Our courses: Arts, Literature & Culture

 

Arts, Literature & Culture courses at King’s College London Summer School

London is known for the arts. From the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, there is no city on earth better than London in which to explore these subjects.

 

 

‘King’s is situated right in the middle of everything. I went on the London Eye and really enjoyed my strolls along the Thames.’

~ Morgan MacKenzie Walker, Jane Austen’s England, 2012

King’s College London, centrally located in the heart of London on the Strand, is the ideal place to be based for a summer of study in London. Our Summer School offers over 20 courses in the fields of Arts, Literature and Culture, and since our Summer School began, these subjects have been some of our most popular for visiting Summer School students.

‘I enjoyed learning about the different types of performances there are from Shakespearean to the West End to fringe performance. I also enjoyed the trips we took outside the classroom which really helped me gain a better understand of these types of performances and helped me see the city.’

~ Saxony Nielsen, Theatrical London: Contemporary Performance in the City, 2012

King’s College London has a long-standing reputation of excellence for teaching the arts, and the Summer School continues this excellence, with world class tutors, who are specialized in their fields.

London is the city of Shakespeare. Our course Shakespeare in London explores the Bard’s life in London, from his life-time in the city to his lingering presence felt now on every corner. Take a listen to course tutors Sarah Lewis and Sarah Dustagheer to learn more.

Film studies are always a popular choice for Summer School students. And what better place to study the history of British film then in the city where it was founded? Our course London and Film  offers you the perfect introduction to film studies. Our Summer School alumni Vhairi Motherwell can tell you more.

From Monty Python to Borat, British comedy has always led the way for comedians to push the boundaries. Comic Culture in British TV and Film explores this idea, and uses the resources King’s and London can offer to help students get the most out of their time in the city.

Other courses will take you outside of London to explore the culture of Europe. Listen to Niamh Campbell speak about her course, ‘Literature in the City’, which explores the literature of London, Dublin and Berlin.

‘The field trips we took helped me to better understand the subject matter, explore England, and really enjoy the course. I can thank my tutor for that as well.’

~ Morgan MacKenzie Walker, Jane Austen’s England, 2012

These are just a sample of the many courses that we do. To find out more, please visit our website, drop us an email, or give us a ring!

‘It was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t trade any part of it.’

~ Morgan MacKenzie Walker, Jane Austen’s England, 2012

Meet the Tutors: Jason Luger

Interested in learning more about a particular course? Who better to talk to than the tutor in charge! This week, Jason Luger, course tutor for London and the British City – Past and Present, tells us a little more about his course and the city it features…

One of the very best things about King’s College London is that in addition to being a top Global University, it is part of London’s historic riverfront and an ideal ‘window’ on the very heart of the British capital.

Therefore, King’s serves as an ideal launching point for a Summer School Course such as ‘London and the British City: Past and Present’. One only has to turn the corner to be surrounded by world-famous landmarks and historically important buildings and sites. In fact, King’s itself is part of the historical story – its chapel was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott – who also designed the Palace of Westminster (Parliament House) and iconic St. Pancras Station! This course’s urban exploration ‘begins’, as it were, beneath King’s – at the site of a Roman Bath, hidden away from the street, indicating that King’s is literally built upon an ancient version of London.

But King’s is just the launching point for this course, which uses London and indeed Britain as an urban laboratory. British cities are so steeped in symbolism and reminders of key global cultural, political, scientific, and historical moments – this course will serve as a ‘guide’ to read London and British cities like books, to take in the sights, sounds, smells, and texture, using them as museums without walls and textbooks without pages. Students will come to see these cities, and hopefully all cities, not just as collections of bricks and mortar, but as embodiments of stories, symbols, dreams, and layers.

 

For example: What is it about flying pigs, and the hulking Battersea Power Plant, that delight fans of rock music? What does ‘Rocking down to Electric Avenue’, in Brixton, reveal about the power of urban change – and the loud, lovely, jarring, sometimes difficult clash of cultures? What were the social and cultural conditions of the sooty Victorian days that inspired both Charles Dickens and Karl Marx to write their powerful texts – texts that have had lasting impacts on the globe as a whole, with their crucial critiques on society?

London is just one of many British cities that have had, and still have, huge roles to play in global trends. This course will go beyond London, to familiarize students with other key cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. We’ll ask (and find out), why a ‘Manchester’ can still be bought in department stores around the world. What the Beatles’ ‘Penny Lane’ looks like – and what are its current economic and social challenges. And how the DJ – that hero of the party, of the dance club – helped breathe life back into cities struggling with industrial decline.

Shakespeare’s Caliban, in ‘The Tempest’, remarked that ‘The Isle is Full of Noises.’ In ‘London and the British City: Past and Present’, we’ll put on our noise-cancelling headphones, and listen.

My Summer School experience: Melissa

Every few weeks our blog will hear from former students who came to our Summer School. This week is Melissa, who attended Summer School not once but twice! Read what she has to say below…

‘The Summer School at King’s College London is the opportunity of a lifetime.  King’s reputation is second to none, complemented with the perfect location in central London. I was fortunate enough to participate in King’s Summer School for two summers, and both were amazing.

The first summer I took Shakespeare in London.  Coming from the United States, I was interested in seeing how different studying Shakespeare was in a city that had so many resources available to supplement the course. Visiting museums and theatres to watch a number of plays exceeded my expectations and brought an element to the study of Shakespeare that is not available anywhere else; it truly brought the content to life much more than sitting in a classroom and reading the plays from a book.

I returned the following summer to King’s Summer School to study Introduction to Human Resource Management.  Once again, King’s added a practical element, taking field trips to Harrods and Abercrombie & Fitch, which are quite distinct from stores in the United States.  I really enjoyed learning the theory in the classroom and then going out and seeing a practical application.

While spending time and learning in the classroom is important, the outside learning really sets King’s apart from other academic programmes.  Getting to meet people from so many different countries and learning about so many cultures that were different from mine was very interesting.  We also had Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off from class, giving us time to explore London and other parts of Europe.  I loved taking tours to Stonehenge, Canterbury, Dover, and Paris over the weekends.

Whether you’re looking to get university credit at one of the top institutions in the world, meet people from all over the globe, or just simply live in one of the best cities in the world, King’s Summer School is definitely the place to be for an unforgettable summer!’

And you can watch a video of Melissa talking about her experiences here.