Criminology and Drama

Criminology and drama is a combination that illuminates the connection between social reality and its representation, between the mechanisms of crime and justice and the ways in which theatre and performance have always engaged with transgression, punishment, and the human capacity for both harm and redemption. Criminology provides the analytical and empirical tools for understanding crime: why it happens, who is most affected, how the criminal justice system responds, and what reform might look like. Drama develops your practical and critical engagement with performance as a medium for exploring and challenging social and human experience.

At Liverpool Hope University you will study both disciplines over three years, developing your understanding of criminological theory alongside the practical and theoretical dimensions of drama and theatre-making. You will explore how crime is defined, who makes those definitions, and what drives criminal behaviour and societal responses to it, alongside the origins of dramatic forms and the work of making new performance. The programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and a work placement, giving you substantial professional and international experience alongside your academic development.

The combination of criminology and drama is particularly valuable for careers in applied theatre and community arts, where performance is used as a tool for social change, rehabilitation, or advocacy. Applied drama in prisons, young offender institutions, schools, and community settings draws directly on both disciplines. Graduates also move into community development, youth work, social care, arts education, journalism, broadcasting, public affairs, and the full range of careers in theatre and performance.

Postgraduate study in criminology, applied theatre, drama therapy, or social work is a natural extension for those who wish to develop specialist professional expertise.