Welsh is a Celtic language at the cutting edge of modern modes of creativity. This course provides you with a firm grounding in literature and language with the opportunity of studying a combination of theatre, drama and media modules. Foster your creative talents in the company of some of Wales’s leading creative practitioners and follow career paths in the media, theatre sectors but also in education. If you want to complement a traditional academic route with exciting creative experiences in theatre and media, this is a course for you.

If you are planning on working in theatre or the media in the future, this course will equip you with the necessary skills to enter the profession. The course will not only give you a solid grounding in Welsh language and literature, but also give you the opportunity to combine creative, practical and academic elements of theatre, drama and the media. Develop your talent with some of Wales' leading practitioners, who continue to work professionally in the field. This course prepares you for a career in the arts, media and theatre or in education.

As well as giving you a strong grounding in Welsh language and literature there will also be an opportunity during the course to learn about various aspects of theatre and media as areas of the arts. There will be an opportunity to learn about the theoretical and historical aspects of these areas, such as the history of Welsh drama, the history of European drama, the tradition of stage adaptation, the study of Welsh screen works and the tradition of broadcasting for radio as a medium. There is also a wide cross-section of modules that give students the opportunity to nurture and develop practical skills in these areas, such as scripting skills (for TV and for stage), performance skills and directing skills as well as production skills for stage, television and radio.

Why choose Bangor University for this course?

• The Pontio Arts and Innovation centre, a £50 million investment.
• 1st in the UK for Celtic Studies (Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021).
• 1st in the UK for Student Satisfaction (Complete University Guide 2021).
• 90% go on to work and / or study within 15 months after the course (Discover Uni).
• Study in Gwynedd, the home of a dynamic Welsh media and creative industries sector.
• An opportunity to work with theatre and media practitioners who continue to work in the field professionally.
• Studying with poets and writers, winners of national awards and international acclaim.
• Our excellence in creative practice, and Welsh and Celtic studies is acknowledged worldwide.

A particular aspect of this course is the opportunity to attend specialist workshops that will equip you with the skills to create your own original work, whether scripting for television or stage, stage production, a short film, or a radio programme.
Teaching is provided through workshops, lectures, seminars and tutorials. Assessment is based on a combination of coursework (e.g. practical/creative work, oral presentations, essays, and weekly tasks) and examinations, with some modules assessed entirely based on coursework. Your modules each year will be equivalent to 120 credits.
 

What will you study on this course?

The first year is an opportunity to build on your experiences and open new doors, e.g. discuss the language and its art in contexts relating to its history and present-day state, learn new critical skills, respond originally to works of art and develop practical skills in theatre and media.

In your second and third years, you can choose from a wide range of theoretical modules, such as Welsh theatre from the time of Saunders Lewis to Aled Jones Williams and on Meic Povey's television dramas, as well as a wide range of practical modules such as scripting, writing a stage production and producing a short film, to name but a few.

In the third year you will write a dissertation and research an interesting topic of your choice. In the past, many have chosen to research subjects such as the works of various Welsh playwrights, the history of Welsh amateur companies and stage and screen adaptations of Welsh literary works. The options are endless!

• Pontio Arts Centre is an invaluable resource for Bangor University and the surrounding area. It features state-of-the-art professional spaces to watch live performances or screen productions as well as a dedicated performance studio where students have the opportunity to stage performances.
• The John Phillips building on the university campus also includes: John Phillips Hall - a performance space with sound and lighting equipment, radio studio and control room with self-management equipment, video and audio editing rooms, various cameras for each academic year, e.g. Canon, JVC, various sound and lighting equipment, digital media suite, software such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Final Cut Pro.

There has never been a more exciting time to study Welsh at Bangor. There has never been more demand for a workforce that can use Welsh at senior professional levels. The goal is clear, it has been set by the Welsh Government - a million Welsh speakers by 2050 and a truly bilingual Wales.

In pursuit of that aim, there will be a great need for confident Welsh-speaking graduates, who can use their language skills in flexible ways, who can think analytically through the medium of the language and use it - both orally and in writing - in various professional situations.

The remarkable professional success of our students in employment - and their varied careers - is already proving how fully relevant this course is to the requirements of contemporary Wales. A proportion of them go into education, to be primary and secondary teachers, headteachers, education officers and directors of education. Some go into further education and others become university lecturers. Teaching Welsh for adults is also a key area. Television and digital media, theatre and print - including the BBC centre in Bangor and Pontio Arts Centre - offer a cross-section of interesting jobs and have led other alumni into book publishing, creative writing and television scripting, public relations and marketing. There is also continuing demand for bilingual administrators and local government officers. And without the presence of Bangor's Welsh graduates, the translation industry would be quite different. And present-day graduates also have every right to aim high. The National Library of Wales, The National Theatre of Wales, Cwmni Da (one of Wales' largest production companies), the Welsh Parliament’s Translation and Reporting Service and Anglesey Council - what do they have in common? Bangor's Welsh graduates have reached the top of their professional careers in them and are at the forefront of them all!    

Our honours degrees offer a wealth of valuable experience whether you wish to study courses relating to Welsh as a subject, or the fields of theatre, journalism or the media.