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BA THEATRE W400

View all

Full Time: 3 Years

Our BA Theatre course is designed to inspire your theatrical creativity and provide you with outlets to express it. 

You will begin by studying 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. Throughout your degree, you will explore how directors, designers, writers and other theatre artists respond to and shape our rapidly changing world. You will learn practical skills from the first year, with opportunities to create performances in the final two years. You will also have the option of following a critical-only route.

You will explore histories and techniques of devising, producing, designing and directing, and learn how theatre works as an expression of real-world issues. Students studying BA Theatre at the University of Reading enjoy the best of both worlds, developing critical and creative skills in a dynamic environment.

Your first-year studies will introduce you to the histories and critical frameworks that inform each medium, and help you develop a range of academic and practical skills that will prove invaluable throughout the degree and beyond. For example, you will 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.

The second year is your chance to specialise in areas based on your personal or career interests. Through research and practice, you will 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 in detail, such as nationhood on stage and identity in performance, as well as a selection of film and television modules.

Throughout the degree, 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.

The final year presents you with the choice of diversifying your focus or further developing your knowledge in your chosen specialism. These modules are based around our academics’ current world-leading research and are all discussion-based, allowing you to rigorously engage with cutting-edge thought. Your work across the degree now culminates in either a collaborative 40-minute theatre piece or a written dissertation.

This degree is designed with the interaction between theory and practical work at its core, giving you plenty of opportunities to develop both your critical and technical skills. You will be based in Minghella Studios, a purpose-built study environment that reflects the way in which we think about and teach film, theatre and television. The Department of Film, Theatre and Television has a long and proud history of supporting collaborative work, and at every stage you will be encouraged to build your own knowledge and skills through working alongside fellow students in the, including those on our BA Film & Theatre and BA Film degrees.

A key benefit of studying at Reading is our close proximity to London – undoubtedly the UK’s premier hub for all things film and theatre. You will have numerous opportunities to visit theatres and see performances as part of your degree; London is only 30 minutes away by train, meaning it’s easy to see a show or visit one of its many independent cinemas in your own time. Please be aware theatre tickets and travel are additional costs for any theatre module, and you should plan accordingly.

Quick look entry requirements A Level ABB-BBB | IB 30-32 pts overall

At Reading, we reward commitment. Select Reading as your firm choice on UCAS, and we will guarantee you a place should you achieve the lower grade in the offer range (shown below). 

Typical offer

ABB–BBB

All suitable applicants will be interviewed.

International Baccalaureate

30–32 points overall

Extended project Qualiication

In recognition of the excellent preparation that the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) provides to students for University study we can now include achievement in the EPQ as part of a formal offer.

English language requirements

IELTS 7.0, with no component below 6.0

For information on other English language qualifications, please visit our international student pages.

Further requirements

If you are an international student planning to apply for one of our degree programmes, you may need to take a foundation course or pre-sessional course if you do not have qualifications that are equivalent to British A levels or if you need to improve your English language level.

  • Look at entry requirements by country.
  • Find out the English language requirements for our courses and our pre-sessional English programme.
  • Learn more about our international foundation programme.

What will you study?

  • Year 1
  • Year 2
  • Year 3

Year 1

Core modules include:

  • Introduction to theatre
  • Practical 1: making meaning
  • Practical 2: theatre
  • Practical 3: theatre project

Optional modules include:

  • Introduction to film
  • Introduction to television

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 2

Core modules include:

  • Radical forms and cultures in theatre
  • Creative industries and professional development
  • Creative practice: theatre
  • Practical project
    or extended essay

Optional Module options include:

  • Performance and identity
  • Popular television genres
  • Film forms and cultures
  • Film authorship
  • Film genre
  • Work-based learning
  • Research production
  • Performance and nation

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Year 3

Core module

Advanced practical project
or dissertation

Optional modules

Choose from a range of optional modules, which vary in response to developments in theatre, film and television research, and student demand. Some include elements of practical work. Recent examples have included:

  • Children’s television
  • Chinese theatre
  • Contemporary documentary
  • Contemporary performance
  • Contemporary television drama
  • Landscape and place in film
  • Performing ecology
  • Polish film and theatre
  • Popular film genres (for example: rom-com, action, sci-fi, horror)
  • Representing conflict on stage and screen
  • Research production
  • Screen industry working practices
  • The director and the theatre
  • Theatres of crisis
  • Videographic criticism
  • Work-based learning
  • World cinema and intermediality
  • World theatres

How much will it cost?

How much will it cost?

New UK/EU students: £9250* per year

New international students: £16,475 per year

* UK and EU Fee Changes

UK undergraduate fees are regulated by the government. These fees are subject to parliamentary approval and any decision on raising the tuition fees cap for new UK and EU** students would require the formal approval of both Houses of Parliament before it becomes law.

Information on this page is based on 2019/20 figures and is likely to change slightly for 2020/21 entry. We will publish up-to-date information about 2020/21 entry as soon as it becomes available.

From 2020, the UK government may link tuition fees to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

**EU students in 2019/20 

EU home students starting in the academic year 2019/20 will pay the same fees and have the same eligibility for loans and grants as UK home students for the duration of their course. The situation for students starting in 2020/21 is not yet known and may be affected by UK Government policy following the outcome of any negotiations regarding the UK’s exit from the European Union. The UK Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.

Additional Costs

These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

* UK and EU Fee Changes

Subject to the Government passing legislation to raise the minimum fee cap, we will raise undergraduate tuition fees from £9,000 to £9,250 for new UK/EU students applying to start courses in the 2017/18 academic year. You will not be affected by this rise if you have deferred entry to the 2017/18 academic year. The Government will confirm future arrangements for EU students in due course.

The tuition fee will remain £9,000 per year for the full duration of this course if you start in the 2016/17 academic year or have accepted an offer but deferred your entry until the 2017/18 academic year. This is unlike other institutions who are planning to raise fees midway through courses.

For further information, please see our webpage on the Teaching Excellence Framework and future tuition fees.

Additional costs

These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.

Financial support for your studies

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK and other EU countries may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

What career can you have?

What career can you have?

Overall, 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 the following:

  • theatre directors
  • actors
  • playwrights
  • film producers and directors
  • visual FX experts
  • cinematographers
  • television producers
  • critics

Graduates also go on to work in:

  • commercial marketing and media
  • advertising
  • journalism
  • teaching

About the School


Visit the Film, Theatre & Television Department website.

Take the next step


How to apply

Come to an Open day

Get a prospectus

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ONCAMPUS Reading


International students can enrol on the Undergraduate Foundation Programme (UFP) in Art and Design with a guaranteed opportunity for progression to Art, Design, Film and Theatre degrees at the University of Reading.

To find out more, please visit the ONCAMPUS Reading website.

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  • BA English Literature and Film QW36
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  • BA English Literature and Film and Theatre QW34
    Full Time: 3 Years
More
View all Film, Theatre and Television degree courses courses

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