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BA Drama and Theatre Studies (with Integrated Foundation Year)

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  1. Royal Holloway's institution code: R72
  2. Make a note of the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for:

    • BA Drama and Theatre Studies (with Integrated Foundation Year) - W44F
    • Drama and Theatre Studies - W440
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BA Drama and Theatre Studies (with Integrated Foundation Year)

Course options

Key information

Duration: 4 years full time

UCAS code: W44F

Institution code: R72

Campus: Egham

Key information

Duration: 3 years full time

UCAS code: W440

Institution code: R72

Campus: Egham

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The course

BA Drama and Theatre Studies (with Integrated Foundation Year)

This course is available to Home (UK) students and students from the EU who meet the English Language requirements.

Our Integrated Foundation Year for Arts and Humanities is a thorough, skills-building course that will give you everything you need to start your study of BA Drama and Theatre Studies with confidence. 

Arts and Humanities subjects, like Drama and Theatre Studies, provide key ways of understanding our complex world, its histories, and current debates facing contemporary society. Identity, political and social conflict, our interaction with new digital and genetic technologies, our stewardship of the environment are all issues where the voice of creative and critical thinking are key. Literary texts, films, plays and digital games offer important ways in which societies have debated - and continue to represent - their values and their futures. 

Our Foundation Year sets you up so you’re ready to explore those debates and issues, providing you with opportunities to gain knowledge and understanding of how to approach studying the humanities, including your chosen degree subject. Learning from friendly, expert tutors, you’ll explore modules designed to give you a solid start to your study of arts and humanities subjects, helping you to grow critical skills to explore a range of literary, visual, and cultural forms, including plays, films, and digital media.  

Once you have completed your Foundation year, you will normally progress onto the full degree course, BA Drama and Theatre Studies. There may also be flexibility to move onto a degree in another department (see end of section, below). 

Choosing to study Drama and Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway will put you at the centre of one of the largest and most influential Drama and Theatre departments in the world. Here, you'll grapple with the big questions: about ourselves and our cultures, about how we make meaning and tell stories, and about ourselves in relation to other cultures, other times, and other forms of storytelling.

You'll create performances, analyse texts, and bring a range of critical ideas to bear on both.  On this course the text and the body, thinking and doing, work together. There's no barrier between theory and practice: theory helps you understand and make the most of practice, while practice sheds light on theory. By moving between the two, you'll find your place as an informed theatre-maker, and by studying a variety of practices, by yourself and with others, you'll get knowledge of the industry as a whole, and learn how your interests could fit into the bigger picture.

We are top-rated for teaching and research, with a campus community recognised for its creativity. Our staff cover a huge range of theatre and performance studies, but we're particularly strong in contemporary British theatre, international and intercultural performance, theatre history, dance and physical theatre, and contemporary performance practices.

You'll be taught in incredible performance spaces you won't find anywhere else, each perfectly enhancing our teaching and research strengths.

On successful completion of your Foundation Year, you may be able to choose an alternative pathway which may include a joint or minor degree within Drama, or degrees within the Humanities (English (except pathways with Creative Writing), History, Media Arts, Classics, Philosophy, Comparative Literature and Culture, Liberal Arts). If you'd like to do this, you may take your Foundation Year Department Based Project in one of the other departments in Humanities.

From time to time, we make changes to our courses to improve the student and learning experience. If we make a significant change to your chosen course, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

6th

in the UK for performing arts

Source: QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2023 (Drama, Theatre and Dance)

2nd

in the UK for research quality

Source: Complete University Guide, 2024 (Drama, Theatre and Dance)

Top 15

in the UK for Drama

Source: Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2024

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