Preparing for your Drama Degree

Studying a Drama Degree at Queen Mary University is so rewarding and I have found just how fortunate I am to be under the guise of so many incredible lecturers.

A large majority of the Drama lecturers have been in performances themselves, conducted extensive research within drama as a form of: media, live art, history and society, and even worked on and edited whole book series (Shout out to Jen Harvie WOOH!). These people are so valuable to your learning at Queen Mary, to your degree, and also in helping you grow as an individual.

I think something that needs to be made clear is you don’t need to have amazing acting abilities to do well on this course, you need ideas! You need creativity and the ability to work well with other people because that’s what is key to the modules you will be taking. A passion for the arts and for learning is important alongside reading too, because you will be doing a lot of theory reading for your essays.

Most of all, the course is not a competition amongst your peers as actors, it’s more about what you can create within a short amount of time, using what methods, theories and ideologies you have been taught in class. Rehearsals and lectures require full attendance and commitment and the more you put in to your work and essays the more you will get out of it. 

I took the opportunity to ask some First Year Drama Students about their experiences for first year with three simple questions: 

1. How would you describe the course in 3 words?

• “Strange, Abnormal, Fabulous!”
• “Irreverent, superfluous (but!) edifying.” 
• “Creative, challenging, inspiring.”

2. What were your favourite modules/What did you enjoy most?

• “Making Theatre and Popular Theatre” 
• “Cultural Histories: because performance relies on the world and the world breathes performance. 
• “Cultural Histories and Performance Texts in Practice”

3. If you could give someone advice about starting a BA Drama course at Queen Mary University, what would it be?

“Give everything 100%, if it seems too weird at the start, just go with it, but throw yourself into it.”

- Joshua

“The first year is nothing more than a foundation year, it is a chance to start thinking in the way they want, it is an attempt to put the individual in a mindset not yet explored or developed. I would advise someone to appreciate the new and mind-blowing but never be afraid to argue your own point even if it disagrees with what you’re being told.”

-Antoinette

“Get to know everyone because group work is a big part of the course.” 

-Caitlin

Some tips from myself for those starting the course for this September:

• I found as a drama student I was given a lot of paperwork and this may vary between subjects, so have ways of organising this, I had 1 folder for each semester and file dividers to separate subject areas. Whilst organisation is great don’t let it stress you out or spend lots of time and money on things you may not necessarily need.
• Keep track of your ‘qmul’ email, set a reminder to check it every day just to keep on top of any important messages your tutors and staff members might have for you. 
• It may help to know a bit more about your seminar lecturers for subject areas seeing what previous research they have participated in, they could be researching something you’re really keen on and want to know more about. 
• BOOKS and getting to know how to navigate the library. It will become your best friend. Also, Amazon allows students to use Prime for free for the first 6 months, so use Prime to order your books for next day delivery!
• As well as knowing your local area, talked about in blog post #5 find some places that are quiet and good to study in. 
• Any essays/deadlines, it is a really good idea to get them done as soon as possible because of how late submissions will affect your overall grade and your stress levels!
• Finally, it can be really intimidating at first, acting or performing in front of such a big group of people, but the best thing you can do is put yourself out there and offer your ideas to class!