Module Information

Module Identifier

TPM0930

Module Title

DRAMATURGICAL PRACTICES

Academic Year

2012/2013

Co-ordinator

Professor David I Rabey

Semester

Semester 1

Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type	Delivery length / details
Lecture	10 x 3 hour Lecture Workshops
Seminars / Tutorials	5 x 1 hour Seminars

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment length / details	Proportion
Practical Assessment	Practical Group Presentation (30 min)	60%
Semester Assessment	Critical evaluation of group presentation (2,500 words)	40%
Practical Assessment	Practical Solo or Group Presentation (30 minutes)	60%
Semester Assessment	Critical evaluation of group presentation (2,500 words)	40%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

To demonstrate advanced understanding of the complex strategies and techniques involved in dramaturgical principles of contemporary theatre and performance.

To take responsibility for putting into operation, in an ordered and meaningful way, the methodological and representational principles of dramaturgy studied.

To display an ability to work effectively and co-operatively in a collaborative project, including in a leadership capacity.

To employ advanced skills in conducting well-informed independent research and creative practice.

To evaluate critically complex strategies and techniques of dramaturgical composition, structuring and staging, leading to the creation of a group practical presentation

Brief description

This module examines contemporary theatre practices that respond to the creation and interpretation of writing for the stage, including practices of directing and adaptation. It will introduce students to advanced principles of directing work for the stage, including principles of physical and spatial composition. Special attention will be given to writing and adapting work for the stage. Topics will be developed in lecture-workshops which will introduce principles but also give opportunities for practical explorations.
An accompanying seminar prepares students for the reflective elements of the assessment.

Content

1. The role of the director (1): practices, practitioners, procedures: Katie Mitchell, The Director’s Craft; consideration and application of her analyses of different ways of directing a text

2. The role of the director (2): text, narrative, units and sequencing of action: consideration and application of principles identified and proposed in Anne Bogart’s A Director Prepares, And Then You Act

3. Principles of physical/spatial composition: identified in Anne Bogart and Tina Landau, The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition: a theoretical and practical introduction

Critical Analysis and Interrogation of the following:

4. Forms of devising and their uses in directorial practices

5. Theatre Space and its use in directorial practices

6. Movement, choreography and physicality and their use in directorial practices

7. Adaptations for the Stage

8. Re-petition: Acting with Facts and Theatre of Witness: documentary and verbatim theatre

9. Audience: Participation and engagement

10. The director/dramatist/theorist as auteur: eg. Edward Bond, Howard Barker, Ed Thomas, Anthony Neilson

Seminar Content:

1. What is critical reflection?
2. Artists' Writing
3. Modes of Reflection
4. Documenting Practice
5. Preparing Assessments

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7