From Stanislavski to Contemporary Performance: practice and theory
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL2020 | English | 2 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- ENGL2020
- School
- English
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This module enables students to develop their understanding of the theory and practice of theatre and performance from the beginnings of the twentieth century through to the present day.
Building on work encountered in Drama, Theatre, Performance, students will develop their understanding of Stanislavski and Brecht. They will then move on to examine the work of other theorists and practitioners who have had a major impact on theatre and performance in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including Meyerhold, Artaud, the Futurists and the Fluxus movement.
The module combines theoretical material (delivered through lectures) and practical experimentation in weekly small-group workshops. With an emphasis on embodied learning, workshops consist of student-led explorations of theory in practice, working with excerpts from canonical theatrical scripts and other performance scripts, as students respond to tutor-set tasks and questions.
This module follows on from current teaching/assessment models in Drama, Theatre and Performance.
Target Students
Only available for second-year students on SH and JH English programmes, including 2+2 programmes; students participating in exchanges from the School partner institutions; and second or third-year students on the Liberal Arts programme.ENGL1001 Drama, Theatre and Performance is a pre-requisite for this module.
Classes
- One 2-hour workshop each week for 11 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 11 weeks
Assessment
- Coursework 1: 500-word formative reflective piece
- 100% Coursework 2: 3000-word portfolio
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students witha deeper embodied understanding of the nature of drama as a performance medium,an introduction to a range of twentieth and twenty-first century performance conventions, influential dramatic movements, and associated texts,an opportunity to further develop skills relevant to the practice and analysis of live performance, including the ability to use appropriate critical and theoretical terminologies in response to the workshop performance context.Learning Outcomes
(a) Knowledge and understanding of
- complex critical and theoretical approaches to the analysis of distinct forms of drama and performance, including the ability to employ appropriate critical terminologies to such analysis
- issues of analysis specific to drama and theatre, and in particular to the embodied practice of live performance
b) Intellectual skills
- the ability to engage in close and sustained analysis of performance practice, performance texts and theoretical arguments
- the ability to think independently while giving due weight to the arguments of others
- the ability to understand complex ideas and relate them to specific issues of performance analysis
(c) Professional practical skills
- the ability to articulate knowledge of complex theoretical concepts relating to performance
- the ability to write accurately and grammatically and to produce a variety of written responses to module content, using conventions appropriate to the assessed tasks
- the ability to construct and communicate a sustained analysis of performance texts and relevant critical material, verbally and in writing
- the ability to respond appropriately to texts through the medium of performance
(d) Transferable (key) skills
- ability to work both in a group and independently, drawing on material from lectures and practical workshops
- ability to synthesise ideas from a variety of sources
- ability to reflect on their own progress, both as individual and within a group