Program Overview

Study BA Film and Theatre and pursue your passion for film and theatre in a course that combines critical approaches and the opportunity to create films and performances.

Drawing from the same varied and creative options offered on BA Film and BA Theatre, this course allows you to combine your study of theatre and film, and includes the opportunity to engage with television, enabling you to specialise in line with your developing expertise and interests. You will experience all three mediums through practice, and be given a variety of opportunities to collaborate in the production of films, television programmes or theatre performances. You will also have the option of following a critical-only route.

Your first year will introduce you to the breadth of film and theatre, giving you a grounding in the histories and critical frameworks that inform each medium. You will begin to develop a range of academic and practical skills (for both film and theatre) that will prove invaluable throughout the degree and beyond.

For example, you will have the opportunity to watch, interpret and debate a wide range of film and television, including documentary, Soviet cinema and the work of Alfred Hitchcock. You will also 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, film and television have been effected by different social and historical contexts, developing your responses to this in group-based projects.

The second year of the degree will examine work within and beyond classical and conventional narrative traditions from both theoretical and practical perspectives. This enables you to understand the application of theory and how it impacts the creative process. Optional modules allow you to investigate a variety of areas in detail, from nationhood and identity in performance to genre and authorship in Hollywood – as well as avant-garde, political and radical work from across the worlds of theatre and film. Throughout this you will engage with group-based practical work in either theatre or film/television, which develops your ability to creatively respond to different movements, practitioners and historical periods, and allows you to develop your own storytelling and practical skills.

The final year presents you with the choice to diversify your focus or further develop 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 practical work across the degree now culminates in either a collaborative 10-minute film, a 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. Your practical work allows you to try out different production roles and develop a range of skills and techniques while also developing a strong academic knowledge of their histories and meanings.

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.