'Gothic' in Fiction: From Frankenstein to Dracula and beyond
This course will be delivered online. This course will explore three of the most influential and enduring literary works of Gothic literature: all three novels created and expanded a genre that featured the medieval, the supernatural, the macabre, or simply, the downright horrifying. The Castle of Otranto (1764) is credited with being the first of its kind, 'a Gothic story' as the author himself called it. First published by Walpole at his 'villa' at Strawberry Hill, the novel, with its mix of medievalism and supernatural horror, achieved instant popularity and inspired many...
Access to Humanities and Social Science
(Women Only) Access courses are designed to enable learners, aged 19+, to gain a qualification which is accepted by universities as an alternative to A Levels. Access courses are delivered over one year as opposed to the two years required for A Levels. An access course is therefore ideal for anyone who left school without formal Level 3 qualifications, or for people who wish to change career without having to do two years of A levels. On our Access to Humanities and Social Sciences programme you will gain the knowledge and academic skills necessary to progress on to Higher...
2021/22 classes coming soon - Apply now! - WR0083-2122XX
Advanced Scriptwriting Workshop
This course will be delivered online. This is a workshop based classed designed for intermediate and advanced writers to develop scripts for radio, TV, film and stage.
Civil Rights America
This course will be delivered online. The eruption of Black Lives Matter protests across America in 2020 once more showed the inequalities in America society and its racial divisions. The return of the KKK in society, Charlottesville and the reactions to policing of the 2021 storming of the Capitol have continued the focus. For some in the country these divisions were supposed to have been addressed during the Civil Rights movement of the 196os but racial equality in America has always come in fits and starts. This course aims to look at the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s,...
Comedy Writing - Introduction
This course will be delivered online. This course will give you the skills needed to write two-minute sketches, the building blocks of comedy. You will discover valuable techniques in creating a flow of creative ideas and learn how to structure a sketch. You’ll explore ways of creating vivid, funny characters and writing sharp comic dialogue. There will also be advice on finding markets. Please note the Introduction to Comedy Writing on 1st March takes place at Hillcroft in Surbiton.
Creative Writing - Beginners
This course will be delivered online. This course will introduce you to the basic elements of creative writing. You will find the space, and given encouragement, to start your writing journey, wherever it will take you.
Creative Writing - Critical Workshop
This course will be delivered online. This regular session will provide a forum for writers of some experience, who would like to share their work regularly in a constructive atmosphere. The sessions will be tutor led; the tutor will also introduce short sessions on aspects of writing each week. Whether your project is a novel, a memoir, short stories or flash fiction, you will find this an invaluable and supportive space in which to progress your work.
Creative Writing - Exploring Creative Writing
This course will be delivered online. This course explores all aspects of creative writing to help you discover your voice and develop your creative writing skills. You will be stimulated, challenged and entertained in equal measure and, as your confidence grows, you will gain mastery across the forms and genres, allowing your creative voice to grow and giving full reign to your imagination. Whether you wish to explore or enhance your creative writing skills, this is the course for you.
Creative Writing - Writing for Children
This course will be delivered online. This course aims to encourage and inform students who are interested in writing short stories, novels, poetry, plays, picture books and non-fiction for children and young adults.
Drama Scripts for Stage, Film, TV and Radio
This course will be delivered online. Learn, explore and develop the basics of writing drama scripts for film, stage, tv and radio.
Exploring Creative Writing at Hillcroft
This course will be delivered online. This course explores all aspects of creative writing to help you discover your voice and develop your creative writing skills. You will be stimulated, challenged and entertained in equal measure and, as your confidence grows, you will gain mastery across the forms and genres, allowing your creative voice to grow and giving full reign to your imagination. Whether you wish to explore or enhance your creative writing skills, this is the course for you.
Film - Theory and Appreciation
This course will be delivered online. This is a popular yearlong course that consists of three distinct parts covering key films from Hollywood, Britain and Europe. Each term has a different theme
History for Travel: Crete
This course will be delivered online. 'If the truth be known, we, the Romans, conducted the Cretan war from the simple desire to conquer and enslave this important island'. (Florus, Roman historian c 120 AD). This course is designed both for 'travellers' and 'non-travellers' alike. Crete, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean, was an epicentre of culture in the ancient world, a source of myth and legend, and a place of pilgrimage. Four millennia ago, the island was the cradle of the Minoan civilisation that had made a lasting impact on the culture of the entire...
Humanities Access to HE OCNLR Level 3 (Law, History & Literature)
Access courses are designed to enable people aged 19+ to gain a qualification which is accepted by universities as an alternative to A Levels. Access courses are delivered over one year as opposed to the two years required for A Levels. An access course is therefore ideal for anyone who left school without formal qualifications, or for people who wish to change career without having to do two years of A levels. Access to Humanities combines the three main subject areas of History, English Literature and Law plus various communication and study skills modules. Successful completion...
Poetry for Pleasure
This course will be delivered online. Whether you already enjoy reading poetry, or even if you have never tried reading poetry before, this course is for you! An informal, relaxed series of classes exploring a range of poems.
Researching and Writing Non-Fiction
This course will be delivered online. Non-fiction is no longer seen as the poor relation to fiction. The good non-fiction writer brings to their chosen subject judgement, imagination and creativity. The more successfully you do this, the more interesting and engaging your book will be. Whatever your reason for writing – perhaps telling your family history or personal life story, exploring a fascinating topic or event or writing a biography – this course is for you. Whether you are still deciding on your subject, have made a tentative start or are already deeply into...
Taster - Access to HE Humanities
This course will be delivered online. Access courses are designed to give adult learners the necessary study skills and subject knowledge to go on to a Degree at a University. This course will give you a day in the life of an Access student.
Taster - Philosophy - School of Ideas
This course will be delivered online. An introduction to our series of courses, from the Ancient Greeks to Contemporary Post Modernists explore the key ideas that have shaped and changed world views. If you have a special interest in philosophy and the history of ideas of or are seeking an introduction to this area of learning we have a broad range of courses to inspire you.
The French Revolution
This course will be delivered online. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite. Europe was brought crashing into the Later Modern age under these three principles with the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. The repercussions of the revolution would ripple throughout Europe and the world for the next century. This course looks at the causes and course of the revolution through its various stages until the very structures it produced were corrupted by Napoleon Bonaparte. This is the story of how France started to become the modern country we know today from the absolutist ancient...
The Golden Age of Greek Drama
This course will be delivered online. 'You will be a thorn in the city's flesh.' This is how Euripides described his own voluntary exile in the mouth of his dark heroine Medea on the Greek stage in 431BC, unpopular in the city because of the bone-tingling subtlety and sympathy with which he penetrated the human psyche. Millennia later, the relevance both of his works and those of his rivals is astonishing. This course covers the representation of grief, estrangement, asylum-seeking, family and sacrifice, as well as ribaldry, political satire, and Dionysian revels,...
The Legacy of Nietzsche
This course will be delivered online. If God is dead then Nietzsche remains alive in the billions of words that in books, theses and dissertations that never cease to explore and expound his thinking. What is very instructive is to see where people have taken his ideas and how they have been developed. We will look at key concepts such as Apollonian and Dionysian The Herd Ressentiment Perspectivism and explore what thinkers like Camus, Adorno and Horkheimer and Richard Rorty took from Nietzsche and how they developed his...
The Philosophy of Kierkegaard
This course will be delivered online. 'A love affair is always an instructive theme regarding what it means to exist,' This course provides an introduction to some of the key themes of the work of Soren Kierkegaard. It places these in the context of his biography, as well as exploring Kierkegaard's problematizing of the philosophical and theological traditions he inherits. Philosophy is a word that sits strangely in relation to Kierkegaard and some argue it more accurate to think of his texts as literature or theology. Writing under pseudonyms such as Week-by-week...
Writing for Wellbeing and Self Development
(Women Only) The link between literature and health goes back to ancient Greece and Aristotle. Writers from different generations, cultures, genres have vocalised the positive impact expressing themselves through writing has on their emotional health. Research has shown that writing expressively can help improve wellbeing and reduces visits to the GP for physical conditions too. Writing can allow us to discover and understand how we feel, what we want, who we are, where we are from and where we are going. It provides an opportunity to explore ourselves. We all have...
15/05/2021 - Sat, Sun (09:30-17:00) - 1 weeks - £64.00/FREE - WR0075-202106
Writing Freelance Magazine Articles
This course will be delivered online. You will get direction for your freelance writing. You will learn the basics of freelance writing to enable you to begin planning, researching, writing and pitching articles to Editors at magazines and newspapers.
Writing from Life
This course will be delivered online. Do you have a story to tell? Do you want to explore your own personal narrative? Perhaps you want to narrate your own life experiences, record family history or explore self awareness through writing.