Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
Unit name |
Performance Histories |
Unit code |
THTR20010 |
Credit points |
20 |
Level of study |
I/5
|
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
Unit director |
Dr. Wozniak |
Open unit status |
Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None
|
Co-requisites |
None
|
School/department |
Department of Theatre |
Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
In Year 2 core units develop the approaches introduced in Year 1 and expand contextual frameworks. In this unit students are introduced to histories of performance, contextualised by the key theories that have informed the production of these histories. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Introduction to histories of performance
- Medieval Performance
- Early Modern Drama
- 19th Century Theatre
- Modernism and the Avant-Garde
- 20th Century Realism
In this unit, students are expected to develop their analytical and creative skills and their ability to structure their work and present it coherently. The unit will enable students to make links between and be aware of comparative historical frameworks for the analysis of performance forms and contexts. It will develop and extend students’ critical and historical awareness and knowledge of a broad range of issues and problems encountered in performance practice.
- To develop and extend students’ awareness and knowledge of a range of key historical issues in performance;
- To develop students’ abilities in applying historical methodologies to textual analysis and performance practice;
- To provide a contextual historical framework as an extension of formal skills of textual analysis acquired in Year 1;
- To develop and extend students’ awareness and knowledge of a range of historically contextualised key critical-theoretical issues in performance;
- By offering a series of contrasting and complementary ‘case studies’ that demonstrate a variety of performance responses to generic, historic and national conditions, introduce new research and presentation skills that critically engage with primary texts and secondary sources, employing web-based and archival resources.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
- demonstrate their acquisition of a detailed knowledge of particular key issues of performance practice and their key critical, historical and theoretical contexts;
- deploy historical approaches to understanding performance practices;
- evidence an awareness and understanding of different historic conditions, traditions and experiences which have impacted on the form, development and reception of performance;
- evidence an awareness and understanding of different critical-theoretical conditions, traditions and experiences which have impacted on the form, development and reception of performance;
- demonstrate research and presentation skills in essays and discursive forums that critically engage with a wide range of primary and secondary resources.
Teaching Information
Blended teaching: 11 x 1hr lectures; 11 x 2hr seminars; Blackboard discussion board exercises, as appropriate.
Assessment Information
Assessment: 3,000-word essay (60%) (ILOs 1-5).
Student-led seminar presentation with accompanying handout (40%) (ILOs 1-5).
Reading and References
The Cambridge History of British Theatre (vols 1-3)'
Bratton, J. S. (2003) New readings in theatre history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carlson, M. A. (1993) Theories of the theatre: a historical and critical survey from the Greeks to the present. Expanded ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Postlewait, T. (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Worthen, W. B. and Holland, P. (2003) Theorizing practice: redefining theatre history. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan