Module Information

Module Identifier
TP35520
Module Title
Ensemble Performance Project
Academic Year
2017/2018
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Pre-Requisite
TP21220 or TP21820 or TP26120
Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 3 x 2 Hour Lectures
Workshop 20 x 2 Hour Workshops
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Group Project Pitch  (10 minutes, groups of 3-6)  25%
Semester Exam 4 Hours   Group Performance (25 -30 minutes)  50%
Semester Exam 4 Hours   Group Viva Voce (20 minutes)  25%
Supplementary Assessment Solo Project Pitch (5 minutes)  25%
Supplementary Exam 1 Hours   Conceptual presentation of ensemble project (15 minutes)  50%
Supplementary Exam 1 Hours   Viva Voce (10 minutes)  25%

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Locate and implement appropriate rehearsal methodologies and identify and implement appropriate compositional skills drawn from contemporary ensemble performance practice.

2. Create a live performance that negotiates issues of dramaturgical form, resources, performer-audience relationships and collaboration.

3. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated aesthetic judgments about making ensemble performance, evidenced in their response to feedback given on the project pitch.

4. Show innovation and imagination in the compositional strategies used.

5. Analyse the collaborative and compositional working processes involved in making a performance and situate these within a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance practice.

Brief description

This module offers students an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present their own performance project in collaborative groups. The module will be delivered primarily through student-led, studio-based practical work, which will lead to a live performance, which can be studio-based or site-based. The work will be guided by staff-led lecture/screenings in weeks 1 – 3, which will ground the module in three case studies of ensemble practice in contemporary theatre and performance making. In addition staff will lead a weekly two hour development lab, during which students will present and discuss work developed during the timetabled student-led practical sessions.

Students will be expected to work collaboratively in developing a conceptual pitch for an ensemble project (to be presented in week 4) and thereafter towards a 25 – 30 minute live performance.

Content

Course delivery:
3 x 2 hour lecture/screenings in weeks 1 to 3
10 x 3 hour staff led development labs (mixed mode group seminar/supervised practice)
2 x 2 hour student led independent practicals x 10 weeks
14 hours of additional rehearsals, including technical rehearsals (to be arranged)

This module aims to:

• consolidate and extend students’ conceptual and compositional skills by offering them an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present a live performance
• encourage the development of independent, self-directed learning by making students responsible for the negotiation and realisation of all aspects of the performance, under a tutor’s supervision
• develop students’ critical tools by inviting them to apply reflexive evaluation of the process up to and including the live performance in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.

The process of the development of a collaborative performance piece will typically include the following:

• identification of existing models of contemporary theatre and performance practices from which to draw methods and approaches (e.g. Goat Island; Lone Twin Theatre; Frantic Assembly, etc.).
• research into and the application of different dramaturgical models
• appropriate scoring or scripting
• the planning and implementation of rehearsals and appropriate training
• the planning and implementation of scenographic and technological elements
• the exploration of a series of choices regarding the formation of a collaborative group
• the negotiation of roles within the group, starting points for the work, aesthetic choices and collaborative theatre-making methodologies
• the management of budget, time and technical resources
• the identification and evaluation of audience- performer relationships and the generation of appropriate staging for the live event

Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply reflexive and critical self-evaluation of the process leading up to the realisation of the performance event in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number
Communication The ability to communicate ideas effectively orally is assessed directly through Assessment 1 and 2. Written communication is developed through Assessment 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
Personal Development and Career planning Transferable skills (managing personal workloads and meeting deadlines, designing and realizing assessment project) are developed through the completion of assessment tasks 1 and 2. Assessment task 1 provides students with an awareness of and skills in the devising of performance work, which are regarded as being valuable preparation for their move into professional practice.
Problem solving Analytical problem solving, outcome recognition and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures are encouraged and assessed through both assessments.
Research skills Appropriate personal and collaborative research and the development of effective personal and collaborative research
Subject Specific Skills See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007). The following subject specific skills are developed and partly assessed: * reading the performance possibilities implied by a script, score and other textual or documentary sources * realising a script, score and other textual or documentary sources in public performance * engaging in performance and production, based on an acquisition and understanding of appropriate performance and production vocabularies, skills, structures and working methods * contributing to the production of performance and/or film and/or television, for example, through direction, choreography, dramaturgy, stage management, scenography, sound and lighting production, editing, promotion, administration and funding * creating original work using the skills and crafts of performance making * using performance techniques associated with particular cultural forms and/or practitioners
Team work The application of skills necessary to conduct collaborative activity, such as negotiating ideas and opinions, are developed throughout the module and directly assessed through Assessments 1 and 2.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6