COURSE CURRICULUM

In Year 1 of your Creative Writing degree, you’ll dive into the practice of writing, combining performance-based understanding with theoretical knowledge. *Block 1: Exploring Creative Writing* introduces you to short-form writing across genres like international poetry forms (e.g., sonnet, rondeau, sestina), free verse, flash fiction, and historical fiction, helping you develop clarity, conciseness, and redrafting skills. You’ll also explore review writing and digital short-form content for social media, building your employability. *Block 2: Journey and Places* focuses on key concepts like mobility, gender, sustainability, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, using interdisciplinary methods to explore journeys and places in both workshops and assessments. *Block 3: Revolutions: Staging Plays* develops your performance skills, focusing on theatrical texts, critical analysis, and creative practice in collaboration with peers. *Block 4: Shaping Ideas* is a year-long module where you’ll refine your existing creative projects, focusing on planning, character development, and receiving constructive feedback to further your writing. Assessments throughout the year include collaborative writing, short-form portfolios, coursework, performance, and creative work with reflective commentary.In **Year 2** of your Creative Writing and Drama degree, you’ll deepen both your practical and theoretical understanding of writing and performance. *Block 1: Making Theatre and Performance* enhances your skills in theatre-making, including directing and physical theatre, while critically analyzing performance texts. *Block 2: Exploring Work and Society* prepares you for post-degree pathways, focusing on transferable skills and engaging with themes like race, gender, and identity, all tied to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This module includes practical activities such as real-world briefs, placements, and community projects. *Block 3: Story Craft* focuses on the art of storytelling across various forms, like poetry, hypertext, and scripted works, examining narrative structure and character development. *Block 4: Theatre Company: Production* provides hands-on experience, where you’ll collaborate in a theatre company to stage a performance, gaining insight into ensemble work and the technical demands of theatre production. Assessments include performance, creative work, written portfolios, and reflective commentaries.In **Year 3** of your Creative Writing and Drama degree, the program offers flexibility to tailor your studies towards your individual career interests and aspirations. *Block 1: Screentime* focuses on writing for various screen genres, such as podcasts, TV scripts, poetry films, and social media flash fiction, with collaborative projects like creating a TV sitcom episode or web novel. *Block 2: Writing and Publishing* delves into professional skills relevant to the industry, covering topics such as international publishing trends, copyright, and digital marketing, along with insights from industry professionals. *Block 3: Performance, Identity, and Activism* explores cabaret performance, using theatre to address political activism and promote social change through intersectional perspectives. *Block 4: Professional Performance Practice or Negotiated Project* gives you the chance to perform in an off-campus venue with a professional director, developing professional skills through rehearsal and live performance. If you don't secure a place, you'll select an alternative module, and assessments focus on performance and reflective work.In **Year 3**, the program offers you the flexibility to tailor your studies to your career interests and aspirations. *Blocks 1 and 2* involve choosing two modules from a variety of options. *Live Art* explores experimental performance practices such as body art and autobiographical performance, with a focus on collaboration and ethical debates. *Staging Texts* examines the decisions involved in staging plays and analyzes theatrical performances using digital materials and interviews. *Theatre Company: Production* allows you to work in a theatre company to stage a public production, gaining experience in technical production, design, marketing, and performance. *Education and Performing Arts* focuses on performing arts education, examining policy, pedagogy, and curriculum design, with a creative approach to contemporary performance pedagogy. *Block 3: Uncreative Writing* challenges traditional creative writing by exploring uncreative practices, such as conceptual writing and found texts, encouraging experimentation and play. Finally, *Block 4: Dissertation* gives you the opportunity to work on a professional creative project, producing a piece of work in a single form or genre, along with a reflective essay, focusing on redrafting and professional project management.