BA (Hons)

Drama and Creative Writing

3 good reasons to study Drama and Creative Writing at Salford:

Learn from award winning published writers and established theatre practitioners
A unique integrated course designed to help you develop your creative process
Excellent contacts in the cultural industries, including the BBC, regional theatres and publishers

Literature and theatre speak to us about the world we live in; the social and cultural issues that affect our lives. In this course you will have the opportunity to find your own voice and build a strong creative methodology.

Creative writers and performance practitioners need to be skilled in the art of imaginative expression, but they also need to understand how literature and performance works and to learn from what has been done before. You will study writers, performance practitioners and theatre companies who have contributed new perspectives and innovations in form or methodology and apply this learning to your own creative processes.

This course teaches professional presentation, editing, research, genre specific techniques and contemporary approaches to making performance, such as devising. We have links with industry professionals and a history of student success in publishing and staging work.

Course details

You will build knowledge and understanding of scriptwriting, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, devising, directing and performance methodologies. Working with innovative and enthusiastic lecturers who are also practising writers and theatremakers, you will be inspired to break new ground as a creative writer or practitioner, whether it be writing for theatre or working with creative graffiti.

You will also study a range of works from modern literature and performance which will feed and inspire your creative process, making it strong, rigorous and exciting.

You will learn how to present creative work to a professional standard, as well as editing techniques, how to research a story and how to turn life experiences into exciting reading or performance.

Course Structure

Year 1

Year 1 serves as an introduction to the study of drama and creative writing at University level. You will be taught about key critical and theoretical concepts, creative methodologies and techniques across writing and performance and to discuss and reflect critically upon your creative products and processes.

Year 2

In year 2 you will study two core and four option modules. The core modules focus on creative process and on adaptation and your option modules are split equally between creative writing and drama. You will have the opportunity to work more independently and develop your understanding of the relationship between creative practice and theories of writing culture and performance.

Year 3

In year 3 you will develop your knowledge of texts, practitioners and approaches to practice with a stronger emphasis on the 20th and 21st Centuries. Modules at this level encourage you to develop creative independence, to discuss your own work and that of others, and to develop and express a critical understanding of the intentions and achievements of your creative projects.

Year 1 Core modules

Introduction to Creative Writing

You will be introduced to ways of thinking and writing creatively and to the basic techniques of writing in the genres of poetry, fiction, scripts and autobiography. You will also be introduced to key skills such as presenting your work professionally, discussing it and reflecting critically on your creative products and processes.

Performance Workshop 1

You are introduced to Realism and how it has been used across the 20th and 21st centuries. You will study key practitioners and make use of various naturalist techniques to inform your practice.

Critical Practice

You are introduced to key skills such as close reading presentation, referencing and research skills which you will build upon during your time at Salford.

Performance Workshop 2

You will learn about non-naturalist strategies for making theatre, building a deeper understanding of one or two practitioners through practical as well as theoretical study.

Introduction to Drama

You will be introduced to different genres and forms of drama, analysing key features of dramatic texts from Shakespeare to 21st century theatre.

Introduction to Poetry

A broad survey of historical periods and genres, which prepares you for the study of poetry at degree level, from Shakespearian sonnets to linguistically innovative 21st Century poetry and many points in-between.

Year 2 Core modules

Contemporary Approaches to Writing and Performance

The module begins with the question 'What is the place of the writer/creative practitioner in society?' We then addresses a series of topics including the pleasure of spectatorship, voice and identity, and engaging the personal and political

Issues in Adaptation 2

Practical and theoretical study of adaptation processes enables you to script and devise original performance leading to a final performance project.

Year 2 Optional Modules may include:

Writing for Performance

Learn and put into practice contemporary playwriting techniques and develop your understanding of form, structure and style. Teaching will be workshop based and will also include a session at a leading regional theatre.

The Method: A Strasbergian Approach

Develop your practical and theoretical understanding of Strasberg's 'The Method' acting technique in an intensive workshop module.

Introduction to Children's literature

You will study 21st and 20th Century texts produced for children from pre-reading infants up to early teens. You will be given the opportunity also to invent and/or analyse such texts. Texts may be visual and may be written in script, verse or prose.

Writing Novels for Young People

This module gives you the skills to start a longer piece of fiction, editing it carefully and producing an industry-appropriate synopsis. You will learn all about the older teenager and how to write for them. You are also invited in this module to use experimental forms.

Writing Poetry in the 21st Century

This module provides you with a technical tool-kit comprising a mixture of old and new techniques, from sonnets and villanelles to sound, concrete, visual and cyber-poetry. You will develop your ability to think and write creatively, be introduced to advanced and innovative writing strategies in poetry and explore a range of contemporary poetic themes.

Writing Short Fiction

Various forms of short fiction are introduced within a wide-ranging and open-minded approach to what the short story is or could be. We look at a broad selection of texts, from early examples of narrative to experimental contemporary practice. Practical techniques including structure, narrative voice and creating drama will also be covered.

Year 3 Core Module

In year 3 you will choose six modules, equally mixing drama and creative writing from a range of optional modules which may include:

Final Portfolio

This is a double creative writing module that runs throughout your final year. Here you can undertake a self-directed project in the genre(s) of your choosing, while giving and receiving feedback in a supportive workshop environment. By the end of the module you should have 6,000 words (or equivalent) of highly polished creative work.

Drama/Performance Research Project

This is an opportunity to explore in depth an area of drama or performance that interests you, combining research with practice in an extended creative project. You can create original work or submit a research portfolio.

Performance and the Postdramatic

You examine contemporary experimental performance theory and practice and have the chance to create a short original solo piece drawing on the techniques and ideas learnt in the module.

New Departures: Reading and Writing Innovative Poetry

This module combines critical and creative study of some of the most exciting poetry written in the last 50 years. The main areas for consideration include: Beat poetry, the New York School and the Language Poets in the USA and Linguistically Innovative Poetry in the UK. Each workshop offers practical exercises to aid understanding of the aesthetic and political decisions being made.

British Theatre post-1950

This module contextualises post-war British theatre in terms of naturalism, the avant-garde and the epic mode. A range of play texts will be explored in relation to form, narrative, action and character while exploring the ways in which they engage with issues of class, sexuality, gender and national identity.

Course Enquiries

For course enquiries please call us on:

T: +44 (0) 161 295 4545

Or Email us at:

Home/EU students
E: enquiries@salford.ac.uk

International students
E: international@salford.ac.uk