Unit information: Staging the Text in 2012/13

Unit name	Staging the Text
Unit code	DRAM11008
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Paul Clarke
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	Performance Forms and Analysis Film and Television Forms and Analysis Filmmaking through Hitchcock Production Skills for Performance Production Skills for Film
School/department	Department of Theatre
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit introduces students to the creative practices involved in staging a play text and making theatre. Students will follow the process from page to stage, with each group realizing a scene or scenes from a chosen play. Through practical, studio-based workshops students will be introduced to a range of ways of performing and staging the text, learning the appropriate skills to interpret, direct and act in their scenes. The unit will explore examples of plays in production, exemplary directors and designers. The focus will be on realizing production processes, enabling students to apply and develop their production skills and to specialise in a technical area, such as costume, lighting, sound, stage design or stage management. The unit will culminate in a public performance, providing experience of all aspects of staging and presenting a play. Students will also develop critical skills in reflecting on their own practice.

Aims

• To develop production skills through a practical performance project;
• To introduce students to creative processes and practices involved in making live theatre in the Wickham Theatre, including the staging of text and devising processes, enabling them to use these in the creation of live theatre;
• To develop a critical engagement with basic structures and dynamics of representation through reflections on practice;
• To prepare students to benefit fully from practice-based units in their second and final years.

Intended Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to work collectively and individually to create a piece of live theatre in the Wickham Theatre;
• Students will bring that piece of live theatre to performance before an audience, using a range of methods for staging a play text;
• Students will be able to demonstrate a critical engagement with basic structures and dynamics of representation through reflections on practice;
• By the end of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate that skills acquired are transferable to the second year and to other extra-curricula projects.

Teaching Information

Workshops & screenings

Assessment Information

Assessment portfolio:

• Workfile (33%): containing evidence to demonstrate student contribution to workshops / practical exercises; contribution to seminars; contribution to production preparation; contribution to production execution; preparation & execution of technical production role
• Finished production(s) (33%): assessment based on published criteria for practical work
• 1,500-word Critical analysis (33%)

Reading and References

• Bradby, David and Williams, David (1988) Directors Theatre, London: Macmillan.
• Cole, Susan Letzler (1992) Directors in Rehearsal: a Hidden World, New York, Routledge.
• Collins, J. & Nisbet, A. (2010) Theatre and Performance Design: a reader in scenography Routledge.
• Delgado, Maria & Heritage Paul (1997) In Contact With the Gods?: Directors Talk Theatre, Manchester University Press.
• Oddey, A. and White, C. eds. (2006) The Potentials of Spaces: The Theory and Practice of Scenography and Performance. Bristol: Intellect.
• McKinney, J. & Butterworth, P. (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography, Cambridge University Press.