Drama and English | BA (Hons) | University of Lincoln

An Introduction to Your Modules

† Some courses may offer optional modules. The availability of optional modules may vary from year to year and will be subject to minimum student numbers being achieved. This means that the availability of specific optional modules cannot be guaranteed. Optional module selection may also be affected by staff availability.

Devising and Making 2022-23DRA1046MLevel 42022-23A practice-based introduction to the foundational elements of performance technique and performance making, in this module students may undertake instruction in vocal and physical technique, learning the fundamentals of movement for theatre, spatial and ensemble awareness and the operation of the voice. Alongside these, weekly workshops investigate the theories and methodologies that underpin performance making. As they develop an applied understanding of technique and the ability to engage in critical reflection, students can form groups and work towards devising original performances which are showcased at the end of the semester.CoreEnsemble Show 2022-23DRA1047MLevel 42022-23This module is the practical culmination of Level One, in which the skills and techniques of performance and devising learned in Devising & Making are implemented in a larger group ensemble context. Here students may devise, produce, and perform a piece of original theatre based on their exploration of a particular theme, idea, or concept, with the performances taking place in the main auditorium at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre.CoreTexts in Time: Medieval to Romantic 2022-23ENL1070MLevel 42022-23Texts in Time: Medieval to Romantic introduces students to a variety of materials from a range of cultural and historical contexts from the 12th century to 1830, and to methods of reading historically. Students will thus build a foundation on writers and historical periods which they can choose to pursue in greater detail at levels 2 and 3. Students will examine literature in English in a range of forms, such as poetry, drama, fiction, and essays, and the conditions under which these materials were created. There will be a particular emphasis throughout the module on questions concerning the self in society and the cultural tensions that arise when different understandings or definitions of identity clash. The chosen texts will demonstrate and explore understandings of the self in relation to matters such as sex, gender, race, nationality, class, religion, and age.CoreTexts in Time: Victorian to Contemporary 2022-23ENL1071MLevel 42022-23Texts in Time: Victorian to Contemporary introduces students to a variety of materials from a range of cultural and historical contexts from 1830 to the present, and to methods of reading historically. Students will thus build a foundation on writers and historical periods which they can choose to pursue in greater detail at levels 2 and 3. Students will examine literature in English in a range of forms, such as poetry, drama, fiction, and essays, and the conditions under which these materials were created. There will be a particular emphasis throughout the module on questions concerning the self in society and the cultural tensions that arise when different understandings or definitions of identity clash. The chosen texts will demonstrate and explore understandings of the self in relation to matters such as sex, gender, race, nationality, class, religion, and age.CoreDis-Locations: the Literature of Late Capitalism 2023-24ENL2023MLevel 52023-24Fragmentation, uncertainty and conflict characterise a world in aftermath of war, at end of empire, and at the beginning of a period of radical social and cultural change. This module aims to chart the emergence of the contemporary world from these fractured beginnings through an introduction to British literature of the period 19502000. From the post-war Windrush migration to the rise of the historical novel at the turn of the millennium, the Angry Young Men to new feminist perspectives and postcolonialism, this module explores relevant theoretical perspectives on the late 20th Century and encourages an appreciation of the relationship between texts and their social, political and cultural contexts.CoreTheory Wars 2023-24ENL2017MLevel 52023-24This module considers the range of theories that we can use when we read and think about literature. Students will have the opportunity to study psychoanalysis, feminism, Marxism and postmodernism, among others, to think about why and how we structure meaning and interpretation in certain ways. We consider questions such as what is an author?, what is gender? and why do certain things frighten us? through theorists such as Roland Barthes, Judith Butler and Sigmund Freud.CoreAfter The End: Reading the Apocalypse 2023-24ENL2027MLevel 52023-24This module explores apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic texts using a range of novels, short stories, poems and films. Lectures will establish cultural and historical contexts and address issues such as form and genre. The module will explore a range of significant periods from early Judeo-Christian fears regarding the purging moral apocalypse, through Romantic preoccupations with nature and industrialisation, postmodernism and more contemporary concerns about viral or cybernetic apocalypse. We will draw from a range of disciplines including literary theory, psychoanalysis, cultural theory, philosophy and trauma theory.OptionalAmerican Literature I 2023-24ENL2024MLevel 52023-24This module explores the nineteenth-century literature of the USA, chiefly focusing on fiction and poetry. Authors covered include Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Walt Whitman and Willa Cather, among others.OptionalAmerican Literature II 2023-24ENL2025MLevel 52023-24This module covers a broad range of twentieth-century American fiction and poetry. Beginning with Fitzgerald, other authors studied include Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace.OptionalArthur and His Court 2023-24ENL2043MLevel 52023-24This module examines Arthurian narratives, myths, and traditions within a variety of contexts and media, and traces a variety of themes associated with Arthur and his court, including history and national identity; violence; kingship and rule; loyalty and betrayal; and love, sex, and gender roles. Students will be expected to assess the importance of a myth that spans more than a millennium and address how medieval texts made meaning within their specific socio-cultural situations, as well as how later periods make meaning through their deployment of the medieval in new contexts.OptionalBritish Medieval Literature 2023-24ENL2044MLevel 52023-24This module examines key British medieval texts, primarily in Middle English, from the High and Late Middle Ages (that is, from approximately the twelfth century to fifteenth century). It explores the breadth of literary activity in the period through a variety of genres--such as debate poetry, ethnographies, beast fables, romance, dream visions, satire, devotional and mystical writings, and mystery plays--and the evolution of a new form of English (the precursor of modern English), revealing that the medieval period is, in truth, a far cry from the misnomer by which it is often identified, the dark ages.OptionalClass, Power and Performance on Stage and Screen 2023-24ENL2029MLevel 52023-24OptionalClassic and Contemporary Fantasy 2023-24ENL2064MLevel 52023-24This module examines one of the most varied literary genres extant, one that, at times, is often relegated to the margins because of its slippery nature. Students will examine early examples of fantasy and trace the genres development across a number of key historical epochs, from the classical and medieval periods to the twenty-first century. They will consider especially Tolkien as a pivotal force in the growth of fantasy literature and theory, as well as The Inklings, a group whose works had a profound influence on the evolution of the genre in the twentieth century. A range of subgenres of the fantastic will be explored, which may include high and low fantasy, ironic fantasy, historical fantasy, or magic realism, and, alongside primary texts, they will read selections from modern theoretical and critical texts that articulate different interpretations and approaches to the fantastic.OptionalCollaborative Elective 2023-24DRA2043MLevel 52023-24This module enables groups of students from mixed disciplines to work together on a large-scale, interdisciplinary project. The module takes as its starting point a project brief from either an internal or external partner commissioning the student group to undertake and complete a collaborative project exploring pertinent cultural issues.OptionalContemporary Political Playwriting 2023-24DRA2045MLevel 52023-24In this module students have the opportunity to study a range of contemporary dramatic texts and performances grouped thematically into three key areas of contemporary cultural context: Neoliberalism; Borders and Nations; and Climate Change and the Environment. Applying the skills of close critical analysis developed throughout the course, students are expected to consider how contemporary theatre is engaging with the social, political and environmental fallout of 'the end of history' and examine the various dramaturgical strategies employed by contemporary theatre-makers to address these challenges. The module runs as a series of practical sessions in which the plays are workshopped as well as discussion-based seminars.OptionalDesigning Stages 2023-24DRA2046MLevel 52023-24How have the practices of lighting, spatial, sound and costume design developed over time? In what ways can ideas developed by pioneers of modern scenography be tested and put into practice today? How do spaces, bodies, materials and technologies interact in the production of meaning in theatre and performance? This 30-credit, Level 2 module introduces key aspects of the histories, theories and practices of scenography and performance design. In this module students can navigate these subjects historically, theoretically, and practically, exploring how different elements of design can work in tandem. As such, they may be exposed to ideas of how we might understand and apply a range of visual, spatial, material, sonic and other practices in live performance contexts.OptionalExperimental Writing 2023-24ENL2066MLevel 52023-24This module, conceptually, textually, formally, and intellectually challenging, is designed to introduce students to a range of innovative literatures, in a variety of forms, in order both to interrogate the idea of experimental writing, and its own often aggressive interrogation of the expressive potential of literature.OptionalLiterature of the Fin de Sicle 2023-24ENL2065MLevel 52023-24This module examines some of the preoccupations of the fin de sicle through a series of texts and authors who helped to shape the cultural climate of the 1880s-1900s. These decades gave rise to a pervasive feeling of vital urgency and exhilaration in Britain, as well as a conflicted sense that society was teetering on a cliff edge of irredeemable degeneration. Texts will be read alongside and in light of social and political developments, such as anxieties about Britains empire and position on the global stage, evolution and degeneration, sexual identity, womens rights, the rise of occultism and spiritualism, Decadence, and radical politics. The study of fin de sicle writing will be set against the backdrop of the infamous Oscar Wilde trial, and the sensationalised Jack the Ripper murders, contemporary anxieties about criminality, the empire, and eugenics.OptionalMaking It New: An Introduction to Literary Modernism 2023-24ENL2016MLevel 52023-24In this module students will have the opportunity to explore the early twentieth century, one of the most creative periods in English literature, when writers like James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence were challenging conventional ways of writing and reading, and rewriting how we experience and understand the world and ourselves. Required reading will include some of the most powerful works from the modern movement between 1910 and 1940 including James Joyces Ulysses and T.S. Eliots The Waste Land.OptionalModern Drama (Level 2) 2023-24ENL2011MLevel 52023-24OptionalPlacements (LSFPA) 2023-24DRA2051MLevel 52023-24The Placement module encourages students to engage with the creative industries beyond the University through an 80-hour placement with a business or organisation of their choosing. Through direct workplace experience, students may develop new skills, strengthen existing ones, establish valuable professional networks, and target future employment opportunities. Following the placement students are assessed via presentations where they reflect upon their professional development and the impact of their work with the partner organisation.OptionalPostcolonialism 2023-24ENL2022MLevel 52023-24This module examines literary representations of the world that emerge from the history of European exploration and expansion, and considers literary responses from groups that were marginalized through imperialism. Students will be encouraged to look at the treatment by white writers of issues of race and empire in the early twentieth century. They will also have the opportunity to explore ways in which postcolonial literatures develop strategies of 'writing back' to the imperial centre and re-thinking identity in terms of race, gender and nation. The final section offers a study of postcolonial Britain and some global implications of postcolonial writing.OptionalRenaissance Literature 2023-24ENL2018MLevel 52023-24Students studying Renaissance Literature have the opportunity to look in detail at a range of texts from the late Elizabethan period to the mid-1630s, including work by Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson and Mary Wroth. They also have the chance to explore the historical and cultural contexts in which these texts were produced, and the effects that they had on the politics and culture of the British Isles in the period. Lectures aim to examine post-Reformation England and late humanism, patronage, gender relations, early modern literary theory, education and philosophy.OptionalRestoration Literature 2023-24ENL2021MLevel 52023-24Students taking Restoration Literature, the companion module to Renaissance Literature, can study in detail a range of texts written between the era of the English Civil War and the first decade of the eighteenth Century, including work by John Milton; Andrew Marvell; Aphra Behn; and John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester. Students have the opportunity to also study the historical and cultural contexts in which these texts were produced. Lectures aim to examine the origins and effects of the civil war, the ethics of rebellion and reform, the Restoration theatre, religious controversies, gender relations, developing philosophical thought and Restoration manners.OptionalRomanticism: Literature 1780-1830 2022-23ENL2063MLevel 52022-23Students will study English literature of the Romantic period (1780-1830), including poetry, fiction, autobiography, and political polemic. The module will address revolutions in politics and literary form and ideas of nature, the sublime, sensibility and feeling, abolition and slavery, Enlightenment feminism, the Gothic, Orientalism, and childhood. Students will have the opportunity to study works by writers including William Wordsworth, William Blake, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and Olaudah Equiano, placing them in their cultural context.OptionalSpecialist Elective 2 2023-24DRA2054MLevel 52023-24This module offers students the opportunity to work alongside established academics conducting research into a specialist area of drama, theatre and/or performance studies. Specific module content will be informed by the research expertise of the tutor, who will aim to connect students with the contexts, practices, theories and debates associated with this field of research, developing skills of textual and critical analysis alongside creative and critical practices. Examples of level two Specialist Elective modules offered in past years include The Musical and Reactionary Politics and Modern Drama.OptionalSpecialist Elective B 2023-24DRA2053MLevel 52023-24OptionalStage Combat 2023-24DRA2037MLevel 52023-24This module aims to teach students the basics of engaging in stage combat and gives them the option of progressing to the Academy of Performance Combat Basic Three Weapon exam.OptionalStaging Shakespeare & Co 2023-24DRA2044MLevel 52023-24This practically-based module engages with selected plays of the Early Modern period and uses them as texts for performance on the contemporary stage. Working both as dramaturgs and performers, students can form a production ensemble and stage an Early Modern classic presented on the main auditorium of the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. Students may connect their interpretation and re-interpretation the text and its performance history with their own ideas and experiences to situate the Early Modern text within our contemporary cultural moment. Recently staged performances on this module include versions of John Websters The Duchess of Malfi and Christopher Marlowes Dr Faustus.OptionalStudy Period Abroad - English and Drama 2023-24ENL2030MLevel 52023-24This module provides an opportunity for students on the joint English and Drama BA to spend a semester at second level studying at one of the Universitys partner institutions, developing academically and personally. During the semester abroad students undertake a course load at the partner institution of equivalent standard to that of one semester of the programme at Lincoln. Participation in study abroad also offers unique opportunities for personal student development in the widest sense, taking in cultural, sporting and social opportunities. In order to participate, students are usually expected to obtain a 2:1 or higher at Level 1, have a good record of attendance and participation, and must complete an application process. A limited number of places will be available each year, and participation is at the discretion of the Module Co-ordinator and the Programme Leader.OptionalTeaching Drama 2023-24DRA2052MLevel 52023-24This module introduces students to the theory and practice of teaching drama within a variety of professional and academic contexts. It aims to provide students with a basic repertoire of skills, knowledge and experience for those considering teaching as a career, allowing them to develop and apply a range of teaching methods oriented around the way that the subject of drama is learned and taught. Key to the teaching and learning strategy on the module is engaging directly in schools or other appropriate learning environments.OptionalTechnical Theatre 2023-24DRA2048MLevel 52023-24How does a theatre performance work? What happens behind the scenes for a performance to operate effectively? The Technical Theatre module provides students with the opportunity to improve their understanding of creating and operating a theatrical performance through both theoretical and practical based workshops, demonstrating common principles and practices within the subject of technical theatre and Stage Management.OptionalTheatre Practice 2023-24DRA2050MLevel 52023-24This module on the Contemporary Theatre Practice pathway will introduce students to practical strategies for the making of performance in the real-world contemporary theatre industry. The focus is on approaching performance through the lens of a professional practitioner. While we take existing models from contemporary theatre companies and theatre makers, we are also interested in developing a professional skill-set and attitude at this level and enabling students to consider themselves on their professional trajectory as makers. Students can explore the associated practices of improvising, devising and dramaturgy. Companies and theatre makers covered on the module include Massive Owl, Forced Entertainment, Goat Island, Gob Squad, Action Hero, The Wooster Group, Reckless Sleepers, Lone Twin, Uninvited Guests, Proto-type. The teaching team includes staff who have worked with these companies and have direct experience of making theatre today.OptionalTheatres of Experiment: the Avant-Garde 2023-24DRA2042MLevel 52023-24This module explores the genealogies, practices, politics, cultural legacy and impact of the European Avant-garde circa 1880-1930 and can turn to more recent developments in the course of the module. Students may study the theories, manifestoes, interventions and artworks from key movements including: Symbolism, Futurism, German Expressionism, DaDa, Surrealism, Absurdism and Russian Constructivism, before turning to contemporary expressions of avant-garde practice such as 1960s Happenings and the Fluxus Group. The module asks: What can the theatre and other practices of these avant-garde movements and landmark practitioners teach us in our approach to making theatre today? Where can vestiges of avant-gardism be seen in diverse contemporary performances and artworks? And how do avant-garde artists attempt to create radical fusions of art, life and politics?OptionalA Dream Deferred: Class in American Literature 2024-25ENL3072MLevel 62024-25OptionalAmerican Detective Fiction and Film: 1930 to the Present Day 2024-25ENL3081MLevel 62024-25Why have detective narratives proved so enduringly popular? This module will interrogate the iconic figure of the private eye in American popular culture, through the fiction and film of the twentieth and twenty-first century.OptionalArts and Cultural Industries 2024-25DRA3056MLevel 62024-25This module offers you the opportunity to develop a detailed understanding of the arts as an ecosystem in relation to the wider world. You'll be introduced to the organisational infrastructure of the creative sector to equip you for a career in the arts and enhance your core employability skills for life after graduation. Acknowledging that what happens offstage is as important, if not more important than what happens onstage, this module provides you with real-world guidance for working in creative and cultural industries though lectures, discussion, group and individual working, research, and a series of talks and presentations from industry professionals working in a variety of creative contexts. You'll also be encouraged to keep abreast of government policy and issues such as audience accessibility and diversity within the arts, and ask how the current political climate shapes this generation of arts organisations, makers and companies.OptionalCabaret, Satire & Song 2024-25DRA3062MLevel 62024-25What does it mean to be popular? Why are popular performance modes such as clowning, cabaret, the musical and stand-up comedy so often overlooked within the serious study of theatre? In this module, students can engage with the historical, theoretical and practical contexts of a range of popular performance forms.OptionalContemporary Drama 2024-25ENL3004MLevel 62024-25OptionalDegree Show Festival 2024-25DRA3059MLevel 62024-25Final Project allows students the opportunity to work collaboratively to produce their Degree Show performance. Students will work together to propose and deliver an ambitious, large-scale performance that builds on their three years of experience on the Theatre programme. Embracing a broad spectrum of theatrical modes and genres, work may include (but not limited to) site-based pieces, restagings and adaptations, devised performance, intermedial, physical theatre and live art. All performances will have the opportunity to be shown in the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre as part of its professional programme.OptionalDirecting 2024-25DRA3077MLevel 62024-25What is the role of the director? What is the difference between directing an existing text and directing a piece 'from scratch'? What are the artistic and aesthetic concerns of the director, and what does it mean to direct theatre in the twenty-first century? This module introduces students to the practical process of classical and contemporary methodologies for directing theatre, from researching the script, through casting and rehearsals to auteurship, guided improvisation, and material development.OptionalDissertation (15c) 2024-25DRA3057MLevel 62024-25The Dissertation module provides the opportunity for a student to investigate and pursue a theatre and performance arts topic of his or her own choosing over an extended piece of academic writing. Each student is allocated a supervisor that will help them to select and refine a topic appropriate for extended study, evaluate progress and read and offer feedback on draft work. Students will be expected to work on their own initiative to undertake research and synthesise it into a logical and original argument in the form of a 4,500 piece of scholarly writing.OptionalDissertation (30c) 2024-25DRA3058MLevel 62024-25The Dissertation module provides the opportunity for a student to investigate and pursue a theatre and performance arts topic of his or her own choosing over an extended piece of academic writing. Each student is allocated a supervisor that will help them to select and refine a topic appropriate for extended study, evaluate progress and read and offer feedback on draft work. Students will be expected to work on their own initiative to undertake research and synthesise it into a logical and original argument in the form of a 9,000 word piece of scholarly writing.OptionalGenre and Popular Culture 2024-25AME3015MLevel 62024-25OptionalGothic in Literature and Film 2024-25ENL3006MLevel 62024-25Monsters and attics, desolate landscapes, imprisonment and pursuit: the gothic genre emerged in the late eighteenth century to depict our darkest fears and desires. Termed 'the literature of nightmare', gothic departs from a realistic mode of representation and employs a powerful means of symbolic expression. Students are given the opportunity to investigate ways in which the genre has explored psychological and political anxieties, and themes of sexual and social transgression. We consider literary texts from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries, including literature and film, and we give attention to sub-genres such as female gothic, imperial gothic and childrens gothic.OptionalGrowing Up and Growing Old: Youth and Age across the Nineteenth Century 2024-25ENL3080MLevel 62024-25This module explores what it meant to grow up and to grow old in the nineteenth century, through often contradictory accounts of experiencing age categories from childhood to old age. Students will have the opportunity to examine various constructions of ageing, to reflect on age as a crucial facet of identity. This module considers age as a lens to explore the nineteenth century as a transitional period of growth and expansion as well as decay and decline, through a range of Romantic and Victorian texts.OptionalIndependent Study: English 2024-25ENL3043MLevel 62024-25In this module students have the opportunity to research in depth an author or topic of their choosing. Students are expected to commence research over the summer between Levels 2 and 3 and, on their return, have regular, one-to-one meetings with a tutor who is a research specialist in that field. The supervisor offers advice and direction, but primarily this module encourages independent research leading to the production of a 10,000 word dissertation.OptionalIrish Writing since 1900 2024-25ENL3071MLevel 62024-25This module is designed to examine how terms such as Ireland and Irishness have been constructed and questioned across the last century, a period of immense and often turbulent historical and social change. It aims to explore the representation of place, the nature of nationalism, the changing family unit, gender roles and Ireland's relationship to globalization in Irish poetry, drama and fiction.OptionalLife Writing 2024-25ENL3032MLevel 62024-25This module responds to the recent interest in the representation of lives within literary studies. It discusses a range of life representations (including biography, autobiography, letters, confessions, memoirs, and poems) from the Romantic period to the contemporary moment. Students may consider the origins of autobiography, address Modernist experiments with life representations, and discuss twentieth-century and contemporary innovations, including disability narratives and cross-cultural autobiographies. Themes such as the construction of selfhood, conceptions of memory, the relational self, and the ethics of life writing are addressed.OptionalLiterature and the Environment 2024-25ENL3050MLevel 62024-25The first principle of ecological thinking is that it is not only human beings that are meaningful, and that we are neither so separate from, nor so dominant over, the non-human as we tend to think. In this module students can explore what difference it makes to read literature from this perspective. We study literature as part of our complex interaction with our environment, and, perhaps sometimes, as a uniquely valuable one. Students can read texts from ancient Greek pastoral to contemporary dystopias, and from the poet John Clare to the woodland historian Oliver Rackham.OptionalLiterature and the Visual, 17701870 2024-25ENL3095MLevel 62024-25OptionalLiterature, Film and Gender 2024-25ENL3005MLevel 62024-25OptionalLost in the Funhouse: Experimental American Literary Fiction Since the Sixties 2024-25ENL3011MLevel 62024-25OptionalMadness, The Body, Literature 2024-25ENL3069MLevel 62024-25OptionalMonsters and Violence in Middle English Romance 2024-25ENL3077MLevel 62024-25This module explores the representation of East-West contact in Middle English romances, with a particular emphasis on the interlacement of racial and ethnic otherness and on different types of violence, from martial exploits and religious coercion to rape and cannibalism. Students will have the chance to experience the breadth of the romance genreits many thematic and topical branches, and its many sub-genres and their respective conventionsas well as insight to the actual act of crusading, and the cultural and social crises that arose from this act.OptionalMoving Home: Literatures of American Migration 2024-25ENL3070MLevel 62024-25OptionalPerformance, Media & New Technologies 2024-25DRA3061MLevel 62024-25What happens when performance meets new technology? How can digital technologies reshape and reconfigure the possibilities for performative and aesthetic experience? In this module students can practically engage with a range of new and broadcast technologies to develop a piece of performance practice that explores the relationships between technology and the experience of performance.OptionalPhysical Theatre 2024-25DRA3048MLevel 62024-25In this module you'll explore a range of approaches to the constantly evolving field of Physical Theatre. Through a series of workshops, you will investigate different techniques, styles, methodologies ranging from classical traditions to contemporary performance. You'll have the opportunity to gain a practical and analytical insight into the countless possibilities of the body in performance - in relation to other bodies, to the space, to the audience. You will work to develop skills that will equip you to use the body expressively, imaginatively, communicatively, collaboratively. You will engage with and draw inspiration from a variety of stimuli - words, images, sounds, scents, objects, culture and society - in order to devise original performances, using the body as the primary vehicle to generate, express and communicate meaning.OptionalPostdramatic Theatre 2024-25DRA3063MLevel 62024-25Emerging in the twentieth century, postdramatic theatre calls into question such fundamentals of dramatic theatre such character, plot and dialogue, inviting us to conceive of a theatre beyond representation. This module asks why? and how?, in both practical and theoretical contexts.OptionalPostmodernism: Apocalypse and Genesis 1967-2000 2024-25ENL3031MLevel 62024-25This module will explore the nature of the contemporary through analysis of selected literary texts. The initial date, 1967, has been chosen as it marks a point of transition from a post-war world based upon a liberal consensus to a time of radical uncertainty, extreme and experimental forms of expression, the breakdown of notions of realism in all the arts, sciences and philosophy. Literature, alongside the radicalisation of all intellectual concepts, including reason and common-sense, has played a significant role in debating, illustrating, and disseminating these new ways of thinking both in terms of form and content.OptionalProfessional Production 2024-25DRA3078MLevel 62024-25OptionalScience Fiction 2024-25ENL3036MLevel 62024-25This module considers the genre of modern science fiction and its evolution into one of todays most popular narrative genres. Analysing a variety of forms novel, short story, drama, graphic novel and film students will have the opportunity to examine the socio-historical contexts of some of the most influential narratives of this period. This ranges from the emergence of scientific romance in the late nineteenth century, to late twentieth-century forms like cyberpunk and radical fantasy; from the problems of defining genre fictions and privileging science fiction over fantasy, to our enduring fascination with alternate histories, non-human agents (robots, animals, genetic hybrids, the environment), ecocatastrophe and post-apocalypse.OptionalSex, Texts and Politics: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer 2024-25ENL3078MLevel 62024-25This module concentrates on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with a particular emphasis on The Canterbury Tales, perhaps Chaucers most famous work. Students will have the opportunity to examine the General Prologue and a variety of tales in relation to their historical context and literary antecedents, and, throughout, specific attention will be given to questions of genre (ranging from fable and epic to satire and romance), literary authority, narrative construction, and medieval aesthetics.OptionalShakespeare I 2024-25ENL3074MLevel 62024-25This module provides an opportunity for students to study the works of Shakespeare in detail. The dissemination, influence, and adaptation of Shakespeare is unrivalled, and without an understanding of the conventions that the works dissolved and those that they initiated, a full appreciation of the canon of English literature is inevitably lessened. This modules challenges Shakespeares status as an icon of tradition and elitism by reading the texts in the light of recent developments in critical theory, and by locating them in the culture of their age. Students will be invited to examine the ways in which different theoretical approaches might have a bearing upon the interpretation of Shakespeare, they will also be conversant with the religious climate of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the conditions of performance and play-going in Shakespeares theatre, and the significant cultural and historical events of the period.OptionalShakespeare II 2024-25ENL3075MLevel 62024-25This module allows students to study the works of the Bard in detail, and to read them in the light of critical theory and literary history. Shakespeares plays are a cornerstone of the canon of English literature, but in wider culture they are often treated as inflexible repositories of truth and human nature. This module will resist such approaches, and concentrate instead upon the ways in which the plays address the concerns of their day, as well as how they have been made to signify in other eras. Students can develop an understanding of how Shakespeares work dealt with early modern dramatic conventions, politics, and thought; how it addressed questions of history, religion, and race; and how it shaped the culture within which it was written. This module considers Shakespeares mature comedies, histories, and tragedies.OptionalSingle Author Study A 2024-25ENL3085MLevel 62024-25This module allows students to pursue an in-depth study of one authors literary or dramatic works. The author of choice varies from year to year according to academics current research interests, but potential authors may include writers of fiction and/or poetry such as Angela Carter, Charlotte Bronte, Iain Banks, Thomas Pynchon, M.R.James, Jane Austen and Sylvia Plath; and dramatists such as Caryl Churchill, Thomas Middleton, Aphra Behn, Ben Johnson and debbie tucker green. Students will explore the writers oeuvre in terms of themes, style, and engagement with form and genre traditions, and with contemporary cultural debates. We also address practicalities of authorship such as the role of editors, publishing/performance formats, and different readerships/audiences. Students will also consider the writers legacies including the afterlife of their works in adaptation. As well as studying texts, students will engage with conceptual debates about the role of the author : is attention to the authors life an outmoded and over-deterministic approach to the study of a text? or a necessary part of contextualisation? As we scrutinise the figure of the author in biography, literary societies, literary tourism and popular culture, we ask : what purposes does the author as a cultural construction serve ? and does this have anything to do with reading?OptionalSingle Author Study B 2024-25ENL3086MLevel 62024-25This module allows students to pursue an in-depth study of one authors literary or dramatic works. The author of choice varies from year to year according to academics current research interests, but potential authors may include writers of fiction and/or poetry such as Angela Carter, Charlotte Bronte, Iain Banks, Thomas Pynchon, M.R.James, Jane Austen and Sylvia Plath; and dramatists such as Caryl Churchill, Thomas Middleton, Aphra Behn, Ben Johnson and debbie tucker green. Students will explore the writers oeuvre in terms of themes, style, and engagement with form and genre traditions, and with contemporary cultural debates. We also address practicalities of authorship such as the role of editors, publishing/performance formats, and different readerships/audiences. Students will also consider the writers legacies including the afterlife of their works in adaptation. As well as studying texts, students will engage with conceptual debates about the role of the author : is attention to the authors life an outmoded and over-deterministic approach to the study of a text? or a necessary part of contextualisation? As we scrutinise the figure of the author in biography, literary societies, literary tourism and popular culture, we ask : what purposes does the author as a cultural construction serve ? and does this have anything to do with reading?OptionalSolo Performance 2024-25DRA3065MLevel 62024-25This module enables students to explore and analyse the various techniques of producing material which will eventually lead to the production of a Solo Performance. During the course of the module, students are expected to analyse and engage with the work of a variety of contemporary solo artists which will influence and guide their work. Engagement with a wide variety of Solo artists is important and the Lincoln Performing Arts Centre will provide a rich vein of resources in the form of incoming artists. These opportunities for students on this module are designed to enable them to discover a personal voice and a unique voice as a solo performance artist.OptionalSouthern Accents 2024-25ENL3009MLevel 62024-25This optional module explores representations of the southern states of America in prose fiction, film, drama and music. In the first section southern stereotypes and resistant representations, produced by southerners and others, are examined in relation to social, political and historical contexts. This is followed by a section on African American representations of the south. Finally, a section on music and vernacular traditions explores the influence of the south on American popular music. Students are encouraged to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to examine questions of regional identity in a wide range of texts.OptionalSpecialist Elective II Semester A 2024-25DRA3064MLevel 62024-25This module offers students the opportunity to work alongside established academics conducting research into a specialist area of drama, theatre and/or performance studies. Specific module content will be informed by the research expertise of the tutor, who will connect students with the contexts, practices, theories and debates associated with this field of research, developing skills of textual and critical analysis alongside creative and critical practices.OptionalSpecialist Elective II Semester B 2024-25DRA3075MLevel 62024-25This module offers students the opportunity to work alongside established academics conducting research into a specialist area of drama, theatre and/or performance studies. Specific module content will be informed by the research expertise of the tutor, who will connect students with the contexts, practices, theories and debates associated with this field of research, developing skills of textual and critical analysis alongside creative and critical practices.OptionalThe Literature of Childhood 2024-25ENL3010MLevel 62024-25This module explores how childhood is constructed in a wide range of literary texts texts by adults for adults, by adults for children, and by children themselves. Underpinning the module is the notion of childhood as a cultural construct into which writers invest various, even contradictory, meanings. Students have the opportunity to explore texts by adults who idealise or demonise the child to suit their personal and philosophical agendas. Students may then analyse the mixture of didactic and therapeutic agendas in enduring genres of childrens literature such as the fairytale, adventure story and cautionary tale. Finally, we turn to children as authors in a study of juvenilia.OptionalTheatre For Young Audiences 2024-25DRA3053MLevel 62024-25What part does theatre play in the lives of children today? How do we make such theatre relevant, accessible, and alive in a world dominated by screen-based interaction? What is the most appropriate setting and subject matter to engage children in a theatrical experience? Students will form small groups and devise short performances designed to tour to Primary Schools in the City of Lincoln. The tour will usually play in a different Primary School every day for one working week, with audience sizes ranging from 80 - 300 children. The tour will replicate a professional touring model, accompanied by a dedicated Technician with a full complement of audio, visual and lighting equipment. The audience will usually comprise of 4 - 7 year old children, their teachers and teaching or learning assistants. Students will require DBS Checks to tour, and these will be provided by the School of Fine and Performing Arts.OptionalTwenty-First Century British Fiction 2024-25ENL3079MLevel 62024-25This module aims to explore new thematic trends, stylistic innovations and cultural developments in post-millennial British fiction, including a focus on globalising processes, transnational migration and digital technology. The module also addresses the development (and rethinking of the concepts) of gender and class in literature of the period and account for the continuing importance of the literary form in an age of digital publishing.OptionalWomens Writing and Feminist Theory 2024-25ENL3002MLevel 62024-25Students can study a diverse range of prose, poetry, and drama written by women from the eighteenth century to the present is considered alongside key concepts in feminist theory and the history of the womens movement. Writers range from Mary Wollstonecraft to Zora Neale Hurston to Jeanette Winterson. Topics range from the feminine aesthetic and French feminism to feminist utopianism and cyberfeminism.OptionalWriting for the Stage 2024-25DRA3060MLevel 62024-25This 30-credit Level 3 module will investigate different modes of writing for, through and in performance. The module introduces radical new dramaturgies and the potentiality of text as material, site and set. Students can develop approaches, strategies and techniques for writing for performance, inclusive of the notion of writing-as-performance, and a critical understanding of their application in theatre today.Optional

Key Information

BA (Hons) Drama and English

Key Information

Welcome to BA (Hons) Drama and English

How You Study

What You Need to Know

An Introduction to Your Modules

How you are assessed

Fees and Scholarships

Course-Specific Additional Costs

Entry Requirements 2022-23

United Kingdom

International

Facilities

Features

Study Abroad

Performance Opportunities

Student Experience

Interviews

Career Opportunities

Visit Us in Person

Related Courses

Drama and Theatre

English

Film and Television Studies

Prioritising Face-to-Face Teaching