module specification

This module functions as an introduction to skills and concepts behind directing both in theory and practice. Students will study key directing practitioners. They will be introduced to the role and function of the director, focusing on the relationship with the performer. They will study and apply basic directing techniques and explore and analyse the directorial process. Much of the work will be text based, using a set text as a starting point.

This module will be a research and practice based approach to investigating the methodologies of selected directors/practitioners. The module will facilitate the application of appropriate contemporary theoretical approaches to an analysis of the role and function of the director, focusing on their relationship with the performer. The work done in class will centre round a selected text in order to give the module a specific focus for research activities. LO1,LO2

Students will be given opportunities to apply ideas and concepts in practice in a series of staff and student led workshops. LO3,LO4,LO5

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to (and to have the opportunity to) continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek 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 reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal 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.

On completing the module, students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
LO1  understand, evaluate and articulate in oral and visual presentation and written documentation, an understanding of the role and function of the director in a cultural and historical context;

Cognitive intellectual abilities
LO2  analyse a text from a director’s perspective using a range of theoretical and directorial approaches;

Transferable Skills
LO3 work collaboratively and take a leadership role when appropriate;

Subject Specific Skills
LO4  plan and deliver a workshop and rehearsal based on a short scene from a selected text; 

LO5  work collaboratively in a group and take a leadership role when appropriate and to respond to the needs of others.

This module functions as a foundation for Directing 2. Assessment is weighted equally between theory and practice placing an emphasis on the need for a theoretical context for the practical work.
1. Presentation: 20% (10 minutes)
The presentations develop and enable oral communication skills and develop and assess independent research skills. Students are encouraged to use a range of media. This presentation focusses on their response to working on a set text and they are required to demonstrate an intellectual and aesthetic engagement with the text from a director’s viewpoint.
2. Workshop Assessment: 50% (20 minutes)
Students are required to prepare a rehearsal exercise that helps unlock the text. The exercise must have a specific aim and objective and they must plan and deliver this, working with students from the group. A plan of the outline will be handed in at the end of the exercise and the workshop will be open to discussion with staff and peers.
3. Essay: 30% (1500-2000 words)
This will be an analysis of the set text director’s perspective.  Using critical theory and research as a starting point they will be required to write about how they can put theory into practice both in terms of process and product.

There is no core textbook for this module.

Other

Barba, E. 2010. On Directing and Dramaturgy Routledge
Bartow, A. 1988. The Directors Voice Theatre Communications Group
Braun, E. 1982. The Director and the Stage Methuen
Brook, P. 1983. The Empty Space Penguin
Delgado, M. & Heritage, P. 1996. In Contact With the Gods? Directors Talk Theatre M U Press
Delgado M. M. & Rebellato eds., 2010. Contemporary European Directors Routledge
Letzler Cole S 1992. Directors in Rehearsal Routledge
Luckhurst, M. & Giannachi, G. 1999. On Directing Faber and Faber
Mitchell, K. 2009. The Director’s Craft Routledge
Mitter, S. 1992. Systems of Rehearsal Rouledge
Mitter, S. and Shevtsova, M. eds., 2005. Fifty Key Theatre Directors Routledge 
Shepherd, S. 2012. Direction: Readings in Theatre Practice Palgrave Macmillan
Zarrilli, P. B. 2009. Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski Routledge
http://direct.vtheatre.net/history.html
www.jstor.org
http://muse.jhu.edu/