Performance Project - TFT00050I
Module summary
This module provides a practical introduction to creating, managing and staging a short performance project following industry-standard methods. It offers students the opportunity to craft their own productions, usually on a specific issue or theme.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2026-27 |
Module aims
This module aims:
- to develop your skills in researching a theme or topic provided by the module convenor, and to enable you to research, plan, write, rehearse and stage a new 30-minute performance from scratch
- to help you learn and put into practice the creative methods and protocols of research, rehearsal and performance to a high standard working to a deadline
- to produce a staging of a finished work to an appropriate standard of performance, design, production and front-of-house, with all areas informed by the research conducted into the theme of the play
- to develop your ability to reflect on the work and to analyse some of the challenges of the process by contextualising ideas and experiences against published literature on the subject
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the module you will be expected:
- to demonstrate an appreciation of a variety of approaches to theatre-making from both an intellectual and a practical standpoint
- to have explored new theatre-making processes and to have developed an understanding of the ethical, political, inter-personal and practical challenges of making, producing and staging a production
- to have acquired informed knowledge about creative and production processes and to have staged a well-researched, high-quality piece of theatre on time and on budget while maintaining group cohesion.
Module content
You will move from whole-group explorations of the possibilities of the subject set by module staff into more specialised roles later in the semester. In groups, you will produce, direct, act, research, write, design and stage manage the performances for a public audience. These will all be performed across two nights, usually at the end of Week 10 (tbc).
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 60.0 |
| Groupwork | 40.0 |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Formative practical work is embedded throughout the module, as you will be presenting work in progress to module staff as you develop it, and receiving feedback on these drafts.
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 60.0 |
| Oral presentation/seminar/exam | 40.0 |
Module feedback
A formative essay task, based on the analysis of your work towards the performance so far, can be scheduled for midway through the module.
*For summative assessments, students will lose 3 marks per workshop, seminar or practical missed for this module in weeks 1-10.
Indicative reading
Alfreds, Mike, Different Every Night: Storytelling and Adapting for the Theatre (Nick Hern Books,2013)
Bradwell, Mike, Inventing the Truth: Devising and Directing for the Theatre (Nick Hern Books, 2012)
Marsden, Robert, Inside the Rehearsal Room: Process, Collaboration and Decision-making (Methuen Drama, 2022)
Radosavljevic, Duška, Theatre-Making: Interplay Between Text and Performance in the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Trencsényi, Katalin, Dramaturgy in the Making: A User's Guide for Theatre Practitioners (Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015)