Drama, Theatre, Performance
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL1001 | English | 1 | 20 | Full Year UK |
- Code
- ENGL1001
- School
- English
- Level
- 1
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Full Year UK
Summary
This module explores the extraordinary variety of drama in the Western dramatic tradition. Students will examine a historical range of performance from the theatre of ancient Greece to nineteenth-century naturalism, as well as innovative play texts and performance theories developed during the twentieth century. As well as studying plays by, amongst others, Euripides, Shakespeare, Ibsen and Brecht, we will consider a variety of extra-textual features of drama, including the performance styles of actors, the significance of performance space and place, and the composition of various audiences.
Students will study the selected plays in workshops, seminars and lectures, during which we will explore dramatic texts and, through the use of filmed extracts, texts in production. This course of study will also provide the opportunity to engage in practical theatre-making, and students will spend time acting and directing short extracts from the selected play-texts. By the end of the module, students will thus be able to recognise some of the key moments in the theatrical canon; understand more about the practical process of making performance happen; and analyse the social, historical and cultural contexts of various play-texts.
An essay or assignment will replace any coursework for reassessment purposes.
Target Students
Only available to First Year Single and Joint Honours English students and Liberal Arts students. Not available to exchange or 2+2 students.
Classes
- One 1-hour workshop each week for 11 weeks
- One 2-hour workshop each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 22 weeks
Lecture engagement to take place in the Spring only. 2 hour workshop running in the Autumn, 1 hour workshop running in Spring.
Assessment
- 40% Coursework 1: Assessment 1 is worth 40% of overall mark, comprising of two tasks -Task 1 - (1,000 word essay)Task 2 - (Practical Group work)
- 60% Coursework 2: Spring semester - 1 x 1,000 word essay
Assessed in both autumn & spring semest
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with:an understanding of drama as a performance medium, in which real people and objects are presented to other people in real, shared space;an introduction to a range of historical performance conventions, from Ancient Greek tragedy to twentieth-century British theatre;the ability to recognise and begin to analyse the varied elements which constitute performance.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding of
- the issues of performance and analysis specific to drama, including some key elements in performance practice from Ancient Greek tragedy to contemporary performance (A4)
Intellectual Skills
- Engage in close and logical analysis of texts and arguments (B1)
- Think independently while giving due weight to the arguments of others and to reflect on their own critical practice (B2)
Professional skills
- analyse texts with an awareness of how circumstances of authorship, textual production, convention and/or audience affect what they communicate(C2)
- the ability to construct and communicate an analysis of performance texts verbally and in writing (C4)
- the ability to carry out research in a range of media and make use of that material (C5)
Transferable skills
- work productively with others (D1)
- communicate effectively in writing (D2)
- the ability to communicate effectively by oral presentation (D3)
- reflect upon and assess their own progress, strengths and weaknesses (D6)