Acting, Performance and English Literature

If you love the texts behind the drama as much as you love the performances themselves, studying Acting, Performance and English Literature combined is for you.

This course gives you the opportunity to gain a richer understanding of each subject, allowing you to investigate drama through practical performance and developing your appreciation of the startling variety and complexity of English literature.

During your English Literature studies, you'll focus on renowned pieces of writing, as well as lesser known but equally inspiring work. You can develop an understanding of the major movements of prose and poetry, and we’ll focus on building your analytical skills to help you assess, question, debate and persuade.

Why study Acting, Performance and English Literature BA(Hons)?
We’re ranked 37th in the world for 'Performing Arts' (QS World University Subject Rankings 2025) and you’ll be taught by industry professionals and benefit from guest appearances from well-known theatre stars and actors. Past students have met Professor Sir Patrick Stewart, Natalie Gavin, John Britton, Nicolás Núñez, Chloe Beale, Nicci Topping, Anna Helena McLean, and David Crowley.

This is a production-based course, and you’ll enjoy visits from practitioners and residencies from internationally known companies, like Slung Low and IOU Productions. You can also get involved with the award-winning Huddersfield Literature Festival: past students have gained experience in festival planning, programming, curating, and stewarding.

You can undertake a work placement in the UK or abroad, giving you the opportunity to benefit from real-world experience.

Keen to pursue a career in acting, performance, contemporary theatre, theatre technology or writing for theatre? This course introduces you to topics that will complement any of these routes. You might also wish to pursue further study, in English literature, drama, stage production and more.

Professional Bodies
At Huddersfield, you’ll study the Global Professional Award alongside your degree† so that you can gain valuable qualities and experiences that could help you to get the career you want, no matter what your field of study is.

†full-time, undergraduate first degrees with a minimum duration of three years. This does not include postgraduate, foundation, top-up, accelerated or apprenticeship degrees.

Why Huddersfield?
Huddersfield’s vibrant and friendly campus is a great place from which to study, while the town itself offers lots to see and do, with good transport links in and around the area.

Year 1 modules include:
• Studying Performance 2
• Text into Performance
• Critical Thinking
• Introduction to English Literature

To see the full range of modules and descriptions, please visit our website. A link to this course can be found at the bottom of the page in the ‘Course contact details’ section.