Theatre and Performance BA

Course overview

View more of our student work

Additional highlights

Course details

Your first year will lay the foundations of the degree, with core modules introducing you to theories and approaches in theatre and performance and allowing you to explore them through different modes of practice. You'll develop your performance and devising skills, look at the relationship between text and performance, and introduce models of digital performance making.

In the second year, you'll continue experimenting and developing your creative practice, and you’ll create performances and workshops for an external organisation. You'll also learn to apply different research methods and think about performance's political, historical, technological, social, and cultural contexts. You'll choose from a range of optional modules to explore your interests, from directing and design to arts marketing, performer training and cultural history.

By your third year, you'll have considerably more independence in your practice and research. You’ll produce a self-directed independent project and choose specific areas of study and how you'll be assessed. You'll have the opportunity to create a collaborative public performance, gain hands-on business experience with an enterprise project or choose an independent research project.

This course will allow you to reflect on the impact of performance on societies and the place that performance occupies worldwide. 

You can become an advocate of the creative arts and apply socially engaged performance practices in diverse ways.

With core and specialist modules spanning theatre, performance, applied theatre, design, digital performance, directing, dance, musical theatre, event management, acting and collaborative practice, you'll be able to follow a broad range of interests suited to your own academic and professional development and to develop the behaviours, knowledge, literacies and skills to make an impactful contribution as a future Leeds graduate.

Year 1 compulsory modules

Semester 1

Studying Theatre & Performance (20 credits) 

An introduction to the foundational skills you’ll need as a Theatre & Performance student to help you make the most of your time as a new member of the School. It’ll introduce you to the practice of research and scholarship at the University of Leeds.  

This module will feature a combination of online materials, lectures and workshop sessions designed to prepare you for practical work in our theatre spaces, including health and safety procedures, use of lighting and audio-visual equipment, as well as core digital literacy skills and ways of collaborative working.  

You’ll also develop foundational skills in sourcing and critiquing materials, ethics, presentation skills, critical thinking and writing. 

Performance Perspectives (20 credits) 

Performance Perspectives is a lecture and seminar-based course that introduces you to a wide range of theatre and performance practices, concepts, and practitioners by focusing on key perspectives such as; body, space, time, and technology. 

You'll closely examine selected texts, performances, events, and cultural organisations within your production's appropriate historical, political, and cultural contexts. Seminars allow you and your peers to debate concepts and help you understand the range of performance practices introduced in the lectures. 

 Studio Practices (20 credits) 

Through practical workshop exploration, a programme of individual reading, viewing and research, as well as self-directed group work and rehearsals, this module will introduce you to a range of creative and practical skills.  

Primarily studio-based, the module will introduce you to key concepts and techniques and encourage you to develop critical and practical tools, shared languages and working processes. These will form the foundations to underpin your future creative practice across all levels of study on the course.  

Studio practices will encompass diverse approaches to creative work and may include; writing, physical, digital, applied and design-led approaches to making performance. In small groups, you’ll have the opportunity to work collaboratively to explore various methods of creating performance work under close tutorial supervision.  

Semester 2: 

Performance Project: From Text to Performance (20 credits) 

This module brings together learning across the first year of the course and provides an opportunity for a realised 'public' performance that emerges from staff-led research interest. As part of a production team, you’ll respond to a specific brief and text(s) to devise and stage a performance.  

Working under the close guidance of a tutor and in tandem with technical, design and production support, your performance project will introduce you to the processes necessary for creating work for a public audience. This experience will provide a model of working methods and techniques which will underpin creative work at levels 2 and 3 and beyond. 

Performance Matters (20 credits) 

Performance Matters features a lecture series and seminar-based learning that asks you to consider the role of performance in the broader global context of cultural studies, sociology and selected theoretical perspectives.  

Using a wide range of case studies, we will explore the potential of performance to make a difference in society and how it can be used as a positive force and an agent of change.  

Examples of case studies may include: 

• political resistance 
• environmental activism 
• community-making 
• feminist performance 
• sustainability 
• indigenous place-making 

With the support of your seminar tutor, you’ll be encouraged to investigate key concepts, undertake research and develop independent thinking, interpretation and presentation skills.  

Year 1 optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)

Managing Festivals and Events (20 credits) 

The module provides an exploration of the principles and practices required to manage events and festivals. You’ll explore the fundamentals of customer expectations, customer care, event and project structure, and quality enhancement through case studies and detailed analysis of contemporary events/festivals.  

You’ll understand the essential managerial elements required for festival and event management and explore decision-making processes and techniques to aid creative and lateral thinking in generating new ideas for events and festivals.  

The module concludes with several detailed case studies which will require you to synthesise the appropriate management structures and frameworks to ensure quality delivery, with your own creative ambition to generate new and exciting proposals for an event. 

Exploring the Performing Arts (20 credits) 

The module challenges traditional attitudes towards the analysis of the performing arts. The arts are often examined in isolation, yet rarely how they’re conceived or performed today.  

Therefore, this module presents a range of contextualised case studies drawn from Dance, Drama, Music (Classical and Pop), Film and Musicals drawn from iconic performances from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day.  

The purpose is to question: 

• What reflected specific performances at the time of their creation? 
• How did the world around them influence the artists?  
• How does the socio-political context of the time manifest itself in the work?  
• How do they speak to the audience of today?  
• How do meanings change over time?  

Introduction to Musical Theatre (20 credits) 

This module provides a guide to the history and development of the Hollywood, Broadway and West End musical. You’ll study examples of musicals from a range of twentieth-century composers and explore the relationship between cinematic and theatrical narratives and musical structures.  

You’ll examine elements such as; narratives and sub-texts, 'dream sequences', social/political propaganda in the musical, the 'exotic musical', the 'mega musical', the 'jukebox musical', non-mainstream musicals and contemporary musical trends, and also consider the impact of economic, political, social and technological factors upon the musical and film industries. 

Stage Management (20 credits) 

Stage Management is an introduction to the theory and practice of stage management and technical theatre, with a concentration on the role of the deputy stage manager and the preparation of a prompt copy for a live performance of a classic text.  

Through a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and practical workshops, this module provides an understanding of the hidden key skills, organisation, and methods essential in underpinning 'backstage' work and creative processes in the theatre.  

Introduction to Interactivity, Immersive Performance and Co-Creation (20 credits) 

This module introduces contemporary developments in participatory performance where traditional divisions between stage and auditorium, performer and audience member have dissolved.  

Concentrating on key practitioners will learn why this type of work is increasingly relevant and understand key concepts and theories that underpin work that offers a creative role for the audience.  

Introduction to Digital Culture and Technology (20 credits) 

Through a combination of theory and practice, we will explore contemporary developments in the cultural industries that have taken advantage of developments in digital technologies.  

From Pokemon Go to the work of performance companies such as Blast Theory, you’ll explore new developments in AR, VR and mobile devices and the potential of the digital to create new kinds of experiences for audiences. 

Year 2 compulsory modules

Semester 1:  

 Re-thinking Theatre & Performance Histories (20 credits) 

This module asks some key questions about: 

• How we understand the past. 
• What voices and practices are championed. 
• Why it is crucial to recognise what has been ignored or overlooked.  

You’ll be introduced to important intersections between the arts and theatre, from the emergence of modernism to the present.  

Approaches will acknowledge the importance of performance as a space for activism and address aspects including decolonialism, feminist performance, black theatre, queer performance. 

Weekly sessions will examine innovations in performance, theatre, design, dance and live art, including the influences of philosophical, social and technological developments during this period.  

A series of readings, lectures and seminars will highlight the work of selected practitioners acknowledged for their contribution to the radical reinterpretations of the 20th and 21st centuries.  

Teaching will be structured around the close study of particular reactions to and departures from early Naturalism and Realism in the late 19th century. The leading artistic movements that gave these reactions expression in the 20th and 21st Centuries, (e.g. Symbolism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Theatre of the Absurd, Epic Theatre, Happenings, Live Art, Post-dramatic performance, etc.) 

Creative Practices (20 credits) 

This studio-based module offers a pivotal opportunity to develop particular aspects of contemporary performance practice. Areas of focus may include; comedy, physical performance, site-specific performance, audio, walking performance, relational work with audiences, musical theatre, immersive performance, socially-engaged performance, design-led performance, technologically-mediated performance. You’ll be encouraged to experiment and to situate your creative practice within the context of contemporary performance.  

You’ll study selected practitioners and consider the social, political, and cultural impact of the methods they are engaging with.  

Also, you’ll use relevant concepts, theories and techniques to interrogate practice and articulate your growing capacity as a practitioner through performance, presentations, documentation and reflection on your developing practice. 

Semester 2: 

Reflection and research (20 credits) 

This module explores research methods in theatre and performance within the cultural industries and will introduce you to a range of contemporary case studies.  

You'll engage with a broad range of disciplinary perspectives, theories and research methods representing traditional and innovative practice.  

You'll be required to reflect on your development as a researcher/practitioner and undertake detailed plans to define your final year of study.  

Collaborative Performance Project (20 credits) 

The Collaborative Performance Project is an externally-facing module that combines practice and theory to explore modes of performance, partnership engagement, and audience development and interaction.  

You'll work in a group, under close tutor guidance, to devise work in response to a specific brief from an external organisation. You may, for example, work in partnership with the Prisons and Probation Service or a museum or art gallery. 

In recent years, students have created museum theatre, site-specific work and applied and digitally-augmented performances responding to concerns such as; climate change, social injustice, sustainability, homelessness, youth criminal justice, 'forgotten' female contributions to history.  

Students have also chosen to collaborate with the educational wing of organisations such as Leeds Playhouse or Opera North to explore arts engagement with local school children. The module is composed of a dynamic mixture of lectures, workshops and tutorials, in addition to studio-based self-directed rehearsal and study time.  

Year 2 optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)

Theatre Directing (20 credits)  

The module explores the role of the director through different responses to the text concerning aspects such as dramaturgy, space, design and collaborative working.  

It offers the opportunity to explore a range of directorial approaches to working with actors using the work of theatre directors such as Katie Mitchell and Eugenio Barba as key reference points.  

You’ll experiment with rehearsal techniques in a studio environment, analyse the work of contemporary directors (such as Ivo Van Hove, Emma Rice, Robert Lepage) and explore ways of presenting your directorial vision, both in a portfolio and a studio setting. 

Cultural Flashpoints in the Performing Arts (20 credits) 

This lecture-based module examines case studies across the performing arts disciplines; theatre, dance, music theatre, film, and popular music taking specific examples that may originate from creative, cultural and political flashpoints in the 20th and 21st Centuries.  

You'll examine the works within the socio-political framework they developed and related to a specific time and place. We will assess their influence and lasting legacy.  

Arts Marketing (20 credits) 

This module aims to enable you to understand and critique core marketing theories and principles and apply them with discernment to the arts sector.  

We will draw on a range of real-world examples in the dynamic field of arts marketing and explore the key drivers and impacts of the arts on audiences. You’ll review different delivery methods for marketing and communication, understand how arts organisations build a brand, connect with their audiences and the importance of digital and online strategies such as podcasting and social media.  

This approach will give you an insight into arts marketing as it is currently practised in the arts sector. It'll also enhance future employability opportunities by exploring how marketing theory is applied in practice and provide you with an appreciation for the opportunities and challenges faced by professionals in the cultural sector.  

Exploring Musical Theatre (20 credits)  

This module explores the development of musical theatre on stage and screen in the twentieth-first century.  

You’ll study the relationship between theatrical narratives and musical structures and consider the impact of economic, political, social and technological factors on the stage-musical form. Achieved, by listening to examples of musical theatre from a range of twentieth-first century genres (e.g., verbatim, autobiographical, jukebox musicals), including West End, Broadway, and Hollywood musicals. 

 We will also examine the latest works and innovations of recent musical theatre practitioners and, through contextual study, investigate, question and challenge some of the conventions and assumptions of the genre. 

Performance Design (20 credits) 

This module investigates the spatial, technological and material aspects of contemporary performance. Through a combination of practical workshops and examples of contemporary international performance design practice that uses structures, objects, costume, lighting and other material elements as a central focus, you’ll gain an understanding of the possibilities of performance design.  

Year 3 compulsory modules

Semester 1  & 2
Final Year Project (40 credits) 

This module brings together all of your learning on the course into a single negotiated project. You can choose from a group performance project for a public audience, an enterprise project or an extended independent research project.

You’ll be required to define, develop, practice and demonstrate skills relevant to the chosen project outcome. 

Taught primarily through seminar and tutorial supervision responding to the demands of your brief, each option will culminate in a public presentation of your work. 

Semester 1 

Negotiated project 

The Negotiated project is an independent assignment that responds to the specific needs of each student and will be negotiated and agreed upon in advance of the final year of study and concerning choices made for the final year project. It allows you to focus on a specific area of interest and undertake study in a complementary area, such as:

• Smaller-scale performance work
• Solo-work
• Work in an applied context
• Independent project focused on investigating a defined practice or answering a specific research question.

Semester 2  

Performance Futures (20 credits)

Performance Futures is a lecture-based module that focuses on fundamental issues in the contemporary performance world and the wider cultural industries. 

It’ll allow you to reflect on your development as a performance scholar and practitioner and assist you in charting your future after graduation, whether setting up your own company, working as a freelance artist or going on to further study. 

It’ll allow you to reflect on your development as a performance scholar and practitioner and assist you in charting your future after graduation, whether setting up your own company, working as a freelance artist or going on to further study. 

The module will outline current debates in the arts, seek to imagine possible futures and help you reflect on surfacing your skills in considering your future professional and career development and as a future Leeds graduate and global citizen. 

Year 3 optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)

Opera North: Opera in Practice (20 credits) 

Taught in partnership with Opera North, England's national opera company of the north, based in Leeds, you’ll have the unique opportunity to observe the operatic production process and study opera in practice through several critical perspectives. 

Opera North will be introduced in its artistic, regional and historical contexts. Under the guidance of tutors, you’ll observe the production process at Opera North (when possible attending rehearsals and performances at Opera North and The Grand Theatre in Leeds) – from model showings through rehearsals to final performances. 

The module will also introduce a broad choice of critical angles and perspectives in studying these operas in seminars and lectures. 

These typically include approaches such as:

• Musicological
• Ethnomusicological
• Dramaturgical
• Contextual
• Historiographical
• Cultural
• Conceptual
• Semiotic

They all work with literary, dramatic, musical and cultural policy (re)sources. The University's newly acquired Opera North archive (held in the Special Collections) will also support students' investigations of operatic practice. You’re expected to choose one of the operas from Opera North's winter season as a research topic for their final project. 

Arts and Cultural Management (20 credits)

This module will be of particular interest to students currently studying or interested in learning more about:

• the Creative, Performing and Visual Arts
• Theatre, Music and Design
• Museum Studies
• Cultural Studies
• English Literature
• Management and Business Studies.

The module aims to enhance participants' employability and cultural insight by exploring the benefits and challenges of applying business and management theory to the arts and culture. It is tailored towards students seeking to acquire a deeper understanding of Arts and Cultural Management and explore the essential practices and theoretical debates in this dynamic and growing field.

Performance Design and Space (20 credits)

This module explores recent trends in performance that use spatial, temporal, aural, visual and material means to intervene in particular places and sites.

The module looks at site-responsive and site-specific performance and street, environmental, immersive, and interactive performance.

In this module, you’ll investigate the key characteristics of this work, its aesthetic, social and political dimensions and develop your own creative ideas for original performance events.

Contemporary Theatre Makers (20 credits) 

The module focuses on world-renowned international theatre-makers and provides an in-depth critical investigation of their work.  

The lectures will use a range of case studies to help you understand the working methods, aesthetic decisions, strategies and visions of the selected theatre-makers and how this work speaks to a contemporary audience. 

Intercultural Shakespeare (20 credits) 

The intercultural encounter is a dynamic, active encounter between different cultural groups, involving the exchange of ideas and practices relating to Shakespeare.  

Inter/Intra and transcultural practices consider how elements of culture are absorbed, translated and transmitted across stagecrafts. It requires an ability to look deeply at both originating and target societies with an awareness of history and an attitude of tolerance and openness.  

You’ll be encouraged to use your own cultural identity and understanding of specific theatre genres as a starting point to move towards an understanding and appreciation of the values of other individuals, groups, and societies and the role of Shakespearean drama in cultural representation.  

What you learn will be explored in practice working towards a realised group performance. 

Performer Training in the C20th and C21st * (20 credits) 

This studio-based module promotes an in-depth understanding of various performer training systems and methodologies. It concentrates on the last and this century, the key period during which acting and performing became theorised and systematised.  

The module examines how training passes down and what factors play a part in this transmission. It’ll outline how training systems work and debate the extent to which they adapt to specific cultural contexts and pressures. 

Politics, Identity and Performance * (20 credits) 

The module will explore theoretical engagement with politically-oriented 21st-century performance practice texts.  

It’ll offer the opportunity to reflect on how identity is constructed and experienced through the intersections of gender, sexuality, class, disability, race, and ethnicity.  

The module maps key texts, practitioners, and practices onto contemporary political discourse by considering performance as an example of political protest and an exploration of identity. 

Interactive and Immersive Performance * (20 credits) 

This workshop-based module explores vital issues and concepts associated with producing work with and for specific audiences.  

The module will explore notions of interactivity and immersion and how these relate to contemporary performance examples from game-based scenarios escape rooms to site-based, site-responsive and digital practices.  

There will be opportunities to explore the work of key practitioners and to explore specific techniques and ethical considerations in working with audiences as co-creators. 

Digital Performance Practices * (20 credits) 

Digital Performance Practices is a workshop-based module that explores practices and concepts inherent in realising performance works mediated through the digital.  

You’ll explore strategies for performance-making that will allow you to create your performance in response to a specific brief. Or, more specifically, where there is an intersection between the live body and digital tools (such as mobile phones, projectors, headsets, 360-degree cameras, binaural microphones, media servers, programmable devices). 

Digital Culture and Technology * (20 credits) 

Digital Culture and Technology is a lecture and seminar-based module investigating essential theoretical concepts and contemporary developments in digital culture.  

By focusing on a wide range of practices and the work of key practitioners, you’ll consider the potential of new intersections between digital technologies and performance to create unique experiences for a wide range of audiences and create impact beyond the theatre space.   

Course Explanation 

Modules indicated with an asterisk are planned to run as Level 2 and Level 3 options.  Optional modules should be seen as indicative and may not all be offered in every academic year.

Discovery modules

Throughout your degree you will benefit from a range of opportunities to expand your intellectual horizons outside or within your subject area.

This course gives you the opportunity to choose from a range of discovery modules. They’re a great way to tailor your study around your interests or career aspirations and help you stand out from the crowd when you graduate. Find out more about discovery modules on our Broadening webpages.

Learning and teaching

Your tutors will have a wide range of performance and research expertise that informs their teaching. We use a comprehensive variety of innovative teaching and learning methods to help you develop your creative skills and expand your knowledge, including studio practice and workshops in practice-based modules, lectures, seminars and self-directed experimentation, tutorials and group learning. 

Collaboration is a vital skill in the creative arts. The course fosters an inclusive and active approach to learning, with reflective learning instilled as an essential skill from the beginning of your studies.  

Independent study is an integral part of the degree; this is where you develop your critical and research skills, whether this is in a library, specialist studio, or working with specific digital technologies, for example, depending on each module. 

Learning is supported through Minerva, our virtual learning environment, our expert technical staff and your Academic Personal Tutor. The University Library is one of the country's very best and offers full training to help you make the most of our excellent resources.

On this course you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

Assessment

We use a range of assessment methods, depending on the type of modules studied and the specified learning outcomes. We use a mixture of live, digital and online performances, presentations, essays, reports and portfolios with reflective writing, depending on each module's theoretical and practical elements. 

Each mode of assessment underpins specific transferable skills and relates to likely future modes of work and career needs. Assessments will often require you to synthesise evidence from various sources (e.g. lectures, seminars, own research, practical experimentation and wider reading) and apply the knowledge gained in new contexts. 

For presentations and performances, you’ll often be required to work collaboratively with peers within a small group, often responding to a brief to produce work for a specific audience. 

In creative work, we encourage experimentation and risk-taking and expect you to reflect critically on your own development of skills. 

Assessments are designed to be fair, meaningful and inclusive, often relating directly to professional and industry practice and with a significant amount of choice and flexibility built in. 

In the final year of study, you’ll negotiate how you’ll study, what you’ll create and produce, and how you wish to be assessed.

Entry requirements

A-level: ABB

We would normally expect at least one essay/discursive subject within the range of A level subjects taken.

GCSE: usually 5 at A-C, including English at Grade C/4 or above

Other course specific tests:

Alternative qualification

Read more about UK and Republic of Ireland accepted qualifications or contact the School’s Undergraduate Admissions Team.

Alternative entry

We’re committed to identifying the best possible applicants, regardless of personal circumstances or background.

Access to Leeds is an alternative admissions scheme which accepts applications from individuals who might be from low income households, in the first generation of their immediate family to apply to higher education, or have had their studies disrupted.

Find out more about Access to Leeds and alternative admissions.

Typical Access to Leeds offer: BBB at A Level and pass Access to Leeds

If you would like to study arts, humanities, and cultures at university, but don't currently meet the typical entry requirements for direct entry to a degree, you might be eligible to apply for the Arts and Humanities with Foundation Year course.

International

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications. Contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office for more information

International Foundation Year

International students who do not meet the academic requirements for undergraduate study may be able to study the University of Leeds International Foundation Year. This gives you the opportunity to study on campus, be taught by University of Leeds academics and progress onto a wide range of Leeds undergraduate courses. Find out more about International Foundation Year programmes.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English
If you're an international student and you don't meet the English language requirements for this programme, you may be able to study our undergraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

Fees

UK: £9,250 (per year)

International: £22,250 (per year)

Tuition fees for UK undergraduate students starting in 2022/23
For UK full-time undergraduate students starting in 2022/23 the fee will be £9,250. The fee may increase in future years of your course in line with inflation and as permitted by law. Fees for UK undergraduate students are decided by the government and may vary if policy changes.

Tuition fees for UK undergraduate students starting in 2023/24
Tuition fees for UK full-time undergraduate students for 2023/24 have been agreed by the UK Government and will remain at the current fee level of £9,250. The fee may increase in future years of your course in line with inflation and as permitted by law. Fees for UK undergraduate students are decided by the government and may vary if policy changes.

Tuition fees for international undergraduate students starting in 2023/24
Tuition fees for international students for 2023/24 should be available on individual course pages from September 2022.

Tuition fees for a study abroad or work placement year
If you take a study abroad or work placement year, you’ll pay a reduced tuition fee during this period. For more information, see Study abroad and work placement tuition fees and loans.

Read more about paying fees and charges.

There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more about additional costs.

Scholarships and financial support

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There is help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Find out more in our Undergraduate funding overview.

Applying

Apply to this course through UCAS. Check the deadline for applications on the UCAS website.

Read our guidance about applying.

Next steps

We select applicants on the basis of your UCAS application and are looking for a strong personal statement and suitable grades.

International students apply through UCAS in the same way as UK students. Our network of international representatives can help you with your application. If you’re unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

Admissions policy

University of Leeds Taught Admissions Policy 2023

This course is taught by

School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Contact us

School of Performance and Cultural Industries Undergraduate Admissions

Email: pciug@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone:

Career opportunities

A degree in Theatre and Performance equips you with valuable subject knowledge, cultural awareness and an understanding of the performance and cultural industries. 

It also gives you transferable skills that are particularly attractive to employers, such as leadership, working as part of a creative team (collaboration), presentational and organisational skills, people and resources management, critical analysis, negotiation and conflict resolution, and digital creativity.

As well as your understanding of performance and the theories behind it, you'll develop strong research and analytical skills. You'll be a confident communicator who can clearly present and defend your point of view, either verbally or in writing. 

You'll be able to collaborate with others or work independently, and you'll understand how your experiences on the course and in co-curricular activities can translate to future employment opportunities.

The cultural and creative industries offer a wide range of opportunities for our graduates, who have gone on to pursue a wide variety of careers in many different sectors, including: 

• Writing

• Performing

• Directing

• Production

• Teaching

• Events management

• Digital technologies

• Arts administration

• Marketing

• Media

• Cultural policy

• PR

• Community arts work and outreach

• Education

• Drama therapy

However, you'll also acquire the skills for professional roles outside of the sector such as human resources, health care, social work, finance, law and business. 

Many of our graduates progress to postgraduate study and research in related disciplines, including our wide range of Masters degrees.

Recent graduate job titles include: 

• Theatre director (RSC, West-End, Broadway, Regional, Touring)

• Museum interpreter

• Performer (film, television, theatre)

• Arts administrator

• Producer

• Marketing assistant

• Postgraduate researcher

• Drama therapist

• Theatre company director

• Arts festival assistant producer

• Teacher

• University lecturer

• Festival co-ordinator

• Arts outreach worker

• Recruitment officer

• Designer

• Casting agent

• Disability awareness trainer

• Corporate relations manager

• Marketing Leadership Development Graduate

• Freelance artist

• Theatre-maker

Careers support

The School has a solid commitment to enhancing student employability. As part of your studies, you'll have access to many opportunities to help with your career prospects, including a range of industry talks, networking events and placement opportunities. 

You can also develop transferable skills by supporting your fellow students as a Peer Mentor, acting as a student course or School representative, or contributing to the school community through engagement in the student-staff partnership forum. 

Your own Academic Personal Tutor in tandem with Leeds for Life and 'My Career' offers a unique approach to helping you make the most of University by supporting your academic and personal development and offering a wide range of co-curricular activities and opportunities. 

We benefit from close support from the specialist employability team within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures and the Careers Centre. They host regular events focused on working in the arts and the creative and cultural industries. They provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate.

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

Leeds for Life is our unique approach to helping you make the most of University by supporting your academic and personal development. Find out more at the Leeds for Life website.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.

Study abroad and work placements

Study abroad

In your 2nd year of study, you have the opportunity to apply to spend time abroad, usually as an extra academic year. 

We have over 300 University partnerships worldwide, and popular destinations for our students include Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Africa and Latin America.  

Work placements

Practical work experience can help you decide on your career and improve your employability. On this course, you have the option to choose to undertake a placement module during your second year of study and to apply to take a placement year with organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors in the UK or overseas. 

In recent years, students have worked with theatre and events companies, broadcasters, arts organisations and major international companies such as L'Oréal and Paramount Pictures.

Related courses