Unit name | Performing the Archive: Re-use, Re-enactment and Adaptation |
---|---|
Unit code | DRAM23129 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Krebs |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
DRAM11004 Performance Forms and Analysis DRAM1new Production Skills for Performance 1 |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Theatre |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Documents from the Theatre Collection and other archives are used by researchers as evidence of past events, in the writing of histories of performance. This unit will explore the relationship of documents to the future, and how they can be used as inspirations for creative practice. Workshops will introduce a range of ways of working with archival material in performance. Students will explore strategies for re-using documents, re-making and re-enacting past events or performances, and adapting archival materials for contemporary performance contexts. Through a series of seminars, the unit will investigate the relationship between performance and documentation, between the archive and history, including oral histories, memory and the embodied repertoire. These ideas will be discussed in relation to exemplary performances and taking key art works as case studies. Students will also work collaboratively towards the presentation of their own performance re-enactments, re-makes or staged adaptations.
On successful completion of this unit students will:
(1) have acquired archival skills: locating material on a catalogue, calling up material, using some un-catalogued documents.
(2) Have experience of a number of practical approaches to engaging with archival materials in performance; be able to work with documents of past performances, using them to inspire new creative work.
(3) Be aware of key theoretical ideas concerning the relationship between performance and the archive, be able to articulate and apply these in discussion, writing and practice.
(4) Be aware of exemplary performances that have engaged with re-using documents, re-enactment, revival and remaking past works.
(5) Be able to structure an argument, supported by relevant archival, contextual and theoretical research.
(6) Be able to effectively conceive, conceptualise and work constructively on a collaborative group project inspired by historical documents.
(7) Be able to reflect critically on the process, on their individual role in the collaboration and account for group decisions
9 x 2hr seminars; 9 x 3hr workshops. Occasional screenings will take place in class, and archive visits/workshops. The unit culminates in a 30-hour production period and group performances. Rehearsals are predominantly self-directed and this teaching is responsive.
(1) 2,000-word essay (40%) ILO 1, 3, 4, 5
(2) Group performance, for a group mark (40%) ILO 1-3, 6
(3) Individual workfile, documenting and reflecting on the performance process (20%) ILO 1-4, 6, 7
Group performances will be 10-20 minutes in length; the duration may vary, depending on the nature of the performance. See handbook for detailed criteria for performances and workfiles.
Auslander, P (2006) ‘The Performativity of Performance Documentation.’ PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, 28, no. 3, 1-10.
Bacon, Julie, ed. (2008) Arkive City, Ulster and Newcastle: Interface, University of Ulster and Locus+.
Merewether, Charles (2006) The Archive: Documents of Contemporary Art, London: Whitechapel.
Perteghella, Manuela (2008), 'Adaptation: "Bastard Child or Critique". Putting terminology centre stage', Journal of Romance Studies, Vol. 8, Nr.3, winter 2008, pp.51-65
Schneider, R. (2001) “Performance Remains”, Performance Research 6: 2, pp. 100-108.
Taylor, Diana (2007) The Archive and the Repertoire, Durham: Duke University Press.