module specification

This is a year-long module that will introduce students of BA Theatre & Performance and BA Theatre & Film to performance aesthetics through a range of small scale projects drawing on activities such as abstract renderings and object work. You will learn craft-based skills that will be utilised and developed throughout your course of study and investigate and experiment with the use of objects in regard to narrative, character and theme. This will be complemented with sound and lighting workshops to enable you to understand the process and practice of construction in visual performance forms.
Seminars and workshops will introduce you to the potential of conveying ideas through objects and design.

Available for Study Abroad? YES

• A series of seminars and workshops that reference 20th and 21st Century artists who explored the experimental social and political value of puppets and performing objects. (LO1, LO3)
• Examine variety of performance styles that reference a range of the following; hand, rod, shadow, string, body and object puppets, object manipulation, extended costume and on occasion, puppetry and media production where performance is made possible through technological mediation. (LO2, LO3)
• Investigate and demonstrate the role of aesthetics in regard to performance making. (LO3, LO1)
• A series of workshops in basic puppet making and performing skills that will develop into the preparation of a short performance in addition to an introduction to installation and time-based art as studio practice in response to a set text. The latter half of the module will be an introduction to installation and time-based art as studio practice (LO4)

Scheduled teaching provides the guidance and foundation to ensure that independent study is effective in addressing the module’s learning outcomes and assessment tasks.

In-class activity makes use of varied student-centred approaches such as active, flipped and blended learning, so that a range of learning strategies is deployed, and individual learning styles are accommodated. Information is provided through a range of means and sources to minimise and remove barriers to successful progress through the module. The course team seeks to embed the University’s Education for Social Justice Framework in fostering learning that is enjoyable, accessible, relevant and that takes account of the social and cultural context and capital of its students.

Activities foster peer-to-peer community building and support for learning. Reflective learning is promoted through interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, receive help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including written reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-based learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal and career development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

Students will engage in weekly, tutor-led workshop sessions which will be supported by independent and group preparatory work, including rehearsals and the design and construction of objects in response to tasks assigned in class.

On completion of this module you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
LO1: source, craft and prepare puppets and objects for theatrical processes

Cognitive intellectual abilities
LO2: demonstrate practical performance skills of manipulating/ animating puppets and compositional use of objects in visual storytelling and visual performance practice

Transferable skills
LO3: apply library and IT skills in independent research activities; articulating ideas and communicating information comprehensively in visual, physical, oral and textual forms

Subject specific skills
LO4: collaborate and work effectively with others in small task-orientated groups and initiate and sustain creative, analytic and interpretative work.

Students will be evaluated on their autonomous and collaborative processes through a variety of assessment modes. The Project and Evaluation Portfolio will assess the student’s competency in autonomous processes and a group presentation will assess their collaborative abilities.
Formative assessment will be set periodically over the course of the module and used to provide students with feedback on their performance and on how it can be improved and maintained. This will address different aspects of the syllabus and enable students to prepare material for their portfolio. Reflective practice by students sometimes contributes to formative assessment.

Process: 60%
Students are continuously assessed on this module, with their assessment referencing key events within the term, including seminars, student presentations and collaborative projects. Together with their creative and collaborative skills, process is also evaluated in terms of professionalism, engagement, progress, ability to integrate feedback, attendance and punctuality.

Project and Evaluation Portfolio: 40%
This will include set research tasks, lecture and class notes, selected images, totalling 2000 words. This can be submitted in a variety of formats including e-journal.

https://staff.londonmet.ac.uk/academics-and-teaching/library-support-for-your-teaching-and-research/reading-lists-a-guide-for-academics/