Drama - BA (Hons)
Are you passionate about making theatre? See yourself as a director, performer, playwright, deviser, stage manager, scenographer, workshop leader or producer? The exciting and innovative blend of theory and practice on the BA (Hons) in Drama will enable you to take on all of these roles and then focus on your chosen career pathway.
The course offers placement opportunities that is a great way to develop your skills and knowledge.
Why ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø?
- Location: Edinburgh is known as the Festival City, and with the world’s biggest arts festival happening on your doorstep every year, this is one of the best possible places to start your theatre career.
- Focus on the areas that interest you: Your career path will be unique, and this course is flexible to help you direct your learning in the areas you’re interested in. Module options in Years Three and Four allow you to focus your interests to suit your own career aspirations.
- Graduate success: Our graduates play an active role in theatre, in Scotland and beyond - whether you see them performing, hear the words of their script or view their artistry as director, scenographer or producer, they are building a successful and exciting career in drama thanks to their time at ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø.
- Ranked highly in the UK: In the National Student Survey 2024, ·¬ÇÑÉçÇøâ€™s courses in the Drama subject category scored above benchmark in 25 out of 27 survey questions. For example, we scored 11.7% above benchmark in the question ‘how often is the course intellectually stimulating?’. There is also a 93.8% overall satisfaction with our BA (Hons) Drama (National Student Survey 2024). We are ranked in the top 2 in Scotland and 11th in the UK for Drama in the Guardian Good University Guide 2025.
Watch a short film about our BA (Hons) Drama
What is theatre? Why did it develop? What role does it play in society? To have a successful career in the theatre, you need to understand its historical context, techniques and craft. Whether you intend to be a theatre maker, scholar or teacher, the course will guide you in the development of your creative and critical prowess while providing very distinct routes into the professional world. By the time you graduate you will know how and why a theatre team brings a performance to life, and the many ways in which drama can be understood and made relevant to contemporary audiences.
On this course you will:
- learn the collaborative skills and process involved in creating and staging plays;
- experiment with key contemporary performance practices;
- explore all aspects of theatre, front and backstage, including the audience. Who are they? What do they want from a performance? How can you reach your audience?;
- challenge conventional assumptions of what the performing arts can be and who they are for, from both a practitioner and audience perspective; and
- engage with a vibrant diversity of practical and theoretical approaches that balance practice, history, research, critical thinking and employability skills.
Structure
All students enrol onto the honours degree, but you can choose to exit with an ordinary degree after three years.
Teaching, learning and assessment
You will be taught in lectures, seminars and through practical workshops. There is a strong focus on group work and on independent study outside timetabled sessions. You will be assessed in a variety of ways, including essays, reports, portfolios, vivas, performances, post-show discussions and exams. You will complete a Year Four Honours project (practical or theoretical). There will be individual and group assessments.
Facilities
Our fully-resourced studio theatre and smaller black box studio are fully kitted out with sound, lighting, and projection equipment for your use. In addition, we have a scenic workshop for building sets and props, a scenography studio for set design and a costume studio and store. You will have access to five bookable rehearsal studios (two with sprung floors), as well as to our dance studio and gym hall.
Media resources include access to our edit and post-production suites, our infinity green screen studio, and equipment including cameras, photographic equipment, VR and motion capture kit.
Placement
You will have the opportunity to complete a placement in the Creative Learning, Drama in Education and Experiential Learning options in Years Three and Four. Students will source a placement host with support from ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø staff. Placements are usually in the creative sector but we will consider other options suggested by students if we feel they offer an opportunity for you to develop your practical skills.
Exchange opportunities
Studying abroad through our exchange programme can be one of the most exciting and rewarding challenges for a student to experience. The opportunity to travel and live in another country, learn different customs and traditions, meet new people and future career draws many students into the exchange programme. In Year Three you have the opportunity (subject to availability) to study for one semester at a university overseas.ÌýPlease visit the Exchanges and Study Abroad pages for more information.
Teaching staff, class sizes and timetables
You can read more about the teaching staff on this course at the bottom of this page. Please note that teaching staff is subject to change.
For more information, please also visit ‘How we teach and how you’ll learn’.
Year One
You will:
- work in collaborative experimental workshops, finding creative solutions to the staging and performance of classic and contemporary genres and texts;
- explore a range of roles (performing, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy and scenography) and share your different perspectives and insights with fellow students; and
- learn foundational voice, movement, acting and production skills.
Modules
- Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies: This module begins the journey of critical thinking that runs through the theoretical and theatre history modules on the Drama degree. It introduces you to theoretical study of theatre and performance. You will gain confidence in reading play texts from a range of genres and periods and will access performances both in live and digital environments. The module includes visits to live performances in Edinburgh and also accesses digital performance work; offering opportunities to see a range of new work of different styles and genres.
- Introduction to Theatre Production: This module offers an introduction to theatre production, focusing on the essential skills and workflows of the field. You will explore production processes from concept to execution and will learn about the broad range of roles and skills necessary to the creation of theatrical production (including arts and project management, risk assessment and marketing). A key aspect is learning how production crafts and technologies create unique theatrical languages, empowering you to unlock your creative potential on stage.
- Studio Practices: This module provides an introduction to performance training, focusing on improvisation and psychophysical techniques. You will engage in exercises aimed at enhancing skills such as deep listening, heightened attention, embodied presence, spontaneous play, responsive impulses, and ensemble collaboration. Through structured improvisational activities, reflective discussions, and collaborative ensemble work, you will develop an understanding of the interplay between body, mind, and creative expression.
- Stage Skills Origins of Theatre
- Analysing Texts and Performance: In this module, you will examine how we read both performances and texts. It focuses on practical criticism of texts and their applied use in theatre contexts. The module will also offer enhanced work on performance evaluation and makes use of applied practical criticisms as a way of illuminating understanding of performance practices. The module focuses on core skills required to analyse a text and a performance in depth. It will equip you with the language and conceptual knowledge to discuss the deeper symbolic meanings carried within texts and performances.
Year Two
You will:
- work in collaborative groups to make work for live performance in both digital media and in-person theatre;
- investigate key historical and contemporary practitioners and create original performance work based on their research;
- learn about theatre history and critical and performance theory, which will inform the development of your creative work.
Modules
- Theatre of Ideas and the Stage: This module seeks to introduce you to a range of key theatrical movements that have helped shape European and Anglo-American theatre from early Modernism until 1960s, including Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and Avant-garde. It introduces you to historical development of directing, design and stage management roles in the 19th and the 20th centuries, including the rise of intermedial and interdisciplinary practices as theatre enters in conversation with other media.
- Staging Texts: This is a practice-based module which allows you to explore elements and processes of stage craft. You will be able to explore and engage with processes of theatre making and production areas, developing an integration of different strands (performing, production and design) into a practical application. A pulling-together of theory and embodiment of techniques will result in critical self-reflection and the completion of a creative group task.
- 20th and 21st Centuries Scottish Theatre: This module introduces you to current scholarly research and debates on the subject of the position of Scottish theatre in national and international contexts in the 20th and 21st centuries. It also provides a historical, theoretical and dramaturgical overview of Scottish theatre from amateur movement, through professional repertory theatres to contemporary performativity of gender and sexuality, political and national identity, and postcolonial discourses in Scottish theatre.
- Ensemble Devising: This core module will develop your abilities in creating performance as an ensemble and in group creative practice, both essential skills to hone to work collaboratively within the creative industries sector. It offers you an opportunity to practically engage with and critically appraise a variety of contemporary devising techniques, theories and historical legacies, integrating analysis and embodied experimentation of creative approaches and methodologies in the field of ensemble devising and collaborative performance making. The module addresses ensemble companies as a viable business model for freelance creative work and also prepares students to consider a variety of sustainable production and marketing strategies for independent artistic projects.
- Transformations in UK Theatre: This module offers a comprehensive and dynamic exploration of theatre in the United Kingdom, focusing on pivotal movements and changes across different eras, with a substantial emphasis on developments that happened throughout the 20th century. The module covers a range of relevant historical contexts, social movements, and developments in theatrical technique and form.
- Creative Writing for New Technologies
Year Three
You will:
- study core modules plus two optional modules allowing you to focus your interests in specific areas;
- have the opportunity (subject to availability) to study for one semester at a university overseas. For more information, visit Exchanges and Study Abroad; and
- learn about research methods and practice research to prepare you for your personal final Honours dissertation.
Modules
- Arts Funding in its Policy Context: This module is designed to equip you with a practical as well as theoretical understanding of the principles and techniques of levering funding for your work from public and charitable funders; important for employability in the cultural arts sector and giving you a valuable transferable skill. We will study how the funding system works and what drives it as well as how funders’ requirements connect to broader policy environments. During the semester you will develop a funding application in a group, applying best-practice approaches explored in class week by week. You’ll get practical feedback from the tutor on your application to help build your ongoing fundraising skills. As well as developing your skills as an applicant communicating the value and impact of your own work, training and creative expertise, you’ll adopt the role of a funding panel evaluating applications to deepen your insights about what makes a successful application and why.
- Current Debates in Performance Theory: This module engages with cutting-edge research and theoretical discussions in theatre and performance studies. It introduces students to the major questions driving contemporary performance research, alongside the academics and projects exploring these areas. While the module places a strong emphasis on theoretical discourse, it also highlights diverse research methodologies used in the field. You will learn about various practical and creative methods, enabling them to contribute their own insights to ongoing debates. This approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of both the theoretical and methodological aspects of performance studies.
- Performance Project: This module will allow you to create an ensemble performance response to a pre-existing work of drama, and to develop practice of a preferred area in depth through taking on a specific role in the creation and staging. Through mentored group work, drop-in sessions and group rehearsals, you will be guided through the development and performance of a new work that adapts a dramatic stimulus of your choice. Each group member will acquire different skills as you work together as a company towards a final performance on campus at the end of the second semester.
- Designing a Research Project: This module introduces students to a range of approaches, methods and practices for researching the media, culture and society. It prepares students to develop and design research projects which may support their written or creative practice dissertation or be developed for other purposes. It looks at different kinds of research, how research might be conducted, and what ethical issues arise in research. Students will study topics most relevant to their degree programme, from the areas of creative practice, textual analysis, researching audiences and people, and discourse and content analysis.
- Plus two optional modules
Year Four
You will:
- study core modules plus two optional modules allowing you to focus your interests in specific areas;
- learn about how to maximise your employability opportunities alongside developing your creative practice; and
- complete a personal final project, which can be a practical or a written dissertation.
Modules
- Creative Practice and Enterprise: This module offers you the chance to refine your creative practice within a specific context and audience, focusing on developing and executing a project that blends practical skills with critical thinking. It encourages strategic career planning through evaluating various business and career paths in the performing arts, including freelancing and entrepreneurship. Through mentorship, collaborative projects, and insights from industry experts, students will learn to manage projects sustainably, navigate the intricacies of creative collaboration, and craft a detailed Personal Development Plan for their future career in drama, performance, or theatre sectors.
- Honours Project
- Plus two optional modules
Year Three and Four options may include:
- Advanced Improvisation
- Global Performer Training
- Site-Specific Performance
- Playwriting
- Writing for Aural Media
- Screenwriting
- Creative Learning and the Community
- Drama in Education (Community Workshop Placement)
- Digital Performance for Social Change
- Directing, Designing and Performing Shakespeare
- Directing, Designing and Performing Contemporary Plays
- Staging the 20th Century: How Scenography Built the Modern Imagination
- Advanced Theatre Production
- The Only Way is Ethics: Art, Participation and Ethics
- Student Initiated Module
- Working in Performance Archives
- The Business of Creativity
- Experiential Learning Placement
NB The modules listed here are correct at time of posting (Feb 2025) but may differ slightly to those offered in 2025. Please check back here for any updates.
Creative entrepreneurship and employability is something we are passionate about and it is embedded throughout our course. Many of our students have formed their own theatre companies and are supported by ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø as they set up their businesses, including the chance to be located in our graduate Startup Studio. The world’s largest arts festival happens right here in Edinburgh and many students successfully perform, produce or get involved in the Festival Fringe.
You may know that you want to work in the performing arts, yet do not know exactly which route you can take to make this happen. This course will literally take you behind the scenes and open your eyes to a broad range of theatre-based careers, including playwriting, directing, scenography, producing, screen industries, acting, community theatre, contemporary performance practice, and drama teaching, as well as communications professions and postgraduate study. At ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø we have a lively and dynamic careers service who will help guide you through your choices.
My career: Dr Vlad Butucea, Lecturer in Drama and Performance at ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø
Entry requirements
Scottish Higher: Standard: AABB, Minimum: BBBB
A Level: BBB
Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H3 H3 H3 H3
International Baccalaureate: 30 points
International: IELTS of 6.0 with no element lower than 5.5.
Required subjects: English is required at Higher/A Level. Drama at Higher/A Level preferred. Maths preferred at Nat 5/GCSE at grade C/4 or above. We can also accept National 5 Application of Maths or Lifeskills at the same grade.
Am I a Widening Access student?: We apply the minimum entry criteria to applicants who meet one or more contextual factor. To see if this would apply to you, please refer to the access and application page.
Mature/Access: We welcome applications from mature students with relevant qualifications and/or experience. See our College Leavers and Mature Students pages for more information.
Direct Entry:
Year Two
- HNC in related subject with B in the graded unit
Year Three
- HND with a BB in the graded unit in one of the following subjects: Acting & Performance, Musical Theatre or Performing Arts
- Successful completion of two years of an undergraduate performing arts degree in a relevant subject area.
For details of related HNC and HND courses, see our College Leavers and Mature Students pages for more information.
Other requirements
A satisfactory criminal records check from the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme will be required if you select the optional module Drama in Education later in your studies.
Disability/health conditions
If you have a disability, long-term physical or mental health condition, or learning disability, it should not stand in the way of your studying at ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø. However, if you are not sure whether your disability might be a barrier in your studies or in relation to the professional standards, please contact the Disability Service who will be able to have a conversation with you about reasonable adjustments and supports available to you.
Fee information
Fees: Please follow the link in the 'Course Overview' box for information on fees for 2026 entry.
Special note on RUK and ROI fees: Students from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, who are subject to Rest of UK fees will be charged for the first three years of study only. The fourth year is free.
Other costs:
- The cost of the PVG check is the responsibility of the student. For more information on this, visit the
- The additional costs associated with placement travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the student. Students who receive SAAS funding may be able to claim for some of these expenses to be reimbursed.
Application information
How to apply: Application for this course should be made through . More application information is available in the 'Start your Application' box at the top right of this page.
·¬ÇÑÉçÇø
- The delivery of this course is subject to the terms and conditions set out in our 2026/27 Entry Terms and Conditions (Undergraduate).
- The course information on this page is correct at the time of posting (Feb 2025) but may differ slightly for 2025 entry. Please check back here for updates.
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