SM6016 - Theatre Arts Studio: Third Year (2024/25)
Module specification | Module approved to run in 2024/25 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Module title | Theatre Arts Studio: Third Year | ||||||||||||||||||||
Module level | Honours (06) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Credit rating for module | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||
School | School of Art, Architecture and Design | ||||||||||||||||||||
Total study hours | 300 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Assessment components |
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Running in 2024/25(Please note that module timeslots are subject to change) | No instances running in the year |
Module summary
This is a practice-based module that provides students with the key techniques and creative skills required for different professional pathways in the performing arts. Students will develop their understanding of industry specialisms such as:
• directing;
• choreography;
• dramaturgy;
• creating installations and site-responsive work;
• playwriting;
• workshop leadership.
Students will undertake a combination of workshops, exercises and presentations to advance their knowledge of different areas of the performing arts from the particular perspective of an identified professional role or practice. Students will also develop the qualities required to realise group projects and/or successfully to complete independent creative tasks, drawing from theoretical and historical awareness to create their own original work and/or learn how to nurture others through different creative processes. A selection of these specialisms will be offered each year providing the opportunity to work alongside each other and collaborate on a variety of studio based activities and projects.
Prior learning requirements
Completion and pass (120 credits) of previous level.
Syllabus
At the beginning of the module, students will receive an outline explaining how the aims and key outcomes will be achieved in relation to the specific discipline(s) they are studying. Irrespective of area, the syllabus will include:
• seminars instructing students in methods for creating or supporting the creation of original work; LO1, LO4, LO7
• independent and collaborative projects culminating in presentations; LO2, LO3, LO5
• workshops to experiment with established techniques; LO1, LO3, LO6
• critical reflection and analysis of the methods employed and their effectiveness in a range of contexts. LO2, LO4, LO7
Balance of independent study and scheduled teaching activity
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.
Learning outcomes
On completing the module, students will be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
LO1 employ appropriate performance skills, structures, working methods and paradigms in both practical and theoretical work;
LO2 demonstrate critical awareness of the relationship between process and outcome;
Cognitive intellectual abilities
LO3 take responsibility as an individual artist whether working independently or within a group for creative decision making;
LO4 demonstrate practical and theoretical understanding of social, historical and artistic trends through their own practice describing, theorising, interpreting and evaluating performance texts and events from a range of critical and technical perspectives, using appropriate subject specific vocabularies;
Transferable Skills
LO5 apply library and IT skills in independent research activities; articulating ideas and communicating information in visual, physical, oral and textual forms;
Subject Specific Skills
LO6 demonstrate understanding of the duties and functions of a specific industry profession, and how a specialist discipline contributes to the processes by which performance is created, realised, managed, distributed or documented;
LO7 show an ability to reflect upon personal development and draw connections between personal work and wider artistic practices.
Bibliography
Textbooks: Core
Dramaturgy
Trencsenyi, K, (2015) Dramaturgy in the Making, Bloomsbury
Directing
Shepherd, S. (2012) Direction: Readings in Theatre Practice, Palgrave Macmillan
Choreography
Smith-Autard, J. (2010) Dance Composition: A practical guide to creative success in dance making, Methuen Drama [on-line]
Installation and Site
There is no core textbook for this area of the studio.
Playwriting
There is no core textbook for this area of the studio.
Workshop Leadership
There is no core textbook for this area of the studio.
Textbooks: Other NOTE: ALL OF THE BELOW HAVE BEEN UPDATED TO ALIGN WITH SECOND YEAR STUDIO
Dramaturgy
Aston, E. Savona, G. (1991) Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance, Routledge
Bicât, T. and Baldwin, C. (2002) Devised and Collaborative Theatre: A Practical Guide, Crawford Press
Irelan S. and Fletcher A. and Felise J. (2009) The Process of Dramaturgy: A Handbook, Focus
Luckhurst, M. (2006) Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre, Cambridge University Press
Pavis, P. (2012) Contemporary Mise en Scène: Staging Theatre Today, Routledge
Radosavljevic, D. (2013) Theatre-Making: Interplay Between Text and Performance in the 21st Century, Palgrave
Trencsényi, K. (2015) Dramaturgy in the Making, Bloomsbury
Turner, C. and Behrndt, S. (2016) Dramaturgy and Performance: Revised Edition, Palgrave Macmillan
Zatlin, P. (2005) Theatrical Translation and Film Adaptation: A Practitioner’s View, Multilingual Matters
Online resources:
The Dramaturg’s Network
http://eedramaturgy.co.uk
Directing
Oddey, A. (2007) Re-framing the theatrical, Palgrave Macmillan.
Barker C. (2010) Theatre Games, Methuen Drama
Boal, A. (1992) Games for Actors and Non-Actors, Routledge
Barba, E. (2010) On Directing and Dramaturgy, Routledge
Bartow, A. (ed.), (1988) The Directors Voice Theatre, Communications Group
Braun, E. (1982) The Director and the Stage, Methuen
Brook, P. (1983) The Empty Space, Penguin
Crook, P. (2016) The Art and Practice of Directing for Theatre, Routledge
Delgado, M. and Heritage, P. (1996) In Contact With the Gods? Directors Talk Theatre, M U Press
Delgado M. M. and Rebellato, D. (eds), (2010) Contemporary European Directors, Routledge
Letzler Cole, S. (1992) Directors in Rehearsal, Routledge
Luckhurst, M. and 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
Simonsen, B. (2017) The Art of Rehearsal, Bloomsbury
Whitmore, J. (2004) Directing Postmodern Theater, University of Michigan Press
Zarrilli, P. B. (2009) Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski, Routledge
Choreography
Aggiss, E., Cowie, B. and Bramley I. ( eds), (2006) Anarchic Dance, Routledge
Sofras, P. A. (2006) Dance composition basics : Capturing the Choreographer's Craft, Human Kinetics
Blom, L.A. and Chaplin, L.T. (1982) The Intimate Act of Choreography, Pittsburgh Press (available on-line)
Bogart, A. and Landau, T. (2014) The viewpoints book, Nick Hern Books
Karen K. (2009) Rudolph Laban, Routledge
Butcher, R. and Melrose, S. (2005) Rosemary Butcher : choreography, collisions and collaborations, Middlesex University Press
Butterworth, J. and Clarke, G. (1998) Dance Makers Portfolio – Conversations with Choreographers, Centre for Dance and Theatre Studies at Bretton Hall
Butterworth,J. and Wildschut, L. (2017) Contemporary Choreography- a critical reader: Second Edition Routledge
Cooper Albright, A. and Gere, D. (2003) Taken by surprise : A Dance Improvisation Reader, Wesleyan University Press
Copeland, R. (2004) Merce Cunningham, The Modernizing of Modern Dance, Routledge (on-line)
Chatterjea, A. (2004) Butting out : Reading Resistive Choreographies through Works by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Chandralekha Wesleyan University Press
Desmond, J. (ed.) (2001) Dancing Desires, University of Wisconsin Press
Ewan, V and Green, D. (2014) Actor Movement: Expression of the Physical Being, Methuen
ldils, A. and Albright, A. (2001) Moving Histories/Dancing Cultures, Wesleyn University Press
Govan, E. and Nicholson, H. (2007) Making a Performance, Routledge (available on-line)
Huxley, M and Witts, N. (eds.), (2002) The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader- 2nd edition, Routledge,
Lepecki, A. (2006) Exhausting Dance : Performance and the Politics of Movement, Routledge
Moseley, N. (2012) Meisner in practice : a guide for actors, directors and teachers, Nick Hern Books
Ploebst, H. (2001) No Wind No Words: New Choreography in the Society of the Spectacle: Nine Portraits, Kieser
Smith-Autard, J. (2010) Dance Composition: A practical guide to creative success in dance making, Methuen Drama [on-line]
Installation and Site
Kaye, N. (2000) Site-specific art, Routledge
Kwon, M. (1997) One place after another: notes on site specificity, October. (Vol.80), pp.85-110. [online]. Available from Jstor. www.jstor.org. [Accessed 19 June 2012]
McAuley, G. (2000) Space in performance, University of Michigan Press
Oddey, A. and White, C. (2006) The potentials of spaces, Intellect Books.
Oddey, A. (2007) Re-framing the theatrical, Palgrave Macmillan
Schechner, R. (1968) Six axioms of environmental theatre, The Drama Review. (Vol. 12 No3), pp. 41-64. [online]. Available from Jstor. www.jstor.org. [Accessed 31 December 2011]
Playwriting
Craze, T. (2012) Write a Theatre Script in 25 Days (& 10 hours), Amazon Digital Services
Edgar, D. (2009) How Plays Work, Nick Hern Books
Lojos, E. (2003) The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives, Simon and Schuster 2003
Fountain, T. (2007) So You Want to Be a Playwright?: How to Write a Play and Get It Produced, Nick Hern
Gooch, S. (2001) Writing a Play, A & C Black
Grace, F and Bayley, C. (2017) Playwriting, Bloomsbury
Greig, N. (2004) Playwriting: A Practical Guide, Routledge
Lojos, E. (2003) The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives, Simon and Schuster
Sierz, A. (2001) In Yer Face Theatre: British Drama Today, Faber and Faber
Spencer, S. The Playwright's Guidebook, Faber and Faber
Waters, S. (2010) Secret Life of Plays, Nick Hern
Yeger, S. (1990) The Sound of One Hand Clapping: A Guide to Writing for the Theatre, Amber Lane
Yorke, J. (2014) How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them, Penguin
Workshop Leadership
Barba, E. (1986) Beyond the Floating Islands, PAJ Publications
Carlson, L. (1990) Performance Art as Political Activism, Artweek Vol 22 pp23-4
Kuppers, P. (2007) Community Performance: An introduction, Routledge
Kuppers, P. (2007) The Community Performance Reader, Tailor and Francis
Martin, R. (1990) Performance as Political Act; The Embodied Self, Bergin & Garvey
McAvinchey, C. (2013) Performance and Community: Commentary and Case Studies, Methuen Drama
Poulter, C. (2018) Playing the Game: A Drama Workshop Guide: Second Edition, Palgrave