James Pidgeon, English & Drama (2009), National Theatre
“Not only did Royal Holloway offer me a huge breadth of academic knowledge, it also taught me the
importance of being organised, working efficiently in a team, being tactful and always
communicating effectively in order to succeed. It is these elements combined with a concrete
knowledge of my subject area that have really helped my career to develop.”
Admissions enquiries
EnglishDrama@rhul.ac.uk
****
Why choose English & Drama
at Royal Holloway?
English and Drama are natural partners;
the study of each augments, enriches and
illuminates the study of the other.
This is one of the most dynamic, flexible and varied English and Drama Joint
Honours programmes on offer in the UK. Growing from strength to strength since its
foundation over 25 years ago, the programme draws fully on the premier reputations
in teaching and research enjoyed by both contributing departments.
Core courses, specially designed for English & Drama students, are taught by a joint
team of lecturers from both departments; they demonstrate our commitment to the
stimulating and cohesive academic experience for Joint Honours students.
The combined resources are outstanding: over 50 members of academic staff, a
range of visiting experts, the new purpose-built Caryl Churchill Theatre and rehearsal
studios staffed by highly-skilled technicians, a resident professional theatre
company, an excellent Library, professional links with arts organisations in London.
Students choose from a vast array of optional courses in Drama and English
literature, from Shakespeare to Stanislavski, from science fiction to Japanese Noh
Theatre, and from playwriting to poetic practice. Throughout their degree, students
encounter a variety of learning experiences, from practical workshops to essay
tutorials. We enable our students to make discoveries and unlock their potential,
whether in creative work or in critical modes of expression.
This popular degree programme will provide you with a strong foundation for your
future. Our graduates are employed in a wide spectrum of careers: acting, directing,
theatre management, film, media & television, teaching, management, journalism,
banking, advertising, law, administration, accountancy, PR, as well as postgraduate
study at MA and PhD levels.
Full details of our courses are carried in our departmental brochures, available from
thevUK Student Recruitment & Educational Liaison Office on: +44 (0)1784 443957,
or on our website: www.rhul.ac.uk
Admissions and entry requirements
Our standard offer is ABB with an A in English. Equivalent offers will be made for all
other appropriate forms of qualifications (IB, Highers etc) or overseas qualifications.
We welcome mature students who are coming to higher education from alternative
routes.
Applications for entry to all our full-time undergraduate degrees must be made
through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). To make an
application you will need a UCAS application form and directory. Your school or
college should have these materials, otherwise you can write, after 1 August, to
UCAS Enquiries, UCAS, PO Box 28, Cheltenham, GL52 3LZ; call +44 (0)870
1122211; or visit the UCAS website at: www.ucas.com
The UCAS form requires an institution code and a course code. The institution code
for Royal Holloway is R72, RHUL. The course code for English & Drama is QW34.
All students applying to this degree are encouraged to attend one of the College’s
UCAS Open Days and to visit both departments, meet teaching staff and students
and see the College for yourself. Open Day dates and details can be found on the
College website at: www.rhul.ac.uk
Typical offers
ABB at A-level, normally with A in English Literature. A2 Theatre Studies desirable
but not essential. [Please note that General Studies at A-level is not acceptable as
one of our A-level requirements.]
35-36 points at IB including a 6 in English at higher level. Theatre Studies preferred
but not essential.
Equivalent offers will be made for all other appropriate forms of qualifications
(Highers, BTEC etc) and for overseas qualifications.
Alternative qualifications
Special consideration is given to mature
applicants and students without a conventional
educational background. We look favourably,
for example, upon students who are returning
to study through an Access course. We also
consider all appropriate overseas qualifications.
Overseas applicants are expected to have
considerable proficiency in the English
language; the minimum levels we usually
consider are an IELTS score with minimum
sub-scores of 7, or a TOEFL score of 570.
*****
Degree structure
This is a joint degree course, so students will
take two units of English each year,
and two units of Drama. These are organised
as follows:
Year 1
First years undertake a foundation year that
is designed to equip them with the skills
and knowledge we consider fundamental to
the combined study of English and Drama.
Students take two units in each department,
and study alongside single honours students.
These courses focus on the acquisition of
the theoretical, practical and methodological
skills necessary to develop a sophisticated
understanding of the subject. Courses in the
English Department will introduce students
to the study of the novel and to the study of
poetry. The foundation course in Drama offers
creative and critical approaches to the study of drama,
and introduces students to the practical elements of
theatrical performance.
First year courses:
Inventing the Novel
Introducing English Poetry
Theatre and Performance-making 1
Theatre and Ideas 1
In addition, students will also take part in a series of Foundation Tutorials. Working in
small groups with their personal tutor, they will learn a range of essential skills for
making the transition from school to university.
Year 2
In the second year students start to specialise, making their course choices based
around the interests which they have formed in first year. Students work with staff
from both the English and Drama department on a Shakespeare course specially
designed for English & Drama students. Alongside this they take one and a half units
in the Drama department from a wide range of courses listed under the umbrella
themes of Theatre and Performance-making 2 and Theatre and Ideas 2; in English
they choose one and a half units from the full menu of options offered to all English
students.
Second year courses:
Shakespeare, Page to Stage
1.5 units from a range of English options
1.5 units from a range of Drama options listed under
Theatre and Performance-making 2
Theatre and Ideas 2
Year 3
In third year, students develop their own expertise. They take part in the dedicated
English Drama Research Seminar led by staff from both departments. Themes vary
from year to year according to the staff team. Recent examples have included: Peter
Pan: An Awfully Big Adventure; Nation/ Adaptation; Sound and Movement in Old
English Poetry; Dislocating Shakespeare; Pop: Text and Performance. Alongside
this, students choose a total of three units from the wide range of whole and half unit
options offered by both departments. This should include ONE of the following:
Special Author (one unit) Special Topic (one unit) Dissertation (one unit) Methods
and Processes with Final Year Project (two units). This framework thus offers ample
opportunity for students to pursue their developing interests and specialisms in both
English and Drama in their third year of study.
Third year Courses:
English Drama Research Seminar
ONE of the following:
 Methods and Processes with Final Year Project (two units)
 Special Author (one unit)
 Special Topic (one unit)
 Dissertation (one unit)
ONE or TWO units, as required, from the range of options available in the Drama
and/or English Departments.
Teaching and Assessment
The basic teaching session is usually two or three hours
long. During that time there may be a formal
lecture or a screening, followed by small-group
discussions, seminars and practical workshops.
Alternatively, students may work co-operatively
for the whole teaching session on practical and
theoretical projects. Independent research is
presented, ideas are developed, texts are read
and their problems and challenges tested.
A full and varied range of assessment techniques is
used. We predominantly employ assessed
essays, written as part of the work in each course;
dissertations; practical presentations and performances of all kinds; and
a small number of formal unseen examinations.
Classes typically consist of about 15–18
students. Each student is assigned to a
Personal Tutor, with whom they
maintain contact for the duration of the programme.
The role of the Personal Tutor is to be the first point
of contact should queries or difficulties arise
concerning a student’s participation in their
programme of study.
Other Information
Facilities
The beautiful Royal Holloway campus is the
focal point of student life and is home to an
impressive range of modern facilities. The
Departments of Drama and English occupy
five substantial buildings in the heart of the
campus, encompassing four theatres, rehearsal spaces, extensive
IT facilities, a digital studio and a design studio.
The College’s excellent Library and Computer
Centre are also close to hand.
In addition to the campus in Egham, the
College has a well-equipped building at
Bedford Square in central London which
provides an important teaching facility.
Study abroad
There are opportunities for students to study
abroad during their time at Royal Holloway.
Studying abroad is a great opportunity to
develop new skills and experience student
life in a new environment. A period of study
outside the UK will also provide you with the
opportunity to:
� Broaden your academic knowledge
� Enhance your CV and ensure you stand out
from the crowd at interview
� Immerse yourself in a different culture
� Interact with students from around
the world
� Travel and explore new surroundings
For more information and contact details, visit the
Study Abroad & Student Exchange website at:
www.rhul.ac.uk/studyhere/international
Students wishing to take advantage of these
opportunities should consult the relevant
contacts in both departments.
Career opportunities
Royal Holloway has an excellent Careers Service available to all students from the
day they arrive. Both departments run internship programmes in which second and
third year students apply and take part in a rigorous selection process.
Graduates from this programme enter a wide variety of careers such as acting,
directing, theatre management, film, media & television, teaching, management,
journalism, website creation, law, administration, accountancy, PR, as well as
further postgraduate study to MA and PhD levels.
Our Academics
Department of Drama and Theatre
Melissa Blanco Borelli, BA (Brown University) MA (University of Southern
California), PhD (UC Riverside)
Senior Lecturer in Dance
Teaching areas include:
·
dance history and theory
·
devising for dance theatre
·
performance ethnography
·
critical (race) theory and philosophy
Emma Brodzinski, BA (Lancaster), PGDip (Roehampton), MRes, (London), PhD
(London)
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• live art
• theatre and therapy
• theatre and health
• devising
Matthew Isaac Cohen, AB (Harvard), PhD (Yale)
Professor of International Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• Southeast Asian performing arts
• puppet theatre and object performance
• cross-cultural and transnational performance
Emma Cox, BA (Canterbury, NZ), MPhil (Queensland), PhD (ANU)
Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• Australian and New Zealand theatre, film and activism
• Asylum and migration
• Museology, indigeneity and repatriation
• Family history
Helen Gilbert, BA (British Columbia), PhD (Queensland)
Professor of Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• Australian theatre and film
• postcolonial theatre
• theatre in the Americas
Lynette Goddard, BA, MRes, PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• black and Asian theatre and performance
• staging race on the British stage from the renaissance to the present
• gender, race and sexuality in film, theatre and television
• contemporary productions of Shakespeare on stage and screen
Bryce Lease, BFA (Emerson), MPhil (Trinity College, University of Dublin), PhD
(Kent)
Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• performance studies
• contemporary European theatre
• gender and sexuality
• political theatre
Dick McCaw, MA (Cambridge), PhD (University of London)
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• physical theatre
• contemporary theatre practitioners
• practical skills in theatre
Chris Megson, BA (Hull), MPhil (Glasgow), PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• Contemporary theatre: politics and philosophy
• Post-war British theatre
• Naturalist and fin-de-siècle theatre
• Group Performance.
Helen Nicholson, BA (London), PGCE (Bristol), PhD (Warwick)
Professor of Theatre and Performance
Teaching areas include:
• theatre education
• performance of memory and museum theatre
• theatre and cultural practices
• theatre for young audiences
Sophie Nield, BA, PhD (Manchester)
Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
• European modernist theatre
• place, space and performance
• historiography and critical theory
• film studies
Dan Rebellato, BA (Bristol), PhD (London)
Professor of Contemporary Theatre, Head of Department
Teaching areas include
 modern and contemporary British and European theatre
 playwriting
 critical theory and philosophy
Elizabeth Schafer, BA, PhD (London), PGCE (Nottingham), MA (Birmingham)
Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies
Teaching areas include:
• Shakespeare in performance
• Renaissance drama
• Australian drama and theatre
Ashley Thorpe, BA, PhD (London)
Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:

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
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actor training methods in East Asian theatre
casting and theatrical representation
intercultural performance
research through practice
Caroline Wake BA, PhD (UNSW, Australia)
Lecturer in Drama and Theatre
Teaching areas include:
 Australian theatre, performance and visual culture
 theatres of the real, including testimonial, tribunal and documentary theatre
 theatre, performance and media
 theories of spectatorship
David Williams, BA & MA (Kent), PhD (Plymouth/Dartington)
Professor of Performance Practices
Teaching areas include:
 Devising, collaborative performance-making practices
 Directing
 Dramaturgy
Libby Worth, BA, MA (Surrey), PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer in Theatre Practice
Teaching areas include:
 Choreographic practices
 Physical theatre and dance drama
 Performer training and performance making
 Site specific performance
TIM ARMSTRONG,
BA, MA (Canterbury, NZ), PhD (London)
Professor of Modern English and American Literature
Head of Department
Teaching and research areas include:
modernism and modernity
American literature and culture
literature and technology
the poetry of Thomas Hardy
ALASTAIR BENNETT, MA, MPhil, PhD (Cantab)
Lecturer in Medieval English
Teaching and research areas include:
Piers Plowman
Middle English sermons and devotional texts
rhetoric and persuasion
Chaucer
ROY BOOTH, BA (Oxon), PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer in Renaissance English
Teaching and research areas include:
early modern poetry
John Donne and his circle
witchcraft and early modern drama
broadside ballads and the popular theatre
BARRIE BULLEN, MA, MPhil, PhD (Cantab)
Professor of Victorian Literature
Teaching and research areas include:
Thomas Hardy
Pre-Raphaelitism
the relationship between the arts in the long 19th century
CHRISTIE CARSON, BA (Queen’s Canada), MA (Toronto), PhD (Glasgow):
Reader in Shakespeare in Performance
Teaching and research areas include:
performance history of Shakespeare
Shakespearean adaptation
the use of digital technology in teaching and research
intercultural performance
DOUGLAS COWIE, BA (Colgate University, New York) MA, PHD (University of East
Anglia)
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing
Teaching and research areas include:
fiction writing
American poetry and fiction of the 20th Century
The links between writing and music
Nelson Algren
ROBERT EAGLESTONE, BA (Manchester), MA (Southampton), PhD (Wales)
Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought
Teaching and research areas include:
contemporary and 20th-century literature
literary theory and philosophy
Trauma studies
the Holocaust and genocide
FINN FORDHAM, MA (Cantab), PhD (London)
Reader in 20th-century Literature
Teaching and research areas include:
James Joyce
modernism
French 19th-century influences within modernism
20th-century literary manuscripts
ANDREW GIBSON, MA, DPhil (Oxon)
Professor of Modern Literature and Theory
Teaching and research areas include:
postmodernism
narrative theory
James Joyce and Samuel Beckett
Irish Literature and its European contexts
SOPHIE GILMARTIN, BA (Yale), PhD (Cantab)
Reader in Victorian Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
19th-century literature and visual arts
19th-century maritime studies
mourning and wedding rituals
ideas of ancestry and nationhood
VICKY GREENAWAY, MA, PhD (London)
Lecturer in 19th-century Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Victorian literature
Literature and the arts in the 19th century
the ideal and the real in 19th-century poetics
ROBERT HAMPSON, BA (London), MA (Toronto), PhD (London)
Professor of Modern Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Joseph Conrad
19th- and 20th-century literature
contemporary English and American poetry
creative writing
PROFESSOR JUDITH HAWLEY, BA (Cantab), DPhil (Oxon)
Professor of 18th-century Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
18th-century literature and thought
Laurence Sterne
18th-century women writers
18th-century private theatricals and amateur performance
DR BETTY JAY, BA (Southampton), PhD (London)
Senior Lecturer in 20th-century Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
20th-century literature
gender
contemporary literature
war writing
JULIET JOHN, BA (Cantab), PhD (London)
Hildred Carlisle Professor of English
Teaching and research interests include:
Charles Dickens
Victorian literature and culture
Victorian popular culture
Film adaptation and Heritage culture
SUSANNA JONES BA (London), MA (Manchester)
Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Practice-based Research
Teaching and research interests include:
Fiction writing
The contemporary novel
Practice-based research
KRISTEN KREIDER BA (Indiana) MA (Arizona) PhD (London)
Reader in Poetry & Poetics
Teaching and research interests include:
Poetry and poetics
Contemporary poetry and text-based art
Poetics and place
Creative writing
RUTH LIVESEY, BA (Oxon), MA, PhD (Warwick)
Reader in 19th-century Literature and Thought
Teaching and research interests include:
Victorian literature
gender, politics and the history of ideas in 19th-century culture
urban exploration
19th-century travel, communications and literature
ELAINE McGIRR, BA (Rochester, New York), MA, PhD (Washington, St Louis)
Senior Lecturer in English and Drama
Teaching and research interests include:
Restoration and 18th-century drama
Celebrity and the 18th-century cultural marketplace
the performance of masculinity
the realities and representation of early modern maternity
BEN MARKOVITS, BA (Yale), MPhil (Oxon)
Reader in Creative Writing
Teaching and research interests include:
Creative writing
The Romantics
Sport and writing
MARK MATHURAY, BA (Witwatersrand, SA), MA (Sussex), PhD (Cantab)
Lecturer in Contemporary Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
African literatures
postcolonial studies in literature and culture
modernism
dissident sexualities and literary theory
KEI MILLER, BA (West Indies), MA (Manchester Metropolitan), PhD (Glasgow)
Lecturer in Creative Writing
Teaching and research interests include:
Creative writing
Contemporary poetry
the novel and the short story
WILL MONTGOMERY, BA (Cantab), MA (London)
Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
contemporary American poetry
modernist literature
contemporary poetry and poetics
sound, art and literature.
SIR ANDREW MOTION, BA, MA, M Litt (Oxon), D.Litt (Aberdeen, Anglia, Brunel,
Chester, Hull, Exeter, Open, York St John), FRSL.
Professor of Creative Writing
Teaching and research interests include:
Romantic poetry
20th-century and contemporary poetry
Poetry and the environment
creative writing
CATHERINE NALL, BA, MA, PhD (York)
Senior Lecturer in Medieval Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Medieval literature, particularly Malory and Lydgate
politics and chivalry in literature
translation theory and practice
manuscript and early print cultures
JENNIFER NEVILLE, BA (Alberta), MA (Toronto), PhD (Cantab)
Reader in Anglo-Saxon Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Anglo-Saxon literature
Beowulf
JRR Tolkien’s use of Old English Literature
Old English riddles in the Exeter Book
REDELL OLSEN, BA (Camb), MA (Staffs), PhD (London)
Reader in Poetic Practice
Teaching and research interests include:
avant-garde modernist and contemporary poetics
visual arts and poetry
feminist theory and writing practice
contemporary fiction
DEANA RANKIN, MA (Ulster), MA, DPhil (Oxon)
Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Shakespeare in performance and on film
Renaissance and 17th-century drama
Irish literature, particularly drama
classical republicanism in early modern France and Britain
ADAM ROBERTS, MA (Aberdeen), PhD (Camb)
Professor of 19th-century Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
19th-century Literature (particularly poetry)
Science fiction and fantasy
postmodernism
creative writing
KIERNAN RYAN, BA, MA (Cantab), PhD (Amsterdam)
Professor of English Language and Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Shakespeare
Renaissance literature
literary theory, particularly New Historicism and Cultural Materialism
Ian McEwan and modern British fiction
JO SHAPCOTT: MA (Trinity College, Dublin), BA (Oxford)
Professor of Poetry
Teaching and research interests include:
Creative writing and practice
poetry and the body
poetry and science
poetry and the environment
KATE WILLIAMS MA (London), MA, DPhil (Oxon)
Lecturer in Creative Writing
Teaching and research interests include:
life writing
the 18th and 19th centuries and social history
public history and engagement
royal and constitutional history
AGNES WOOLLEY MA (SOAS), BA, PhD (Leeds)
Lecturer in 20th-century Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
contemporary literature and film
migration, diaspora, and writing
postcolonial theory and writing
ecocriticism
ANNE VARTY, MA (Glas), DPhil (Oxon)
Professor of Victorian Literature
Teaching and research interests include:
Victorian literature especially Pater, Wilde and Aestheticism
Children and Victorian theatre
modern and contemporary British and European Drama
Liz Lochhead and contemporary poetry