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for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Performance Histories |
| Unit code |
DRAM23125 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
I/5
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Professor. Hindson |
| Open unit status |
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
- Students will demonstrate their acquisition of a detailed knowledge of particular key issues of performance practice and their key critical, historical and theoretical contexts;
- Students will deploy historical approaches to understanding performance practices;
- Students will evidence an awareness and understanding of different historic conditions, traditions and experiences which have impacted on the form, development and reception of performance;
- Students will evidence an awareness and understanding of different critical-theoretical conditions, traditions and experiences which have impacted on the form, development and reception of performance;
- Students will 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: 10 x 1hr lectures 10 x 1hr seminars 10 x 2hr screenings Blackboard discussion board exercises, as appropriate.
Assessment Information
Assessment: 3,000-word essay (50%)
Student-led seminar presentation (25%)
1,500-word write up (25%).
Participation in Blackboard discussion groups (P/F)
Reading and References
The Cambridge History of British Theatre (vols 1-3) Gainor, J Ellen, Garner, B Jr, Puchner, M (2008) The Norton Anthology of Drama: Antiquity Through the Eighteenth Century, Goldfarb and Wilson. Read, Alan (1993) Theatre in Everyday Life, London. Schechner, R (2004) Performance Theory, London: Routledge.
