Theatre Texts & Contexts (BCI 3) - TFT00072H

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24

Module summary

This module is designed to introduce you, practically and theoretically, to a range of case studies within the context of a particular theatre or performance tradition or style (e.g. feminist theatres, site-specific practices, physical theatre, monologue plays etc). It will equip you to work with deep knowledge and understanding of the given tradition/style across performative and analytical contexts, and will enable you to apply these skills to your ongoing work at the interstices of text and performance.

*Students will lose 3 marks per workshop, seminar or practical session missed for this module.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24

Module aims

  • ·to explore the generic, cultural and historical diversity of performance styles via a series of case-studies of contrasted moments of high achievement in a particular mode (e.g. feminist theatres, site-specific practices, physical theatre, monologue plays etc).
  • to assist students to develop the analytical techniques apt to the investigation of the scripts and performances relevant to the performance style(s) and/or tradition(s) under investigation, and the notational skills needed to analyse the techniques, vocal and physical, of relevant performers and performance makers.
  • to conduct practical experiments testing and illuminating the performance potentiality of scripts and performances relevant to the performance style(s) and/or tradition(s) under investigation

Module learning outcomes

At the end of this module you will have

  • acquired in-depth knowledge of the generic, cultural and historical diversity of the performance style(s) and/or tradition(s) under investigation.
  • developed expertise in the analysis of relevant scripts and performances, in historical and contemporary contexts, and via discursive and written avenues.
  • had experience of ambitious practical work on demanding scripts and performances.
  • explored the relationship between different modes of theatrical expression and their relation to audiences, production strategies nd institutions into the "stage marketplace'.

 

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 75
Practical 25

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Essay/coursework 75
Practical 25

Module feedback

Students will receive written feedback on all assessments and reassessments. This will happen in a formative manner in practical workshops and seminars, and in a summative manner in feedback sheets on practical assessment and written tasks, which students will receive within 20 working days after the assessment.

Indicative reading

For a sample module on British feminist theatre traditions, an indicative bibliography could include:

Plays

Mojisola Adebayo

Moira Buffini

Caryl Churchill,

Sarah Daniels,

Andrea Dunbar,

Gay Sweatshop

 

Theoretical material

Elaine Aston and Gerry Harris, A Good Night Out For The Girls (2012)

Sue-Ellen Case, Feminism and Theatre (2008)

Sharon Carnicke, Stanislavsky in Action (2008)

Jill Dolan, The Feminist Spectator as Critic (1988)

Jill Dolan, The Feminist Spectator in Action (2013)

Penny Farfan and Lesley Ferris (eds.), Contemporary Women Playwrights: Into the Twenty-First Century (2014)

Lizbeth Goodman, Contemporary Feminist Theatres (1993)

Emer O’Toole, Girls Will Be Girls (2015)

Kim Solga, Feminism & Theatre (2016)