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Independent Group Production Project - TFT00084H

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Rebecca Benzie
  • Credit value: 40 credits
  • Credit level: H
  • Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
    • See module specification for other years: 2023-24

Module summary

This module provides you with the opportunity to work independently in groups, under close supervision and guidance, on a 50- to 90-minute production of their choosing which will be performed to a public audience. You can be assessed as actors, directors or designers, or as festival producers, shaping and executing a project which reflects their own interests, tastes, personal strengths, and career plans.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2024-25

Module aims

This module aims:

  • to give you the experience of working in a small group to stage a play of your choosing, and to perform this in the department in festival conditions -
  • to develop your collaborative work with your peers to create performances and designs of a high standard for a public audience
  • to give you experience in combining detailed dramaturgical preparation, textual analysis, and historical exploration with rehearsal explorations which lead to a public performance of a script you have thus researched and analysed
  • to allow you the time and space to conduct a Research and Development period led by thoroughly considered research questions
  • to provide you with the opportunity to follow the particular interests of your small group to explore a particular play / style / form / approach / aesthetic
  • to test and enhance your use and command of the knowledge, skills, and techniques acquired during previous modules in a context where, although supported by supervisorial guidance, you have the chance to create your own agendas and devise apt methods to carry them out - to develop your self-analytical capacity to reflect on the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period and your wider work across the module, recording and reflecting choices and key moments in a creative portfolio

Module learning outcomes

For acting and directing roles:

  • to possess the skills needed to stage a performance, in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years
  • to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to create performances of a high standard - to have researched, rehearsed and staged your play to a given set of deadlines and within a given budget
  • to demonstrate sensitivity to the demands, challenges and opportunities in the script
  • to have worked as a group and individually to ensure aesthetic and stylistic coherence
  • to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module

For design roles:

  • to possess the skills needed to design for a performance, in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years
  • to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to create a high quality production with aesthetic and stylistic coherence and a clear relationship between performer and audience
  • to create a design which is sensitive to the demands, challenges and opportunities in the script, and which contributes to its narrative arc
  • to have researched, rehearsed and realised your design within a given set of deadlines and within a given budget
  • to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module
  • to compile a portfolio, following the requirements in the assessment brief, which fully records the different areas of your role, and which evidences an informed understanding of the tasks of the role and a creative and considered response to them through clearly articulated design decisions

For producing roles:

  • to possess the skills needed to produce and publicise a festival of performance work in front of a public audience, which is informed by the full range of skills and techniques you have acquired during the preceding two years
  • to demonstrate your capacity to work collaboratively with your peers to produce the event to a high standard - to produce the festival of plays to a given set of deadlines and within a given budget
  • to demonstrate project management skills, e.g. the organisation of rehearsals and a timetable, clear budgeting etc.
  • to use strong communication skills to liaise with the groups
  • to publicise the event successfully: for example, to create powerful and effective designs for publicity, and to devise and implement a clear marketing strategy
  • to organise front of house and maintain adequate health and safety procedures
  • to work in an organised and professional manner with all staff and the public
  • to be able to analyse lucidly, and report on, the function, scope and effectiveness of your R&D period, and your wider work across the module
  • to compile an electronic portfolio, following the requirements in the assessment brief, which fully records the different areas of your role, and which evidences an informed understanding of the tasks of the role and a creative and considered response to them

Module content

This module encourages you to take ownership of a creative production project which you will work on in small teams. The capstone module structure allows you to embark on a guided Research and Development period for the first part of the semester, which will then inform the subsequent rehearsal period, with supervisory support. You will be required to submit an option form before the module begins, on which each group outlines their choice of play, the composition of their company, and their initial proposals and ideas for their approach. Producers will also be required to submit an option form outlining their initial ideas for the festival. You can be assessed as actors, directors, designers or as festival producers. Your practice within this module gives you the opportunity to shape and execute a project which reflects your own interests, personal strengths, and career plans. The project will demand of you an ambitious, creative and critical use of the research, dramaturgical, textual, and practical skills you have acquired during your BA studies.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : Curated practice portfolio		 N/A 25
Groupwork
Performance / Festival : Group production / festival		 N/A 75

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work is built in throughout the module, through the R&D and supervisory system.

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Essay : Curated practice portfolio		 N/A 25
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Viva Presentation : Presentation of group production or festival organisation		 N/A 75

Module feedback

You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times.

Indicative reading

A list of suggested plays will be circulated year by year, and further research and reading will be discussed with group supervisors.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.