| Unit name | Staging the Text |
|---|---|
| Unit code | THTR10006 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Paul Clarke |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
Performance Forms and Analysis and Production for Design and Performance |
| School/department | Department of Theatre |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces students to a range of approaches to staging a play for an audience. Practical, studio-based workshops will explore various ways of performing dramatic texts; directorial and acting techniques will be developed. Beginning with interpretation and textual analysis, students will follow the process from page to stage, collaborating in groups to rehearse a scene or scenes from a chosen play. The production elements will be realised through Producing the Performance and together these units address all aspects of practical theatre-making, enabling students to take a play through to public performance. The unit will explore exemplary stagings, actors, directors, dramaturgs or ensembles, and will develop students’ critical skills through reflection on their own and others’ practice.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed their
(1) ability to stage a scene or scenes from a play and experienced performing for a public audience;
(2) practical understanding of a range of ways of acting and directing;
(3) approaches to interpreting a play and analysing texts for performance;
(4) ability to collaborate effectively, constructively and creatively in group-based workshops;
(5) ability to apply and adapt the tools introduced through taught workshops to their own interpretations of scenes;
(6) approaches to documenting workshops, contextual research, rehearsal processes and performance;
(7) critical engagement with theatre through reflections on their own and others’ practices.
2 x 3hr taught, practical workshops for the first 4 weeks, followed by self-directed research and development and rehearsals in groups, with staff tutorials. The unit concludes with a 2-week intensive rehearsal and production period, leading up to the assessed performance.
The taught workshops develop students’ ways of approaching a play and provide tools for interpreting, devising around, directing, acting and staging a text. These will be contextualised by further reading, discussion, occasional presentations of research and screenings. From week 4 workshops are self-directed and teaching will take the form of group tutorials and feedback on ideas for staging, performance material produced and work-in-progress. The intensive runs in conjunction with Producing the Performance, on which students realise the production aspects of the public performance.
Reflexive journal, kept over the duration of the unit (50%) ILO 3, 4, 6, 7. Practical work: group performance, for a group mark (50%) ILO 1,2,4,5.
