Module Identifier
PF31920
Module Title
PERFORMANCE, WRITING AND DOCUMENTATION
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Heike Roms
Semester
Semester 2
Co-Requisite
PF30720
Co-Requisite
PF31520
Pre-Requisite
PF21420
Pre-Requisite
PF21220
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture Semester 1: Lecture/Seminar: 5 x 2 hour (week 1 - 5)
Lecture Semester 1: Lecture/Seminar: 5 x 2 hours intensive during Departmental Assessment week
Lecture Semester 2: Lecture: 10 x 1.5 hours
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 1] Portfolio of Performance Writing (total 2,000 words)   40%
Semester Assessment [2] Performance Documentation (equivalent to 3,000 words; including 1,000 words of critical evaluation)   60%
Supplementary Assessment Assessment [1] and [2]: may be resubmitted. Students who fail Assessment [1] will be set a different theme for their portfolio.  40%
Supplementary Assessment Students who fail Assessment 2 will have to choose a different performance to document for their resubmission.  60%

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. apply critically various strategies of performance writing in their own creative work
2. demonstrate an intelligent awareness of compositional procedures involved in writing for modes of performance other than those of dramatic dialogue
3. organize and present text effectively in relation to its specific context of exposition
4. review and evaluate critically their own performance practices
5. design and execute the creative documentation of such work
6. exercise personal judgment in the research and development of appropriate modes of documentation

Brief description

THIS IS A CORE MODULE FOR PERFORMANCE STUDIES STUDENTS

This part-lecture, part workshop-based module introduces students to constructive approaches and strategies of writing for, about , and as performance. The first part offers an introduction to forms of writing for performance that are not reliant upon dramatic dialogue. Writing seminars explore such techniques as anecdote, storytelling, found texts, collage and digital fictions. The second part focuses on procedures for documenting and criticising performance work that does not exist as play-script.
The module aims to advance the compositional and devising abilities of students and provides them with an awareness of and skills in the documentation of performance work, which are regarded as being valuable preparation for their move into professional practice or further academic study after graduation.

Aims

The aim of this module is to:
- introduce students to constructive approaches and strategies of writing for, about, and as performance
- to introduce writing strategies that enable students to place themselves at the centre of their creative and critical writing
- encourage students to engage in modes of creative and critical writing
- describe and examine techniques for the inscription and documentation of performance genres, events and practices that do not exist as play-scripts.
- reflect critically upon and document practical performance presentation

Content

Part 1 (Semester 1): Performance Writing
Indicative topics may include:
Memory and Anecdote, Biography and Monologue; Narrative and Storytelling; `Found Text?; Performative language ? Instructions for Actions; Montage; Collage; Digital Fictions.

Part 2 (Semester 2): Documenting and Criticising Performance
Indicative topics may include:
Performance photography; documentation through video; digital media and documentation; textual recording; critical genres; interdisciplinary approaches.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number This element is not assessed.
Communication The ability to communicate ideas effectively in written and oral form is assessed directly through Assessment 1 and 2.
Improving own Learning and Performance Self-regulation, motivation and time-management skills are developed through the module and are demanded for the successful completion of its assignments. These skills are directly assessed through Assessments 1 and 2.
Information Technology The ability to utilize information technology both in the research for and delivery of assignments is assessed directly in Assessments 1 and 2.
Personal Development and Career planning Transferable skills (managing personal workloads and meeting deadlines, designing and realizing research project) are developed through the completion of assessment tasks 1 and 2. Assessment task 2 provides students with an awareness of and skills in the documentation of performance work, which are regarded as being valuable preparation for their move into professional practice or further academic study after graduation.
Problem solving Analytical problem solving, outcome recognition and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures are encouraged and assessed.
Research skills Appropriate personal research and the development of effective personal research practices are directly assessed through Assessments 1 and 2.
Subject Specific Skills An understanding of: a. traditional and contemporary critical perspectives on performance, and of relevant theories, issues and debates relating to the subject; b. processes by which performance is created, realised, and managed, such as the processes of rehearsal, writing, scoring, devising, scenography, improvisation, choreography, performer training techniques, and production arts; c. a range of key components of performance within the disciplines: text, movement, aural and visual environment, the performer; d. the interplay between practice and theory in the discipline; e. the reading of written texts, notations and/or scores, and of how to effect transitions from page to stage; f. the reading, analysis, documenting and/or interpreting of performance; h. the interdisciplinary elements of dance, drama and performance, and how to apply appropriate knowledge, concepts and skills from other disciplines.
Team work Effective group work through negotiating ideas and opinions is addressed through the writing seminars. Seminar discussions demand the application of skills necessary to conduct collaborative activity.

Reading List

Recommended Text
'On the Page' ((June 2004)) Performance Research 9: 2 Primo search Allsop, Ric, Auslander, Philip (ed.), (2003.) 'Performance Writing', in: Performance: critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, London ; New York, Primo search Auslander, Philip, (1999.) Liveness : performance in a mediatized culture, London ; New York: Routledge, Primo search Benjamin, Walter, edited and with an introduction by Hannah Arendt, translated by Harry Zohn, (1999.) Illuminations, London: Pimlico, Primo search Etchells, Tim. (1999) Certain Fragments, London: Routledge. Primo search George, Adrian (ed). (2003.) Art, lies and videotape: Exposing performance, Liverpool: Tate, Primo search Kaye, Nick, (2000.) Site-specific art: performance, place and documentation, London: Routledge, Primo search Kearney, R., (2002.) On Stories, London: Routledge Primo search Pearson, Mike and Shanks, Michael, (2001,) Theatre Archaeology, pp. 56-59. London: Routledge, Primo search Phelan, Peggy, (1993.) Unmarked: The Politics of Performance, Routledge, Primo search Sloane, Sarah, (2000.) Digital fictions : storytelling in a material world, Stamford, Conn: Ablex Pub., Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6