Drama

Drama is the art of performance: the craft of creating live theatrical experience through the combination of text, bodies, space, design, and an audience. At university level, drama is both a practical and an intellectual discipline, asking you to develop your skills as a performer, director, or theatre-maker while also engaging seriously with the history, theory, and politics of theatre as a cultural form. What makes a performance meaningful?

How does theatre relate to the society it comes from? How do different theatrical traditions approach the creation of dramatic experience? These are the kinds of questions that give drama its intellectual depth alongside its creative practice.

At the University of Chester, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad and is designed for students who want a comprehensive education in drama from the foundations up. The programme begins with a foundation year, making it accessible to students who may not have studied drama formally but have genuine creative interest and potential. The year abroad gives you the opportunity to engage with drama in an international setting, broadening your cultural understanding of performance traditions and the contexts in which theatre is made and received.

Chester's location in the north-west of England gives you access to a region with a vibrant theatrical life, including major producing houses and a strong community and educational theatre sector. The typical entry tariff of 120 points reflects the programme's approach to including students from a range of starting points.

Drama graduates pursue careers in performance, directing, devising, theatre education, community drama, arts administration, and the wider creative industries. Many find that the skills they develop, communication, collaboration, creative problem-solving, and the ability to understand and engage diverse audiences, transfer powerfully into careers in education, public relations, project management, and social work. Postgraduate study in drama, applied theatre, performance studies, or drama education is available for those who want to deepen their expertise or develop a research dimension to their practice.