Drama and Creative Writing

Drama and creative writing are disciplines that share a preoccupation with voice, character, and narrative, and that together open up the full range of storytelling across performed and written forms. Drama engages you with theatre as both an art form and a cultural institution, developing your understanding of performance, playwriting, directing, and the history of theatre from classical drama to contemporary practice. Creative writing invites you to develop your own writing across forms that may include fiction, poetry, life writing, and scriptwriting, workshopping your work with peers and with practising writers who teach on the programme.

The combination strengthens both disciplines: dramatic thinking sharpens narrative writing, and close engagement with writing deepens your understanding of what texts ask of performers and audiences.

The University of East Anglia has a long and distinguished tradition in creative writing and a lively drama programme that connects to the cultural life of Norwich and the wider region. In this three-year programme you will move between studio and seminar, writing and performing, workshop and critical analysis, developing both your practical creative skills and your theoretical and historical understanding of theatre and literature. You will study a range of dramatic traditions and forms alongside writing workshops in which you produce and refine your own work, developing the discipline, critical self-awareness, and range that professional writers and theatre makers need.

Graduates move into careers across theatre, the arts, education, publishing, and the media. Roles in playwriting, directing, stage management, arts administration, dramaturgy, and community theatre reflect the practical training the degree provides. Those whose primary interest is writing may move into publishing, journalism, content creation, or the pursuit of literary or scriptwriting careers alongside other work.

Teaching at secondary and primary level draws graduates who wish to share their passion for literature and drama with young people. Further study in creative writing, drama, or theatre studies is an option for those who wish to deepen their practice before entering the professional world.