Like Making Performance 1, this module is about the implications of Peter Brook's idea that anything can be seen as 'an act of theatre’. Students will be further encouraged to see beyond their own default assumptions about theatre, and introduced to an expanded range of methods of devising their own performances. In practical workshops, they will learn more about warming up, performance skills, and collaborative group work; and will explore the possibilities of creating performance from a further range of starting points, including (for example), improvisation, music, audience, personality, and aural and visual stimuli. Workshops will be longer than in Making Performance 1, to allow for a more developed engagement. Not only will this allow more time for discussion of the assigned reading, but it will also allow students to start engaging with technical aspects of theatre-making. Students will be encouraged to develop their own ideas about theatre and performance through a series of lectures in which different Drama lecturers talk to the students about their ideas of what theatre is and could be, and how these ideas have been shaped by their encounters with theatre as audience members, theatre makers, and academics. This module (together with Making Performance 1) will offer a solid foundation for all modules in years two and three which involve creative performance work.
Total contact hours: 48
Private study hours: 252
Total study hours: 300
Essay (2000 words) (40%)
Performance (up to 20 minutes) (60%)
Indicative Reading List:
Allain, Paul and Jen Harvie (2006), The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, London: Routledge
Brook, Peter (1990), The Empty Space, London: Penguin
Freshwater, Helen (2009), Theatre and Audience, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Johnstone, Keith (2007), Impro: Improvisation and Theatre, London: Methuen
Radosavljevic, Duška (2013) The Contemporary Ensemble: Interviews with Theatre-Makers. London: Routledge.
Svich, Caridad and Maria Delgado (2003) Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Re-evaluate and question their default understanding of what theatre is, and understand diverse and varied approaches to making performances.
2 Devise more developed performances from a range of starting points, for example, improvisation, music, audience, personality, aural and visual stimuli, etc.
3 Work creatively and collaboratively in small groups, to create, rehearse and perform material.
4 Demonstrate a range of performing and creative skills.
5 Demonstrate technical, creative and/or production skills within practical and reflective outcomes.
6 Demonstrate competence in handling equipment, paying due attention to the health and safety of themselves and others and developing a technical vocabulary.
7 To begin to analyse and integrate theatre technologies creatively, conceptually and practically. 8.8 Articulate ideas, concepts and propositions about theatre and the processes of making it in writing, supported by experience and research.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Work with others, collaboratively, utilising a variety of team structures and working methods, and understanding group dynamics and handling interpersonal issues.
2 Develop and pursue creative projects within specified resource constrains of time, space and/or budget, thus developing problem solving skills.
3 Manage workloads to meet deadlines, and sustain focus for extended periods working on independent creative projects, developing autonomy and self management.
4 Apply critical and creative skills in diverse forms of discourse and media.
5 Identify health and safety issues and undertake risk assessments.
9.6 Undertake basic design, engineering, construction, and technical work.
7 Communicate effectively coherent arguments and propositions in writing.
8 Reflect on their own learning and development.
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