Module Identifier DRM1030  
Module Title THEATRE AND CONSCIOUSNESS  
Academic Year 2003/2004  
Co-ordinator Dr Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe  
Semester Semester 1  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Essay 7,500 words  100%
Further details For information on due dates for submission of assessed work, please refer to the departmental web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts/duedates.shtml  

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
? demonstrate a thorough critical awareness of the current debate regarding human consciousness;

? master the terminology associated with the debate;

? relate essential aspects of theatre to ideas and concepts of the consciousness debate;

? develop their own programs and projects of practical theatre making use of concepts encountered throughout the module.

Aims

? To provide students with a general survey of the current consciousness debate;
? To develop a critical methodology in dealing with key issues of the debate;
? To relate insights from this general survey to major aspects of theatre: the actor?s emotional involvement, realism and naturalism, postmodern trends in theatre, physical theatre, improvisation and body memory;

Content

Research into human consciousness has yielded a fascinating framework for understanding the workings of the human mind. Many issues are discussed quite controversially, and a unified understanding of consciousness has not yet emerged. However, the progress in the debate is such that it allows a reassessment of key aspects that have been dealt with in traditional interpretation of literary and theatre texts. The module Introduction to Theatre and Consciousness will discuss a number of approaches that make use of traditional and more recent developments in the understanding of the human mind as relevant to the writing of drama, the concept of theatre, its position in history, and interpretations of the dramatic text.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Shear, Jonathan (Ed) (1997) Explaining Consciousness: The Hard Problem Massachusetts, England: MIT Press
Malekin, Peter and Ralph Yarrow (1997) Consciousness, Literature and Theatre: Theory and Beyond London/New York: Macmillan/St.Martin's Press
** Recommended Text
Charles N. Alexander and Ellen J. Langer (Eds) (1990) Higher Stages of Human Development. Perspectives on Human Ground New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bates, Brian (1986) The Way of the Actor. A New Path to Personal Knowledge and Power London: Century
Forman, R (Ed) (1990) The Problem of Pure Consciousness. Mysticism and Philosophy New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Jephcott, EFN (1972) Proust and Rilke. The Literature of Expanded Consciousness London: Chatto and Windus
Meyer-Dinkgrafe, Daniel (1996) Consciousness and the Actor. A Reassessment of Western and Indian Approaches to the Actor's Emotional Involvement from the Perspective of Vedic Psychology Frankfurt/Main: Peter Lang
Roach, Joseph R (1985) The Player's Passion. Studies in the Science of Acting. Newark: University of Delaware Press
Yarrow, Ralph (1987) 'Neutral' consciousness in the experience of theatre' Mosaic 19:3

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7