Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Lecture | 10 x 2 Hour Lecture/Workshops |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Script (20 minutes) | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Critical Portfolio (2500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Script (20 minutes) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Critical Portfolio (2500 words) | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:
1. A meaningful understanding of the nature of the dramatic, and of dramatic structure.
2. The ability to write monologues and dialogues.
3. The ability to write a short, well-structured piece of drama.
4. A clear understanding of the relationship of the audience with the work on stage and how this differs from the relationship that exists between the audience and the screen.
5. An understanding of appearance and reality in the Theatre: the conflict between what is said and what is meant; between what is said and what happens: the relationship between text and sub-text.
6. An awareness of production considerations inherent in translating text from page to stage.
7. An ability to reflect analytically on the development of personal practice through a commentary on work submitted, theoretically informed by course reading.
Brief description
A series of workshops/seminars, which will include analysis of dramatic technique and the craft of playwriting, as well as playwriting exercises and writing assignments. The focus of the module will be the development of technique.
Content
2. New Writing in the Theatre
3. Writing Monologues
4. Writing Dialogue
5. Writing compositionally
6. Use of Theatrical Space
7. Beginnings
8. Use of Imagery
9. Story
10. Retrospective and development
Lectures on specific topics will explain why this topic is important to the craft of playwrighting and includes identifying, discussing and sometimes looking at examples; then lead on to a writing exercise linked to the topic of the lecture, either in class or for the next session or possibly both. We will then read through, and attempt to move the students' writing.
Topics for discussion will include: the importance of beginnings, different possibilities; 'Mining an image', how the use of certain images can add depth and insight into the play; ways to use research for creative writing; the body as image/metaphor; Pace, what it is, how it works, why it is so important, how to control it; the importance of space: space in the text, space in the world of the play and the performance space, imaginative space for the audience.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Though this module develops an awareness of the implications of practical stagings of dramatic texts (which may include consideration of financial restraints), this element is not directly assessed. |
| Communication | Both script submissions involve the development and exploration of the multiple registers of communication involved in writing for the stage, with particular interest in the relationship between text and sub-text. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Both forms of assessment require students to recognize and develop their own particular writing style or methodology, through written feedback to submissions and through seminar discussion of writing exercises. |
| Information Technology | Students are encouraged to make us of the university's electronic resources in researching possible topics (and approaches) to dramatic writing, though this element is not directly assessed. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | This module offers various opportunities for students to discover different modes of writing for the stage which may then form the basis of professional graduate activity. However, this element is not directly assessed. |
| Problem solving | Throughout this module, students are required to consider questions of dramatic composition and the production considerations inherent in translating text from page to stage. Examples of problem solving might include the arropriate development and presentation of dramatic character, or the use of time and space in development of narrative. |
| Research skills | Both forms of assessment require (and correspondingly, develop) self-generated research activity, in terms of thematic or factual research to support creative writing and in exploring possible strategies of writing practice. |
| Subject Specific Skills | A meaningful understanding of dramatic structure (including an awareness of sub-text and audience reception) and the application of that knowledge in writing for the stage. |
| Team work | Though students are encouraged to respond to each others work through seminar discussion, the primary emphasis is on individual writing practice; accordingly, though this skill is indirectly developed, it is not assessed. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5