Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

Art and Theatre

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B

Access to HE Diploma

D:18,M:27

Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal

M2,M2,M2

Extended Project

B

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification provides to students for University study, we now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.  Eligible applicants would receive two offers,  our usual offer plus an alternative offer of a B in the EPQ and one grade lower in their A level subjects

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE Maths grade 4 (or C), GCSE English Language or English Literature grade 4 (or C).

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

30

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM

Scottish Higher

A,B,B,B,B

T Level

M

Minimum grade C in the Core Component.

UCAS Tariff

120-141

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

You may also need to…

Attend an interview

Present a portfolio

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Fine art

Theatre studies

Explore the overlap between art and theatre. Let one influence the other and develop your professional practice with BA Art and Theatre.

This joint art degree enables you to develop a critical understanding of contemporary art and modern theatre. You will have the opportunity to complement your art practice with practical work in theatre.

In art, you will join a lively and creative community, explore a vast range of media and experiment with emerging art forms. You'll be assigned a dedicated studio space, accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a studio tutor who will help you develop your individual and professional practice.

Regular trips to museums and art galleries will prompt thoughts on how art is displayed and received. You will gain professional experience throughout your degree by taking part in your own exhibitions, public art commissions and events. Your teaching staff are all artists, curators and researchers of international standing and will encourage regular exhibitions and open debate.

In theatre studies you will investigate a range of contemporary practices from verbatim to immersive, site specific work and examples of digital technologies in live performance. You can explore theatre from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, covering the work of international and British playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Caryl Churchill and Sarah Kane.

Practical work complements your critical and theoretical study allowing you to apply what you learn through practice, drawing on the market-leading facilities of the £11.4m Minghella building, including three theatre spaces, a film and television studio, cutting rooms and audio post-production facilities, and a digital cinema. You will investigate theatre with academics working at the cutting edge of research, and attend performances ranging from popular forms of theatre to performance art.

Placements and collaborations are actively encouraged and there is also the chance to experience life in another country. Opportunities for work-based learning and personal development complement your core learning.

**Placement**

You are encouraged to work with different artists and designers in hosting events and exhibitions and you will be expected to undertake placement opportunities Past students have enjoyed internships at Studio Voltaire and the Frieze Art Fair. Others have performed at the ICA, taken part in an Arts Council-supported film project at the Museum of Rural Life and participated in an international exhibition at the Seoul Institute of Arts in South Korea.

Regular field trips to national and international museums, art institutions and galleries allow you to consider the diverse conditions in which art is displayed and received. There are also many opportunities for you to apply to study abroad: Reading School of Art has links with universities in countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, France, Switzerland and Finland.

Modules

The following modules have been approved in principle for delivery for 2024/25. Please note that as part of our current curriculum improvement process, all modules require final University approval and may be subject to change.

Core modules:
- Art Studio
- Drawing
- Radical Forms in Theatre and Performance
- Analysing Theatre and Performance
- Art Studio 2
- Identity, Performance and Culture
- Art Studio 2b
- Situated Art Practice
- Art Studio 3b

The University cannot guarantee that all optional modules will be available to all students who may wish to take them. Further information about the content of final approve modules will be available between May and July 2023. We suggest that you regularly revisit this webpage during this time to ensure you have the most up-to-date information regarding the modules offered on this programme.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£22,350
per year
International
£22,350
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University of Reading

Department:

Art

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

69%
Fine art
80%
Theatre studies

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Art

Teaching and learning

73%
Staff make the subject interesting
82%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
71%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

65%
Library resources
71%
IT resources
88%
Course specific equipment and facilities
54%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

85%
UK students
15%
International students
17%
Male students
83%
Female students
71%
2:1 or above
13%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

Drama

Teaching and learning

75%
Staff make the subject interesting
95%
Staff are good at explaining things
79%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
79%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

72%
Library resources
84%
IT resources
93%
Course specific equipment and facilities
66%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

93%
UK students
7%
International students
29%
Male students
71%
Female students
81%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Art

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£18,212
high
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education
56%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

24%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
16%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
11%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

Quite a few students of fine art have already retired and are taking the degree for the excellent reason that they love art, and they're willing to pay to study it. You should bear this in mind if the stats you see feature particularly low employment rates. If you need to earn a living once you've finished your fine art degree, be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common - about one in six fine arts graduates were working for themselves. Also common are what is termed 'portfolio careers' — having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - and many courses actually help you prepare for freelancing. One in ten of last year’s fine arts graduates had more than one job six months after graduation — over twice the average for graduates from 2015. Graduates from these subjects are often found in arts jobs, as artists, designers, photographers and similar jobs, or as arts and entertainment officers or teachers — although it's perfectly possible to get jobs outside the arts if you wish, with jobs in events management, marketing and community work amongst the most popular options.

Drama

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,250
high
Average annual salary
99%
high
Employed or in further education
58%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

27%
Artistic, literary and media occupations
13%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
10%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Art

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£22k

£22k

£28k

£28k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Drama

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£20k

£20k

£29k

£29k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
University of Reading | Reading
Theatre & Performance
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 128-147
Nearby University
Brunel University London | Uxbridge
Theatre and English
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 112-136
Same University
University of Reading | Reading
Film and Theatre
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 128-147

Share this page

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here