Music and Theatre

This Joint Honours course combines the study of two major and complementary performing arts, Drama and Music, within a campus community recognised for its creativity.

Choosing to study Drama at Royal Holloway will put you at the centre of one of the largest and most influential Drama and Theatre departments in the world. You'll create performances, analyse texts, and bring a range of critical ideas to bear on both. On this course the text and the body, thinking and doing, work together. There's no barrier between theory and practice: theory helps you understand and make the most of practice, while practice sheds light on theory. By moving between the two, you'll find your place as an informed theatre-maker, and by studying a variety of practices, by yourself and with others, you'll get knowledge of the industry as a whole, and learn how your interests could fit into the bigger picture.

Our staff cover a huge range of theatre and performance studies, but we're particularly strong in contemporary British theatre, international and intercultural performance, theatre history, dance and physical theatre, and contemporary performance practices.

Studying Music at Royal Holloway allows you to tailor your studies to your own interests and passions.

We have expertise spanning traditional, modern and world music. Through studying musical texts, practices, cultures and institutions you will explore issues in history, sociology, ethnology, and philosophy covering an exceptional geographical and chronological range. You will also be able to gain practical skills in composition, music technology and performance.

You will join a music department that is among the very best in the country, the only music department in the country to hold a prestigious Regius Professorship.

Join a music ensemble and Student Workshop, the Drama department’s own student society.

Increase your confidence as a performer.

Understand the wider history, sociology, ethnology, and philosophy of both disciplines.

Get involved as a performer, conductor or director in music and theatre productions.

Choral, organ, orchestral and music scholarships available.