Theatre with Creative Writing with Year Abroad

Theatre and creative writing are complementary arts that share a concern with voice, story, and the construction of meaning through language and form. Theatre is both a literary tradition and a living performance practice, one that encompasses plays, experimental performance, applied theatre, and community work, asking how and why stories are told in front of audiences and what happens in that encounter. Creative writing develops your capacity to use language purposefully and imaginatively, building skills in narrative, character, structure, and voice that apply across many forms.

At Queen Mary University of London this four-year full-time degree combines the two disciplines, giving you a grounding in theatre and performance across a wide range of cultures and historical periods alongside the practical and critical training of a creative writing programme. You will gain understanding of theatre from plays and scripts to experimental and applied performance, while developing your own creative voice through the practice of writing. The degree includes a year abroad, broadening your cultural and intellectual horizons through study in another country's literary or theatrical tradition and providing a formative experience that many graduates find transformative.

Queen Mary's location in London, one of the world's great theatre cities, provides an exceptional context for studying performance both academically and in practice.

Graduates go on to careers in theatre and performance, writing, dramaturgy, arts administration, education, community arts, publishing, broadcasting, and the wider creative industries. The critical, analytical, and communicative skills you develop are valued in journalism, cultural policy, marketing, and many other professional contexts. Many graduates also pursue postgraduate study in theatre, creative writing, dramaturgy, or related fields, using the foundation of their degree to develop a specialised artistic or research practice.