BA (Hons) in Drama (Musical Theatre)
Bath, United Kingdom
BA
DURATION
4 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 16,905 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* international full time | UK part time: £4,625 | UK full time: £9,250 | professional placement year full time for UK: £1,850 international: £3,381
Fast-track counseling
By contacting the school, you'll get access to free priority counselling for any study and application questions.
Key Summary
BA Drama (Musical Theatre) is designed for students interested in exploring theatre and performance in its many forms. It will give you a strong grounding in the traditions and debates that inform contemporary performance, while also providing you with the tools to perform, interpret and create a wide range of work.
Over the three years, the musical theatre modules will develop your understanding of the history of the art form and the place of musicals within popular culture, while building your technical and interpretive skills in singing, staging, and acting through song.
Professional placement year
Overview
This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.
By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.
Year one (Level 4) modules
- Investigating Theatre and Performance
- Contemporary Theatre
- Building the Ensemble
- Theatre Project
- Introduction to Theatre Production
- Performance Practices
Year two (Level 5) modules
- Making Performance 1
- Acting and Directing
- Applied Theatre
- Creative Production Skills
- Writing for Performance 1
- Shakespeare and his Contemporaries
- Musical Theatre Workshop
- Puppetry
- Making Performance 2
- Performance and Media 1
- Writing for TV and Radio
- Musical Theatre Workshop 2
- Professional Placement Year
Year three (Level 6) modules
- Theatre and Social Engagement
- Staging Gender
- Performance Project
- Puppetry Lab
- Staging Shakespeare
- Drama Independent Study
- Musical Theatre Project
- Musicals as Cultural Politics
- Writing and Directing for Performance 1
- Writing and Directing for Performance 2
- Podcasting
What you'll learn
Overview
BA Drama (Musical Theatre) consists of six modules in musical theatre (a third of your degree) alongside an exciting range of Drama modules that will equip you with the skills to perform, make, explore and analyse a wide variety of performance work.
The course enables you to develop specialised musical theatre skills and knowledge through acting, singing, staging and contextual work, while also enjoying the benefits of a more broadly-based Drama degree, preparing you for a range of career destinations in the creative industries, teaching, and allied professions.
You'll engage with key ideas and movements in theatre history through the study of plays, musicals, practitioners and genres that have helped to shape contemporary theatre and performance, and through our three-fold focus on skills development, exploration, and performance.
You'll explore approaches to performance making including writing, directing and performing. Performance opportunities include workshop presentations in campus performance studios, workshops and performances in schools, and public performances at the University Theatre and local venues.
Course structure
Year one
Build the foundations. You’ll take modules in theatre history, approaches to working with dramatic texts, contemporary performance and theatre skills. Musical Theatre studies will see you taking foundation modules in musical theatre history and musical theatre skills, with a strong focus on vocal performance and working with music.
Year two
Apply your skills. Core Drama modules focus on approaches to creating your own original work, while a range of optional modules will allow you to explore your particular areas of interest such as physical theatre, writing for performance, applied theatre and theatre production. Musical Theatre workshop modules will explore different types of musical theatre with a focus on acting, vocal interpretation, dramaturgy and staging.
Year three
Specialise. You’ll research an area of drama or performance of your own choice for your dissertation, as well as selecting areas of study from a range of specialist modules such as Performance Projects, Staging Gender, Modern American Drama, Staging Shakespeare, Docu-drama, Media and Performance, Devising and Site-Specific Performance. The practical work of Musical Theatre will culminate in a formal showcase, while the contextual work will finish with an exploration of the place of musicals within popular culture.
How will I be assessed?
We use a variety of assessment tasks across the programme, including:
- Public performance
- In-class performance of devised or published work
- Playwriting
- Devising
- Performance of backstage/technical roles
- Oral presentations
- Critical reflection
- Working as part of an ensemble
- Script and song analysis
- Individual and group research projects.
We equip you with creative, collaborative, writing, presentational and communication skills that are invaluable in many professional and vocational areas.
Many of our graduates pursue careers in the creative industries and teaching. Others use it as the basis for specialised postgraduate study - either academic or vocational training.
Recent graduates have won places at Central School of Speech and Drama, Yale Theatre School, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Guildford School of Acting and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
How will I be taught?
You'll be taught through a range of activities including lectures, workshops, seminars, skills classes, rehearsals, tutorials, work placements and theatre visits.
Course length
Three years full-time, or four years full-time with a professional placement year. Part-time available.