General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

65% in an undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Applicants may be required to provide a writing sample to demonstrate suitability for the course.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

• Band C
• IELTS overall score of 7.5, minimum component scores of two at 6.5/7.0 and the rest at 7.5 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Core modules

Drama and Performance Theory

This module introduces you to drama and performance theory by giving you the opportunity to explore and discuss some of the methodologies, debates and conceptual approaches to drama and performance, both current and historical. It will encourage you to consider these methodologies when reading primary material, and primary texts are chosen that encourage dialectical consideration of theory and practice. There will normally be a tie-in theatre trip late in the course.

Dissertation

The Dissertation offers you the opportunity to pursue your own distinct research interests. You can develop any idea you’ve discovered in your modules or write on a completely new topic that has always fascinated you. Our students choose an array of topics within the broadly-conceived boundaries of ‘literary studies’, although we’ll discuss your plans with you to make sure an available member of our teaching staff can support your topic.

Students often use their MA dissertations as springboards to PhD projects and have sometimes gone on to publish parts of their work in scholarly journals.

Professional Practice or Practice-as-Research

You may choose one of these options instead of a Dissertation.

The Professional Practice dissertation allows you to undertake a six-week placement with a professional theatre company or similar organisation, developing your knowledge of professional practice in the fields of literature, theatre or performance. You will need to approach the organisation you plan to work with, and the department will support you in this.

You will use your placement to explore clearly-articulated research questions, and reflect critically upon these questions in a written submission.

The Practice-as-Research dissertation, meanwhile, offers the opportunity to undertake a research process that leads to the creation of an artistic output (such as a script or a performance).

For more information, please visit the English and Drama web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

• Shakespeare in Performance
• The British Dramatist in Society since 1965
• The Development of English Drama 1558-1659
• Reviewing Shakespeare
• Shakespeare in History

Teaching

Course structure

The MA in English and Drama comprises a Research Methods module, the core module, Drama and Performance Theory, three further optional modules, and either a Dissertation of 16,000 words or a professional placement or an extended practical project. You can take one of your three optional modules from outside of the department, including from the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning.

Professional Practice or Practice-as-Research

You may choose one of these options instead of a Dissertation.

The Professional Practice dissertation allows you to undertake a six-week placement with a professional theatre company or similar organisation, developing your knowledge of professional practice in the fields of literature, theatre or performance. You will need to approach the organisation you plan to work with, and the department will support you in this.

You will use your placement to explore clearly-articulated research questions, and reflect critically upon these questions in a written submission.

The Practice-as-Research dissertation, meanwhile, offers the opportunity to undertake a research process that leads to the creation of an artistic output (such as a script or a performance).

For more information, please visit the English and Drama web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Class sizes

Seminars consist of 5 to 12 students.

Typical contact hours

Contact hours comprise 4 hours of seminars a week, 2 office hours per member of staff, weekly reading groups and research seminars, and one-to-one Dissertation supervision in terms 2 and 3.

Assessment

All essays are marked by two members of staff. The standard length for essays for modules on this course is 6,000 words; the Dissertation is 16,000 words. Marks are given out of 100.

For more information, please visit the English and Drama web page on the English website.Link opens in a new window

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Your career

Graduates from these courses have gone on to work for a range of employers, including: Deloitte; International Institute for Environment and Development; TeachFirst; The Times; V&A Museum; Yale University Press. They have pursued roles such as: arts officers, producers and directors; higher education teaching professionals; journalists, newspaper and periodical editors; management consultants and business analysts and marketing associate professionals.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

• Understanding Assessment Centres
• Careers following your English and Comparative Literary Studies Degree
• Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
• Careers in Publishing and Journalism
• Freelancing
• Careers in the Public Sector
• Warwick careers fairs throughout the year

English and Comparative Literary Studies at Warwick

Founded in 1965, English and Comparative Literary Studies is one of the few comparative departments in the UK. We are in the top 5 English departments in the UK (Guardian University Guide, 2023); and one of the top 30 English departments in the world (QS World Subject Rankings, 2022). We are also ranked in the top 10 UK universities for research environment (2021 Research Excellence Framework); and 91% of our research is rated 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (Times Higher Education).

Our research is interdisciplinary, comparative, and dynamic; we also ensure that all our students study literature as a historical, global, aesthetic, and theoretical subject. Our strengths as a department include American studies, eighteenth and nineteenth-century studies, environmentalism and ecocriticism, theatre and performance, gender studies, the literary and cultural history of the medieval and early modern period, poetry and poetics, theology and literature, and World Literature. Our major research centres include Poetry at Warwick, and the Warwick Research Collective (WReC). We were also involved in establishing the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance in 1993, which brings together staff from five departments engaged in the study of Renaissance Europe, and which enjoys formal academic links with several institutions including the Warburg Institute, the Sorbonne, and with the University of Venice. We have close links with the Centre for Research into Philosophy, Literature, and the Arts, the Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century Centre, and the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies. We are actively involved in the EUTOPIA consortium and the Monash Warwick Alliance.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window

Our Postgraduate courses

• Critical and Cultural Theory (MA)
• English and Comparative Literary Studies (MPhil/PhD)
• English and Comparative Literary Studies (MA by Research)
• English and Drama (MA)
• English Literature (MA)
• Environmental Humanities (MA)
• World Literature (MA)

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees  

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2022/23 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

• Core text books
• Printer credits
• Dissertation binding
• Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and bursaries

How to apply

The application process for courses that start in September and October 2024 will open on 2 October 2023.

Applications will close on 2 August 2024 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

How to apply for a postgraduate taught course