Specialist Learning Courses

Explore seminal modern plays by three leading women playwrights – Caryl Churchill, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Moira Buffini – who are all known for groundbreaking and innovative dramatic work.



In the company of an experienced theatre director, examine the different theatrical visions of three exciting plays.

Godard’s definition of cinema is particularly apt for documentary. But today, documentary is at a crossroads, with first person, self-shot, iPhone filmmaking at one end of the spectrum and mega budget, celebrity-fronted or focused storytelling at the other. Is documentary up to the challenges of an era where facts themselves are in doubt – or is it the last hope of an otherwise overly massaged media, accused of ‘fake news’? When is factual filmmaking no longer factual? Reality television and co-called ‘constructed reality’ increasingly call into question the veracity of documentary protagonists increasingly cast – and paid – to be entertaining. Through the lens of current and recent releases, we look at animated documentary, activist documentary, archival documentary, and autobiographical documentary among other recent developments - and ask if the form has a future.







Dr Paul Kerr began his career working at the BFI, working in the National Film Archive, and as a freelance film and TV critic and lecturer. He then spent over 20 years as a producer and director, making arts and history programmes, including dozens of documentaries, for the BBC and Channel 4, as well as international broadcasters. More recently he was a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at Middlesex University until 2024. His books include Hollywood Independent: How the Mirisch Company Changed Cinema (2023); The Hollywood Film Industry; and MTM: Quality Television and two co-authored dossiers, Multiplatforming Public Service Broadcasting and Drama Documentary. He has published articles in journals including Screen, Transnational Cinemas, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television and Critical Studies in Television as well as The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Observer, Broadcast, NME and The New Statesman.

Portrait miniatures are some of the most exquisite likenesses ever produced, initially gaining favour in the court of Henry VIII as love tokens and tiny pieces of propaganda. This session in the V&A’s collection of portrait miniatures can be taken as a single stand-alone visit (no previous knowledge required, all welcome) or as a final lesson for the three-week online VB776 Private Portraits course.

Explore how historical, political, and economic factors have shaped Global South economies. Analyze trade, governance, urbanization, poverty, sustainability, and challenges, fostering a holistic understanding of their development within the global landscape.

This one day course brings together evidence from interviews with the ever decreasing number of original arrivals to the UK from Uganda, following Idi Amin’s expulsion in 1972.



Using oral history we ask questions of what we can learn from the personal testimony of individuals and what unique insights this gives us.

This course explores some of the most elaborate and powerful displays of the Graeco-Roman world. Designed to entertain, inform, and elicit support, often at times of great political or religious significance, they were unforgettable, and have long exercised an influence on our own understanding of the nature of power.

Whether you are a shower singer, an experienced singer or just like listening to songs in French, this course is for anyone who would like to improve their French pronunciation while enjoying beautiful songs from different French speaking countries.