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Devising: Body and Technology

  • Module code: DA5009
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 5
  • Credits: 30
  • Pre-requisites: Successful completion of Level 4 Drama or equivalent
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This is a core module for full-field drama students and an option for those taking drama as a major field. It builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills you have gained in the Level 4 core module DA4002 Performance Vocabularies and Methods, enabling you to develop and adapt these within the context of devising theatre. It begins with an exploration of dramaturgical principles in relation to devised performance with a focus on how companies and practitioners select and respond to stimulus material of different kinds and how they shape that material into performance. You will study and critique devised productions and engage in creative exercises which enable you to experiment with a range of methods and techniques of devising. You then explore ways in which these approaches can be utilised and adapted within community and applied contexts. You are introduced to principles of theatre as social intervention, studying examples of applied theatre practice and participating in workshops focused around the employment of devising techniques in community contexts with a particular emphasis on collaborative methodology. For your assessment, you will create a group-based devised performance. You can choose to conceive of this as aimed at a specific audience such as a specific age group or community.

Aims

This module aims to:

  • develop students' understanding of dramaturgical concepts and practices in relation to devised performance
  • develop students' understanding of a range of devising methodologies through the study of contemporary devising practice
  • introduce students to the principles of theatre as social intervention and to processes of applied theatre practice
  • enable students to utilise and adapt these methodologies within their own creative work
  • extend and develop students' skills in planning and in collaborative working
  • develop students' ability to reflect usefully on both creative process and product

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:

  • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of devising methodologies, as they are employed by contemporary practitioners of devised theatre in performance or applied theatre contexts
  • utilise and adapt these methodologies within their own creative work
  • demonstrate understanding and skill in the application of dramaturgical concepts and practices
  • apply collaborative working skills (Key Skills: Interpersonal, Management and Leadership)
  • demonstrate understanding of the link between theory and practice through the articulation of aims and their strategies for achieving them within performance
  • reflect usefully on both creative process and product (Key Skill: Self Awareness)

Curriculum content

  • introduction to dramaturgical theory and practice with specific reference to theories of narrative and dramatic structure, such as those of Aristotle, Vladimir Propp or Joseph Campbell
  • critiques of devised productions in relation to the ways in which they respond to and work with stimulus material, for instance, Kneehigh's The Red Shoes, Complicite's The Master and Margarita, Shared Experience's After Mrs Rochester, the David Glass Ensemble's The Unheimliche Spine, Robert Wilson's Woyzeck.
  • case studies of a range of applied theatre practices, for example, Geese Theatre prison drama, Mind the Gap drama with learning disabled people, Spare Tyre work with older people
  • critical studies of applied theatre practice in relation to notions of drama as social intervention
  • practical and creative exercises in response to at least two contrasting kinds of stimulus material such as short stories, fairy tales, pictures, objects and music
  • practical and creative explorations of specific devising techniques and approaches such as Mike Alfred's approach to the narrator or Frantic Assembly's physical techniques
  • considerations of the dramaturgical role played by objects, materials, lighting and sound in devising and devised performance
  • planning, organisation and group management

Teaching and learning strategy

This module is taught year-long, through one three-hour class per week, across Teaching Blocks One and Two. Practical workshops, which constitute the major part of the scheduled class time, introduce methodologies and techniques of devised and applied theatre and enable students to experiment with and adapt these to suit their own creative aims, as these aims develop throughout the module. Key concepts and principles are introduced in lecture-presentations and understanding of these is enhanced through viewing extracts of live or recorded performance in and outside class, and through undertaking case studies of practitioners and projects during independent study time. At the beginning of Teaching Block Two, students begin working in small groups to develop their performance ideas and gain feedback on their progress, using independent study hours for rehearsal. They present their performance assessment at the end of Teaching Block Two.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching 11x1 hour lecture-presentation, including viewing of performances 22
Scheduled learning and teaching 11X 1 and 11 X 2 hour workshops 44
Guided independent study Individual research 50
Guided independent study group-based planning and rehearsal 184
Total (number of credits x 10) 300

Assessment strategy

All students are assessed on the same three key areas, process, performance and reflection.

Process and Reflection (50%) are assessed by a Creative Portfolio (3000 words or equivalent) which might include: a production critique or case study of a relevant project or company; an articulation of aims for their project and a plan for how they intend to go about achieving those aims, making reference to the theories, methodologies and techniques on which they have drawn in formulating their concept and approach; reflective notes inserted throughout in which they comment on the effectiveness of their strategies and choices. Aspects of this portfolio may be assessed formatively and then resubmitted.

Summative submission of the portfolio takes place 2 weeks after the performance or project.

Performance (50%)is assessed by a 15 minute group-based devised performance. Formative assessment for this element includes work in progress presentations where students gain tutor and peer feedback.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a range of devising methodologies, as they are employed by contemporary practitioners of devised theatre in performance or applied theatre contexts Formatively and summatively in Creative Portfolio of written work
Utilise and adapt these methodologies within their own creative work Formatively in work in progress presentations; summatively in Performance
Demonstrate understanding and skill in the application of dramaturgical concepts and practices and/or concepts of drama as social intervention depending on the context within which they choose to work Formatively and summatively in Creative Portfolio of written work; Formatively in work in progress presentations; summatively in Performance
Apply collaborative working skills as appropriate to the context within which they choose to work (Key Skills: Interpersonal, Management and Leadership) Formatively in work in progress presentations; summatively in Performance
Demonstrate understanding of the link between theory and practice through the articulation of aims and their strategies for achieving them within specific performance or community contexts Formatively and summatively in Creative Portfolio of written work
Demonstrate the ability to reflect usefully on both creative process and product (Key Skills: Self Awareness) Formatively in group viva voce; summatively in written reflection Creative Portfolio

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Coursework Creative portfolio 50%
Performance Performance 50%
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Kuppers, P. (2007) Community Performance: An Introduction. London, Routledge

Mermikides, A. and Smart, J. (Eds)(2010) Devising in Process. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

Bibliography recommended reading

Baim, C. Brookes, S. Mountfor, A. (2002) The Geese Theatre Handbook: Drama with Offenders and People at Risk. Hook, Waterside Press

Govan, E. Nicholson, H. and Normington K. (2007) Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. London, Routledge

Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. (2009) The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. London, Routledge

Harvie, J. and Lavender, A. (2010) Making Contemporary Theatre. Manchester, Manchester University Press

Heddon, D. and Milling, J. (2006) Devising Performance: a critical history, Basingstoke, Palgrave

Kuppers, P. and Robertson, G. (eds) (2007) The Community Performance Reader. London, Routledge

McKee, R. (1999) Story: substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting. London, Methuen

Nicholson, H. (2005) Applied Drama. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

Oddey, A. (1996) Devising Theatre: a practical and theoretical handbook. London, Routledge

Turner, C. and Behrndt, S. (2008) Dramaturgy and Performance. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan

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