Drama and Theatre Studies

Course summary

During the two year course students will study three components; Component 1 Students will study a practitioner, Steven Berkoff, and then create their own piece of theatre in the style of that practitioner as either an actor or designer. Component 2 requires students to create a group performance/design realisation of one key extract from a performance text and also a monologue or duologue performance/design realisation from a different performance text. Component 3 is a written exam comprising three sections: Section A: Live Theatre Evaluation where Students answer one extended response question from a choice of two requiring them to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen. Section B: Page to Stage: Realising a Performance Text where Students answer two extended response questions based on an unseen extract from the performance text they have studied, answering from the perspective of a performer and a designer. Section C: Interpreting a Performance Text where Students will answer one extended response question from a choice of two based on an unseen named section from their chosen performance text. We regularly arrange visits to a wide range of theatre, which have recently included: ‘Othello’, ‘The Believers’ and ‘Beautiful Burnout’ produced by Frantic Assembly; ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell; ‘Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ produced by The National Theatre; ‘Great Britain’ by Richard Bean, ‘1984’ produced by Headlong; ‘The 39 Steps’, ‘Threepenny Opera’ produced by the National Theatre, ‘The Woman in Black’, ‘Nativity’, ‘Things I know to be true’ and ‘Matilda’.