BA (Hons) English Multidiscipline - Drama and Creative Writing route

Introduction to Children’s Literature (20 credits)

You will look at the development of literature for children since 1744 and  examine how child development determines the content within texts written for children. You will scrutinise the texts from many angles and you may even produce texts for children.

Writing Poetry in the 21st Century (20 credits)

This module revisits some traditional forms. The first part of the module involves creative exploration of the Japanese ‘tanka’ (a relative of the haiku), the sonnet and the sestina and invites you to invent your own original poetic form. In the second part of the module you will encounter a range of innovative approaches to poetry: using sound, collage, found text and visual elements in your writing. The format will be largely workshop-based with writing exercises, sharing work with your tutor.

Introduction to Screenwriting (20 credits)

You will examine fundamental aspects of storytelling: narrative structure, character development, character types, relation of character to plot, the use of subplots. You explore differing conceptual and technical approaches in scriptwriting for theatre, TV and film.

Playwriting (20 credits)

You will learn skills of analysing and writing plays for the stage. The module covers history of playwriting, an introduction to the playwriting industry and the development of skills in areas such as concept, story, structure, characterisation and dialogue. You will have the chance to work with professional playwrights in this course and write a play for your assessment.

Researching and Planning a Novel (20 credits)

This module will equip you with an overview of the state of contemporary fiction. You will meet a broad range of contemporary practice, from literary fiction to experimental fiction and genre fiction, including ‘chick lit’, historical fiction, crime/thrillers, science fiction, and supernatural/fantasy fiction. You will continue to develop your ‘writer’s tool-kit’, adding techniques such as point of view, narrative drive, setting, character and dialogue. 

Lives Online: Writing The Self and the Digital Age (20 credits)

We live in two worlds, the online and the ‘real’. What does it mean to have an online identity and persona? What is the relationship between who you are in real life, and the identity you live online? What does it mean for our mental health and the relationships? In this module you will explore the state of current thought and theory about the digital self, while at the same time playing creatively with virtual representations of the self.

Writing in Action (20 credits)

The writing life can be lived beyond books and literature. On this module, you will learn how creative writing skills can be applied in community settings; as campaigning, activism, community building, and therapy. You will explore your writing in a community setting and for practical purposes.

Political Communication: Media and Democracy (20 credits)

This module explores the relationship between the media and politics in liberal democracies. You will focus on the nature of political media and reporting, the media's influence on politics, and how political actors use the media. You will also study the rise of the internet and new media technologies and what this means for democracy.

History and Diversity in English (20 credits)

You will be introduced to key periods in the history of the English language and characteristic features of the language in these periods. You will explore language change with reference to the different levels of language and regional variation and change in English dialects.

Political Communication: Media and Democracy (20 credits)

This module explores the relationship between the media and politics in liberal democracies. You will focus on the nature of political media and reporting, the media's influence on politics, and how political actors use the media. You will also study the rise of the internet and new media technologies and what this means for democracy.

Language and Big Data (20 credits)

The British National Corpus is a vast collection of over 4,000 English texts, providing a unique record of contemporary spoken and written English. In this module you will gain hands-on experience in using this and other computer-based corpora of English to answer questions about language structure and use.

Analysing Media Texts (20 credits)

In this module, we will explore what constitutes a media text in the 21st century. You will learn how to deconstruct media texts using tools from linguistics in order to explore ideology and manipulation in texts.

Key Issues in TESOL (20 credits)

This module introduces you to key concepts underlying TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) methodology. You will become familiar with the basic approaches, materials and procedures and the principles of lesson planning and classroom management.

English Multidiscipline Work Placement Module (20 credits)

This module offers you the opportunity to spend a trimester working on a placement of your choice. Students will be helped to identify work placements in a career related to their aspirations and supported in their applications and CV writing. You will work with a personal tutor to reflect upon and produce a narrative assessment of your professional learning and goals.

The Female Gothic (20 credits)

You will analyse a selection of Gothic novels and novellas by women, and learn about the themes of Gothic writing as well as explore the significance of various recurrent tropes and features such as: the uncanny, Gothic spaces and places, the absent/dead mother, voyeurism and surveillance.

The Romantic Period: The Sublime and the Gothic (20 credits)

Victorian Literature: Progress and Panic (20 credits)

World Literature and the Environment (20 credits)

This module introduces students to a range of global literatures that engage with environmental issues such as the climate emergency, "natural" disasters, green capitalism, biodiversity loss and extinction, waste and pollution, and Indigenous resistance. Taking in literature from across Africa, Asia, Australasia, the Americas and Europe, this module asks students to consider the role of literature in addressing planetary crises and working towards preferred futures.

Utopias and Dystopias (20 credits)

Learn to understand the complex relationship between utopian ‘thinking’ and ‘real-world’ thinking by studying and debating representations of utopian societies; you will also study a variety of dystopian texts by authors such as Anthony Burgess, Margaret Atwood, George Orwell, and Ray Bradbury.

From Salvation to Damnation (20 credits)

In this module you will look at dramatic texts other than Shakespeare’s from the late Medieval to the Jacobean period, roughly 1500-1630. In particular, you will investigate how issues of sexuality, politics, religion, and identity are treated during this period. The module also asks you to consider a range of different theatrical traditions of staging and stagecraft from the period, in order to encourage an appreciation of how those traditions were kept alive on the stage.  

Literature, Adaptation, and the Screen (20 credits)

On this module, you will study a range of literary texts and their screen counterparts, including Sherlock, Psycho, and Gone Girl. Topics for seminar discussion may include: theories of adaptation and genre; issues of authorship/ auteurship; the integral role of technical arts such as scenography, music, sound production; the importance of context. Students will also be introduced to the writing techniques associated with adaptation: treatments, synopses, step outlines and script writing.

21st Century Women’s Writing (20 credits)

This module will explore a range of contemporary texts written by women and will include novels, short stories, poetry and other forms of writing including memoirs, creative non-fiction, and journalism. As a consequence, you will learn about the socio-political and cultural climate of today’s society as it affects and is shaped by women.

English Multidiscipline Work Placement Module (20 credits)

This module offers you the opportunity to spend a trimester working on a placement of your choice. Students will be helped to identify work placements in a career related to their aspirations and supported in their applications and CV writing. You will work with a personal tutor to reflect upon and produce a narrative assessment of your professional learning and goals.

Introduction to Children’s Literature (20 credits)

You will look at the development of literature for children since 1744 and  examine how child development determines the content within texts written for children. You will scrutinise the texts from many angles and you may even produce texts for children.

Writing Poetry in the 21st Century (20 credits)

This module revisits some traditional forms. The first part of the module involves creative exploration of the Japanese ‘tanka’ (a relative of the haiku), the sonnet and the sestina and invites you to invent your own original poetic form. In the second part of the module you will encounter a range of innovative approaches to poetry: using sound, collage, found text and visual elements in your writing. The format will be largely workshop-based with writing exercises, sharing work with your tutor.

Introduction to Screenwriting (20 credits)

You will examine fundamental aspects of storytelling: narrative structure, character development, character types, relation of character to plot, the use of subplots. You explore differing conceptual and technical approaches in scriptwriting for theatre, TV and film.

Playwriting (20 credits)

You will learn skills of analysing and writing plays for the stage. The module covers history of playwriting, an introduction to the playwriting industry and the development of skills in areas such as concept, story, structure, characterisation and dialogue. You will have the chance to work with professional playwrights in this course and write a play for your assessment.

Researching and Planning a Novel (20 credits)

This module will equip you with an overview of the state of contemporary fiction. You will meet a broad range of contemporary practice, from literary fiction to experimental fiction and genre fiction, including ‘chick lit’, historical fiction, crime/thrillers, science fiction, and supernatural/fantasy fiction. You will continue to develop your ‘writer’s tool-kit’, adding techniques such as point of view, narrative drive, setting, character and dialogue. 

Lives Online: Writing The Self and the Digital Age (20 credits)

We live in two worlds, the online and the ‘real’. What does it mean to have an online identity and persona? What is the relationship between who you are in real life, and the identity you live online? What does it mean for our mental health and the relationships? In this module you will explore the state of current thought and theory about the digital self, while at the same time playing creatively with virtual representations of the self.

Writing in Action (20 credits)

The writing life can be lived beyond books and literature. On this module, you will learn how creative writing skills can be applied in community settings; as campaigning, activism, community building, and therapy. You will explore your writing in a community setting and for practical purposes.

English Multidiscipline Work Placement Module (20 credits)

This module offers you the opportunity to spend a trimester working on a placement of your choice. Students will be helped to identify work placements in a career related to their aspirations and supported in their applications and CV writing. You will work with a personal tutor to reflect upon and produce a narrative assessment of your professional learning and goals.

Theatre and Communities (20 credits)

The module provides students with a practical knowledge and theoretical understanding of the uses, applications and value of drama and theatre as an aspect of social engagement and personal empowerment outside of the conventional theatre environment. The module explores the history of the 'form', and key practitioners and areas of contemporary practice. Practitioners/companies may include Cardboard Citizens, 7.84, TiPP, Geese Theatre UK, and Clean Break

Introduction to Theatre Directing (20 credits)

In the first part of the module, a series of workshop/seminars will introduce you to the role of the director, using a range of contemporary and historical play texts.  We will explore and apply appropriate theatrical vocabularies in order to help you develop your own directorial approach.

Theatre Adaptation: Writers and Devisers (20 credits)

In this module, you will study a range of performances which have been adapted to stage from other forms e.g. myths, short stories, music, poetry or novels and you will create your own. We’ll help you develop your knowledge of adaptation methodologies including cultural and temporal transposition, appropriation and deconstruction. You will use this knowledge along with close analysis of the original texts to help you write, devise and perform your own adaptation.

Shakespeare in Performance (20 credits)

You explore Shakespeare’s plays through performing them and through deconstructing performances of them. You also enjoy the opportunity here of working with students on other degree programmes. 

Page to Stage: Drama Texts in Translation (20 credits)

You will develop a practical and theoretical understanding of a range of 20th/21st century theatre texts in translation and the ability to interpret dramatic texts, whilst fostering an understanding of the particular ideological and cultural implications of staging plays in translation. You will be able to direct and perform in extracts of the translated plays studied.

English Multidiscipline Work Placement Module (20 credits)

This module offers you the opportunity to spend a trimester working on a placement of your choice. Students will be helped to identify work placements in a career related to their aspirations and supported in their applications and CV writing. You will work with a personal tutor to reflect upon and produce a narrative assessment of your professional learning and goals.

University Wide Language Programme (20 credits)

This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.

Drama Research Project (20 credits)

Using what you have learned on your degree, you will apply your skills in the Drama classroom, giving you a firm foundation from which to contemplate a teaching qualification, or simply the skills to start your own private teaching practice.

The Method: A Strasbergian Approach (20 credits)

This module is a practical performance module that aims to develop the students’ basic naturalistic acting skill via the tools of “The Method”. The students will explore and perform scenes from canonical American plays. This module is also recommended for students studying dramatic writing as the plays studied offer a world class example of detailed characterisation, plot and dialogue. 

British Theatre Post-1950 (20 credits)

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.

Writing for Performance (20 credits)

This module offers you the chance to explore the theory and practice of writing for performance beyond traditional playwriting, covering concept, story, structure, characterisation, dialogue, theatricality, rewriting and revising.

Shakespeare and the Play of Thought (20 credits)

This module explores the various ways in which cultural intertextuality informs and shapes Shakespeare's approach to character and action. To gain a broader understanding of how Shakespearean drama can be seen as 'the play of thought,' we will analyse Shakespeare's work in terms of literary theories including new historicism, cognitive linguistics, and gender studies.

Renaissance Theatre Acting (20 credits)

You will work with a range of texts, including Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Restoration works. In practical workshops you are encouraged to experiment with rhythm and language, and to apply characterisation and physicalisation techniques within the context of both naturalistic and non-naturalistic performance styles.

Theatre Directing (20 credits)

This module begins with series of classes exploring the role of the director in relation to a range of contemporary and historical scripts. Under close tutor guidance, you will then consider and apply appropriate theatrical methodologies in order to develop your own directorial approach. All students will be given the opportunity to lead small group work in terms of exploring and experimenting with a range of directorial approaches to both script and to performers.

Teaching English Language (20 credits)

Using what you have learned on your degree, you will apply your skills in the English Language classroom, giving you a firm foundation from which to contemplate a teaching qualification, or simply the skills to start your own private teaching practice.

Health Communication (20 credits)

In this module, you will explore healthcare communication using a range of theories and methods in linguistics ranging from corpus linguistics to conversation analysis. You will analyse language data from a diverse range of healthcare settings, such as clinical consultations, online discussions, public health campaigns and press reports.

The Grammar of Words (20 credits)

Words play an integral part in our ability to use language creatively. In this module you will develop a coherent understanding of key concepts in word formation (‘morphology’) and you will have opportunity to analyse morphological data from contemporary English, comparing and critically evaluating the strengths and weakness of current theoretical approaches to morphology.

Understanding Speech (20 credits)

Most users of language are able to produce and recognise speech very easily. This module examines the various psycholinguistic models of speech processing that try to account for this phenomenon.

Critical Issues in TESOL (20 credits)

You will develop an understanding of the global context of English language teaching and of the approaches, materials, and techniques of English language teaching to non-native speakers. You will be introduced to language learning needs analysis and develop the ability to plan and manage sequences of English language lessons.

Contemporary Trends in the Study of Language (20 credits)

This is a ‘hybrid’ module that builds on concepts, theories and methods you have studied in your degree programme, further developing your knowledge of the latest research in English language and linguistic inquiry.

Northern Voices (20 credits)

What does it mean to be ‘northern’? Where is the north and where does it begin and end? Using both archive and contemporary recordings of northern speech, this research-based module will enable you to carry out a project on an aspect of northern identity as expressed through language in the interactional and media domains.

Language and Communication (20 credits) 

How does communication work? In this module you will examine key aspects of communication which result from the interaction of linguistic meaning, context and principles of human cognition. You will study how language is used in context by analysing data drawn from your own experience in communication.

Teaching English Literature (20 credits)

Using what you have learned on your degree, you will apply your skills in the Literature classroom, giving you a firm foundation from which to contemplate a teaching qualification, or simply the skills to start your own private teaching practice.

Modernism (20 credits)

This module explores the formal, conceptual and ideological complexities of the modernist period and addresses themes such as the decentred self, the city, the role of tradition, the relationship between gender and writing, the use of myth, and the interaction of national identity and cosmopolitanism.

Postmodernism (20 credits)

This module explores recent and contemporary texts in relation to critical issues such as authorship, narrative structure, linear progression, and identity. Selected texts will include novels, films and short stories.  

Visual Text (20 credits)

All text is visual but both readers and critics often have difficulty sustaining their awareness of its dual nature. You are encouraged throughout to think in terms of close textual analysis and the creative decisions behind a wide variety of different types of texts.

Alternative Ulster (20 credits)

This module will discuss literature written during the period known as the Northern Irish ‘troubles’, the Peace Process and after. It will consider poetry, prose, drama and film produced in this period, as well as other visual sources (mural, video and performance art) to consider a variety of ways of representing the conflict.

British Theatre Post-1950 (20 credits)

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.

Shakespeare and the Play of Thought (20 credits)

This module explores the various ways in which cultural intertextuality informs and shapes Shakespeare's approach to character and action. To gain a broader understanding of how Shakespearean drama can be seen as 'the play of thought,' we will analyse Shakespeare's work in terms of literary theories including new historicism, cognitive linguistics, and gender studies.

Post/Colonial African Literature (20 credits)

This module will invite students to undertake postcolonial analyses of African literature in a variety of forms, including poetry, novels and graphic narratives, by writers from South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Ghana and elsewhere. Key topics will include: colonial cultures and resistance, postcolonial trauma, African feminism, national allegories and national consciousness, postcolonial ecocriticism, the African diaspora and migration, and Africa and globalisation.

Rebels, Villains and Discontented Minds (20 credits)

Dissertation (20 credits)

Teaching Creative Writing (20 credits)

Using what you have learned on your degree, you will apply your skills in the Creative Writing classroom, giving you a firm foundation from which to contemplate a teaching qualification, or simply the skills to start your own private teaching practice.

Biography: Tradition and Innovation (20 credits)

This module puts theory into practice as we examine the literary history of biography, consider the issues and tensions raised by the post-modern context, and explore them in our own biographical writing.

Scriptwriting for TV and Film (20 credits)

Through a professionally geared script development programme, you will create first a premise, then treatment, step outline and first draft for a complete screenplay of at least fifty minutes. In seminars you will discuss ideas for story, character and theme within the group. Treatments, step outlines and the first draft are developed in one-to-one tutorials.

New Departures: Reading and Writing Innovative Poetry (20 credits)

This module combines critical and creative study of some of the most exciting poetry written in the last fifty years. We begin with definitions of the aesthetic approach and critical stance of innovative poetries produced on both sides of the Atlantic since 1950. 

Writing for Performance (20 credits)

This module offers you the chance to explore the theory and practice of writing for performance beyond traditional playwriting, covering concept, story, structure, characterisation, dialogue, theatricality, rewriting and revising.

Teaching Drama (20 credits)

Using what you have learned on your degree, you will apply your skills in the Drama classroom, giving you a firm foundation from which to contemplate a teaching qualification, or simply the skills to start your own private teaching practice.

The Method: A Strasbergian Approach (20 credits)

This module is a practical performance module that aims to develop the students’ basic naturalistic acting skill via the tools of “The Method”. The students will explore and perform scenes from canonical American plays. This module is also recommended for students studying dramatic writing as the plays studied offer a world class example of detailed characterisation, plot and dialogue. As the main aim of the playwright and script writer is to be concerned with performability, gaining knowledge into the art of the actor can be of great benefit in the writing process.

British Theatre Post-1950 (20 credits)

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.

Writing for Performance (20 credits)

This module offers you the chance to explore the theory and practice of writing for performance beyond traditional playwriting, covering concept, story, structure, characterisation, dialogue, theatricality, rewriting and revising.

Shakespeare and the Play of Thought (20 credits)

This module explores the various ways in which cultural intertextuality informs and shapes Shakespeare's approach to character and action. To gain a broader understanding of how Shakespearean drama can be seen as 'the play of thought,' we will analyse Shakespeare's work in terms of literary theories including new historicism, cognitive linguistics, and gender studies.

Renaissance Theatre Acting (20 credits)

You will work with a range of texts, including Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Restoration works. In practical workshops you are encouraged to experiment with rhythm and language, and to apply characterisation and physicalisation techniques within the context of both naturalistic and non-naturalistic performance styles.

Theatre Directing (20 credits)

This module begins with series of classes exploring the role of the director in relation to a range of contemporary and historical scripts. Under close tutor guidance, you will then consider and apply appropriate theatrical methodologies in order to develop your own directorial approach. All students will be given the opportunity to lead small group work in terms of exploring and experimenting with a range of directorial approaches to both script and to performers.

Drama Research Project (20 credits)

This is an opportunity to explore in depth an area that interests you, combining research with practice in an extended creative project. You might choose to devise a piece of performance work; to work on the staging of a short play text (or scenes from a longer text); or to create a performance installation. The practical work will be backed up by a detailed research portfolio, charting the course of your project. 

University Wide Language Programme (20 credits)

This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.