Theatre & Performance
UCAS Code: W400
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Access to HE Diploma
Cambridge International Pre-U Certificate - Principal
Extended Project
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 C (or 4), English Language or English Literature C (or 4).
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
You may also need to…
Attend an interview
About this course
Awaken your theatrical creativity and find outlets to express it. Study theatre from a range of cultures and historical periods, then focus more intensively on theatre of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including the work of international and British playwrights and performance makers such as Samuel Beckett, Sarah Kane, Complicité, Caryl Churchill and Katie Mitchell.
The course investigates a range of contemporary global practices from verbatim to immersive, from site-specific work to examples of digital technologies in live performance. You will see performances ranging from west end theatre to the latest practitioners of 'intermedial' theatre and performance art.
You will have the opportunity to combine the study of ground-breaking theory with practical application, using our purpose-built £11m facilities that feature three theatre spaces, a multi-camera film and TV studio, a digital cinema, and dedicated recording studio and mixing suite. Explore how directors, designers, writers and other theatre artists respond to and shape our rapidly changing world. Learn practical skills from the first year, with opportunities to create performances in the final two years.
Receive an introduction to the histories and critical frameworks that inform each medium, and develop a range of academic and practical skills that will prove invaluable throughout the degree and beyond. Explore a variety of “channels of communication”, and be introduced to work across Chinese, Greek, Shakespearean and Noh theatre.
We provide you with a thorough understanding of theatre conventions in order that your own experiments can have an even stronger impact. Throughout your first-year practical work you will explore how theatre has been effected by different social and historical contexts, and develop your own responses to this in group-based projects.
Specialise in areas based on your personal or career interests, explore work within and beyond classical and conventional narrative traditions, and learn about practitioners and movements that have challenged those traditions in various global and historical contexts. Your idea of theatre will be expanded by studying avant-garde, postdramatic, political and radical performance works. Optional modules allow you to investigate a variety of areas, such as nationhood on stage and identity in performance, as well as a selection of film and television modules.
All taught lectures are followed by discussion and/or workshop-based seminars, enabling you to immediately respond to what you are learning. From start to finish, you will study both theory and practice – and learn how to effectively blend them together. Our Department has a long and proud history of supporting collaborative work and you will be encouraged to build your own knowledge and skills through working alongside fellow students.
Our close proximity to London means you will have numerous opportunities to visit theatres and see performances as part of your degree. Please be aware theatre tickets and travel are additional costs for any theatre module, and you should plan accordingly.
**Careers**
96% of our graduates were in work or further study within six months of graduating (DLHE survey, 2016–17).
Our flexible degrees are designed to develop the confidence and skills valued by both creative and commercial industries, providing you with a diverse range of career opportunities following graduation. You will develop the practical film and theatre production skills needed in industry, as well as many transferable skills for work in a wider range of sectors.
Many of our graduates work in the creative industries and their roles include theatre directors, playwrights, visual FX experts and critics. Graduates also go on to work in commercial marketing and media, advertising, journalism and teaching.
Modules
Sample modules may include:
* Introduction to theatre
* Practical: theatre project
* Creative industries and professional development
* Performance and identity
* Ensemble practice
Check our website for more details of the course structure.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Reading
Film, Theatre and Television

Calculate your living costs
See how much you'll need to live on at your chosen university, with our student budget calculator.
See your living costsWhat 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.
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.
Drama
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
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.
Top job areas of graduates
What do graduate employment figures really tell you?Drama is a very popular degree subject — in 2015, over 5,000 degrees were awarded to UK graduates. With so many graduates around, jobs in acting are very sought-after and often gained through personal contacts, or through your careers service so be prepared to practise your people skills and to make full use of your university facilities. But there are lots of roles in the arts for drama graduates, in direction, production, audio-visual, set and clothing design and PR. The skills taught by drama courses can be useful elsewhere — a lot of the economy can use people who can perform and present in front of others, and so drama graduates can be found in teaching, management, advertising, project and events organisation and community work. Be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common, as are what is termed 'portfolio careers' — having several part-time jobs or commissions at once — one in ten drama graduates last year had more than one job on the go at once after six months. And starting salaries are not the best - but nevertheless the large majority of drama graduates going into acting still felt that it was just the job for them regardless of pay.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Theatre studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£25k
£21k
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...




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).
We calculate a mean rating of all responses to indicate whether this is high, medium or low compared to the same subject area at other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
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