This module enables you to build on the writing and development skills learned in Thinking Through Playwriting and on your exploration of a variety of modes of writing in Playwriting and Form by working on a playwriting project conceived, devised and developed in a rehearsal room setting. Writing a finished script from initial concept to final rehearsal draft without the input of other artists is very rare in a professional setting and being able to collaborate at all stages of the process is an essential part of the playwright’s toolkit and the playwriting craft. This module has been designed to reflect the experience of a professional playwright working within an ensemble of other theatre-makers and practitioners. As such some of the seminars will bring together the cohorts of MA Playwriting and MA Theatre-making to enable students to share and develop their skills in a rehearsal room ‘research and development’ exploratory, creative environment.
The module will be delivered and co-taught by the programme leaders of MA Playwriting and MA Theatre-making, developing both cohorts’ skills in workshopping, collaboration and pro-active dramaturgy. Though some of the teaching and workshopping on this module will be combined across MA programmes, the assessment will remain separate. After a six week period of devising and collaborating in a rehearsal room process, the cohorts will split for the remaining 5 weeks of term to develop their work within their own discipline and cohort. At the end of the term MA Theatre-making students will be assessed on a live performance resulting from the initial collaboration process, and the MA Playwriting students will be assessed on individual scripts that respond in some way to aspects of the collaboration process, whether through theme, topic, genre or form, according to the individual playwright’s interests.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
The aims of the module are:
to equip you with tools, practices and approaches for working with other theatre practitioners to create, devise and hone performance and written material
to provide you with a live rehearsal room experience of developing an idea for theatre performance
to enable you to apply your dramaturgical knowledge to contribute to a developing piece of live theatre as well as complete a script informed by this process
By the end of the module you will be expected:
to have contributed actively to a workshop development process as both writer and theatre-maker
to have conceived, developed and completed a short script in response to the explorations of the ensemble work undertaken in joint teaching sessions
to understand how working collaboratively can inform, deepen and enrich the writing process and the playwriting craft
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Short play with reflective statement on collaborative process |
N/A | 100 |
None
Formative feedback is embedded into the seminars.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Short play with reflective statement on collaborative process |
N/A | 100 |
You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times, with an option of an individual follow-up meeting if any aspect of the feedback is unclear or if more guidance on interpreting the feedback is requested.
Ball, D. (1983). Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Cole, T. (1961). Playwrights on Playwriting: The Making of Modern Drama from Ibsen to Ionesco. New York: Hill & Wang.
Goode, C. (2014). The Forest and the Field: Changing Theatre in a Changing World. London: Oberon.
Jester, C. and Caridad S. (eds.). (2017). Fifty Playwrights on their Craft. London: Bloomsbury.
Tichler, R. and Kaplan, B. (2012). The Playwright at Work. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Sweet, J. (2017). What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing. New Haven: Yale University Press.