre stage with a degree in drama at Plymouth, where you’ll work with experts from the University, the renowned Theatre Royal Plymouth and the wider industry. Plymouth itself will become your stage as you put together your own productions across the city. Immerse yourself in how things work both on and off stage. Learn by doing, taking on the challenge of staging a full-length play – from bidding for funding to the final performance in the University’s award-winning theatre.

Whether you haven't yet submitted your application, you're worried about whether university is for you, or if you don't meet the entry requirements to apply for a three-year degree, a foundation year may be the perfect route to a full degree.
Our foundation year courses are specifically designed to introduce and develop essential skills for success in higher education.

Benefit from a diverse and broad-spectrum programme, equipping you with a breadth of theatre-making expertise and transferable skills.

As a graduate you can pursue careers in performance and arts industries, as well as in teaching, research, arts management and administration.

Would you like to develop the practical and intellectual skills required to be a creative, critical and reflective arts practitioner?
Acting as a gateway to degree-level study, the Drama Foundation Year course allows you to study a broad range of creative arts disciplines, with a key focus on drama and performance. You will also acquire key transferable skills such as effective communication, team work, time and project management, research and digital literacy, all of which can prove vital to achieving at University and gaining employment after graduation.

Taught by a team of world-leading artists and academics, you will be equipped to successfully take your learning to the next level.

Ranked 26th for Drama, Dance and Cinematics in the Times Good University Guide 2021
This course is delivered through a mix of classroom and studio-based learning, with engagement with the cultural centres in the region available to further enhance your learning. You will be studying together with students on the Fine Art foundation year programme.

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.

Explore your creativity as you develop skills in dance, drama and technology.

This course invites you to explore performance from a variety of angles, encompassing dance, drama and interactive performance – not just as separate subjects, but allowing you to work at the intersection between them. As well as developing into a well-rounded, multidisciplinary performer, as you progress, you will be able to pursue and define your own area of specialism.

The Performing Arts course at Chester is taught by a knowledgeable group of staff who come from a wide variety of performance backgrounds, which will enable you to draw from a wide variety of skillsets and knowledge bases in order to help craft your own niche in this field.

While the course will focus on live performance in dance and drama, you will also learn about interactivity and the use of technology in performance, using the latest software and hardware.

In the 2020 NSS, Performing Arts as a subject grouping scored above the sector average for teaching on my course, assessment and feedback, academic support, learning resources and overall satisfaction.

As a student studying Performing Arts you'll benefit from excellent links with the professional industry, both nationally and internationally