To apply you’ll need to:
Have further questions? How to apply | Entry requirements
Finances for studying abroad on exchange
Are you interested in the fusion of literature, performance and culture?
Our BA joint honours English and Drama programme is an exciting opportunity to study the practice of theatre and performance, and the reading of texts from a broad spectrum of genres and periods. It combines practical and theoretical study in a wide range of interconnected areas, providing you with a variety of approaches to drama and literary studies as active and dynamic subjects.
Along with an understanding of how approaches to Drama and English complement one another, you will be encouraged to locate texts and performances in their political, cultural, and historical contexts. You'll also develop your communication and research skills, and skills in working collaboratively.
Our staff – leading academics and artists – will work with you to make learning challenging and engaging, and help you to develop as an informed critic, reader and performance maker.
Register your interest
You can complete your English and Drama degree in three or four years. If you choose to do a year abroad this will take place in Year 3 and Year 3 modules will instead be studied in Year 4.
Your first year includes a combination of practice-based and lecture/seminar-based modules:
Plus:
You can find out more about our modules from Queen Mary’s module directory.
Please note that all modules are subject to change.
List One: Medieval and Early Modern Studies
List Two: Eighteenth-Century, Romanticism, and Nineteenth-Century Studies
List Three: Modern, Contemporary and Postcolonial Studies
List Four: Special Options (modules subject to change each year):
In Drama, you will select at least one Drama module from:
You then choose your remaining modules from a selection of Drama modules that changes each year. Modules may include:
This is a sample of modules from our full module directory.
You select the rest of your final-year modules from range of seminar and practice-based options that changes each year.
Apply for this degree with any of the following options. Take care to use the correct UCAS code - it may not be possible to change your selection later.
Go global and study abroad as part of your degree – apply for our English and Drama BA with a Year Abroad. Queen Mary has links with universities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia (partnerships vary for each degree programme).
Find out more about study abroad opportunities at Queen Mary.
Some modules require you to buy books, tickets to performances or exhibitions, and travel within London. Tickets are free in your first year and, where possible, offered at a discounted rate in subsequent years.
In English and Drama you are working with people, both practical workshops and seminars, it's very sociable.
You’ll usually attend eight hours of classes weekly, mainly in the form of seminars, lectures and studio-based workshops. Practice-based modules include additional scheduled studio time weekly for student-led practice. Some modules also include lectures, tutorials and field trips.
For every hour spent in class, you'll complete approximately three to four further hours of independent study preparing for classes and assignments.
Assessment typically includes a combination of written and practical assignments, such as essays, performances, presentations, portfolios, log books, programme notes, reviews, feature articles, artist websites, podcasts and dissertations. Some assessment is based around group work, especially for performance projects and presentations. There are no written exams in English or Drama.
The School offers excellent on-campus and London-based resources to support your studies, including:
Drama and English graduate Lucy Tudor talks about the course and why drama mattered to her career.
Alternative offers may be made to applicants taking the Extended Project Qualification.
For further information please visit: qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/entry/epq
Our standard contextual offer: BBC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level.
Our enhanced contextual offer: BCC including English Literature or English Language at A-Level.
More information on our contextual offer criteria can be found on our contextualised admissions page.
Please note that General Studies and Critical Thinking are excluded from any A-Level offer and cannot be considered.
We accept a wide range of European and international qualifications in addition to A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC qualifications. Please visit International Admissions for full details.
If your qualifications are not accepted for direct entry onto this degree, consider applying for a foundation programme.
Find out more about our English language entry requirements, including the types of test we accept and the scores needed for entry to the programme.
You may also be able to meet the English language requirement for your programme by joining a summer pre-sessional programme before starting your degree.
See our general undergraduate entry requirements.
UK students accepted onto this course are eligible to apply for tuition fee and maintenance loans from Student Finance England or other government bodies.
Queen Mary offers a generous package of scholarships and bursaries, which currently benefits around 50 per cent of our undergraduates.
Scholarships are available for home, EU and international students. Specific funding is also available for students from the local area. International students may be eligible for a fee reduction. We offer means-tested funding, as well as subject-specific funding for many degrees.
Find out what scholarships and bursaries are available to you.
We offer specialist support on all financial and welfare issues through our Advice and Counselling Service, which you can access as soon as you have applied for a place at Queen Mary.
Take a look at our Student Advice Guides which cover ways to finance your degree, including:
Our English and Drama graduates go on to work across many different sectors, such as the creative arts, publishing, teaching, and media and broadcasting.
Recent graduates from the School have been hired by:
You’ll have access to bespoke careers support during your degree including access to experts in the Departments of English and Drama, specific modules (e.g. Applied Performance, Drama and Education, Writing about the Arts, Livelihoods in English); School and Department-run careers and professional development workshops; extra-curricular experience with arts organisations; and advice about postgraduate study.
Our Queen Mary careers team can also offer:
Learn more about career support and development at Queen Mary.
English and Drama - BA (Hons)
English and Drama with Year Abroad - BA (Hons)
The Discover Uni dataset (formerly Unistats)
The School of the Arts combines innovation, discovery and excellence in education and research in Drama, Film, Modern Languages, English & Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, Linguistics and Liberal Arts. We rank in the top 100 worldwide for Arts and Humanities (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024)
With our commitment to social justice, inclusivity and social mobility, our collaborations with external organisations, prominent writers and performers, and our facilities that support both academic and practice-based learning, an education in the School of the Arts equips our students with critical thinking and practical skills, unleashes their imagination and enables them to reach the levels of excellence needed in today’s industries.
We regularly host prominent writers and performers and collaborate with leading organisations such as the V&A, the Barbican, the Live Art Development Agency and Shakespeare’s Globe.
We are renowned for the depth and impact of research - which leads our teaching. We rank 1st for drama and in the top 10 for film in the UK for the quality of our research (REF2021). Our multilingual community brings together brilliant minds from across the world to share a wealth of expertise combining research excellence with an unrivalled commitment to social justice and social mobility.