COURSE CURRICULUM

The Theatre and English BA at Brunel offers a blend of practical theatre training and rigorous literary study, allowing students to tailor their learning to their interests. In the first year, students develop core skills in performance, creative writing, and critical reading while exploring world literature and London’s literary traditions. They gain foundational knowledge in literary analysis, creative writing techniques, and performance practices through compulsory modules such as Performance Studies, the Reader’s and Writer’s Toolkits, World Literature, and Literary London, with optional modules in theatre making and acting. In the second year, students advance their practical and analytical skills, engaging with performance labs, applied theatre projects, and music theatre, while exploring literary topics including genre fiction, nineteenth-century novels, modernism, Romanticism, Shakespeare, contemporary British and Irish fiction, and postcolonial writing. This combination fosters interdisciplinary understanding of literature and performance in cultural and historical contexts. In the third year, students undertake independent research projects and dissertations in both English and theatre, developing advanced critical, creative, and practical skills. Optional modules cover advanced acting, musical theatre, anti-racism in performance, and specialized literary topics such as Victorian literature, women’s writing, early modern Muslim representations, post-war literature, violence, Jane Austen, and Irish writing. The course prepares students for careers in theatre, performance, writing, publishing, and other creative industries, while emphasizing practical experience, professional development, and critical inquiry.