Theatre Studies/English Literature

Theatre studies and English literature is a pairing that takes performance and text seriously as related but distinct modes of expression. Theatre studies develops your understanding of performance as an art form with its own conventions, histories, and theoretical concerns, asking how live events create meaning and what theatre can do that written texts alone cannot. English literature trains you in the close reading and critical interpretation of written texts, developing your sensitivity to how language works and how literary form relates to the historical and cultural moment in which a work is produced.

The two disciplines illuminate each other: theatre draws on dramatic texts, and literature cannot be fully understood without attending to its performance dimensions.

At the University of Glasgow this four-year programme includes a year abroad and benefits from close connections to the theatre industry, providing opportunities to engage with practitioners of national and international standing. You will study dramatic literature, theatre history, performance theory, and the practice of performance alongside the reading and critical analysis of literary texts across a range of periods, genres, and traditions. The year abroad gives you the opportunity to encounter different theatrical and literary cultures at first hand.

The industry connections at Glasgow mean that your academic work is enriched by access to professional practice and the kind of dialogue between making and thinking that theatre studies, at its best, generates.

Graduates from theatre studies and English literature programmes work in the performing arts, publishing, education, journalism, broadcasting, arts management, and a wide range of other creative and professional contexts. The analytical and communicative skills developed across both disciplines are genuinely transferable. Many graduates go on to postgraduate training in performance, directing, creative writing, or publishing, while others pursue professional development in arts administration, teaching, or journalism.

Glasgow's industry connections mean that many students leave with professional relationships already in place.