EN9A7-30 Drama and Performance Theory
Introductory description
EN9A7-30 Drama and Performance Theory
Module aims
This module has been written to be a theoretical core course underpinning the MA pathway Shakespeare and the British Dramatic Tradition. The aim of this module is to introduce students to drama and performance theory, by giving them the opportunity to explore and discuss some of the methodologies, debates and conceptual approaches to drama and performance, both current and historical. It will encourage students to consider these methodologies when reading primary material, and to this end five key primary texts are allotted for the module which will encourage dialectical consideration of theory and practice. There will normally be a tie-in theatre trip late in the course.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Weeks 1 and 2 (Dr Stephen Purcell): Theatre and audience. Introductory session on ‘making sense
of the stage’, briefly introducing all of the approaches covered on the course; a second session on
spectatorship. Reading: Brecht, Brook, Blau, Boal, Rancière, Eco
Weeks 3 and 4 (Dr Teresa Grant): Theatre as structure. We will consider tragic form, comic form,
plot, liturgy, ritual. Reading: a selection of classical and neo-classical dramatic theory, Northrop
Frye, Schechner, Turner
Weeks 5 and 6: Theatre and embodiment (Dr Elizabeth Barry; Dr Nicholas Monk; Dr Jonathan
Heron): the body and performativity, gender, identity, cognitive science, phenomenology.
Readings: Butler, McConachie, Fensham, States, Phelan
Week 7: Theatre as text (Dr Elizabeth Barry; Dr Stephen Purcell): semiotics, structuralism, post-
structuralism. Reading: Barthes, Derrida, Elam, Carlson
Weeks 8, 9, 10: Theatre in context (Dr Teresa Grant; Dr Paul Prescott): historical context,
culture and power, new historicism, cultural materialism, theatrical events, theatre audiences,
framing, space. Reading: Foucault, Bourdieu, Eagleton, Greenblatt, Bennett, Lefebvre
There will be a tie-in theatre trip during the last part of the course, play depending on the RSC
current repetoire.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a wide range of critical writing on drama, theatre and performance
- Interrogate conceptual approaches by means of primary texts and vice versa
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of drama and performance methodology in theory and practice
- Demonstrate and understanding of the historical trajectory of drama and performance theory
Indicative reading list
Five primary texts, e.g.: Euripides, Medea; Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling; Goldsmith She
Stoops to Conquer; Beckett, Not I and Play.
Course extracts as set by the tutors from the readings suggested above AND
a select further reading list including:
Barthes, Roland (2000) Mythologies, trans. Annette Lavers (Vintage Books).
Boal, Augusto (1965) Theatre of the Oppressed (Theatre Communications Group)
Brecht, Bertolt (1965) Brecht on Theatre (Hill and Wang).
Butler, Judith (1993) Bodies that Matter (Routledge).
Carlson, Marvin (1993) Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey, from the Greeks
to the Present (Cornell University Press).
Carlson, Marvin (2003) Performance: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.; Routledge).
Clark, Andy (2011) Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action and Cognitive Extension (OUP USA).
Fortier, Mark (2002) Theory/Theatre (2nd ed.; Routledge).
Freire, Paulo (1996) Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Penguin).
Gerould, Daniel (ed.) (2003) Theatre/Theory/Theatre: The Major Critical Texts from Aristotle and
Zeami to Soyinka and Havel (Applause Books).
Hart, F. Elizabeth (2006) ‘Performance, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Turn’, in Bruce
McConachie and F. E. Hart (eds.), Performance and Cognition: Theatre Studies and the Cognitive
Turn (Routledge), 29-XXX
Hassan, Ihab (1971), The Dismemberment of Orpheus: Toward a Postmodern Literature
(University of Wisconsin Press) .
Hassan, Ihab (1978/1987), ‘Culture, Indeterminacy, and Immanence: Margins of the (Postmodern)
Age’, repr. In The Postmodern Turn: Essays in Postmodern Theory and Culture (Ohio State UP,
1987), 46-83.
Lutterbie, John (2011) Towards a General Theory of Acting: Cognitive Science and Performance (Palgrave)
McConachie, Bruce (2008) ‘General Cognition for Theatre Audiences’, Engaging Audiences: A cognitive Approach to Spectating in the Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan), 23-63
Rancière, Jacques (2007) ‘The Emancipated Spectator’, Artforum 45: 7, 271-80.
Salz, David H. ed. (2007), Special Issue: Performance and Cognition, Theatre Journal, vol. 59, no. 4 Schechner, Richard (1985) Between Theatre and Anthropology (Univ of Pennsylvania Press).
Schechner, Richard (2006) Performance Studies: An Introduction (2nd ed.; Routledge).
States, Bert O. (2007) ‘The Phenomenological Attitude’, in Janelle G. Reinelt & Joseph R. Roach [eds] Critical Theory and Performance (2nd edn, University of Michigan Press), 26-36.
Turner, Victor (1974) Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors. (Cornell University Press).
Turner, Victor (1982) From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play (PAJ).
Subject specific skills
No subject specific skills defined for this module.
Transferable skills
No transferable skills defined for this module.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Seminars | 10 sessions of 2 hours (7%) |
| Private study | 280 hours (93%) |
| Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Reading & research
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Students can register for this module without taking any assessment.
Assessment group A1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
|||
| 6,000 word essay | 100% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
|||
Feedback on assessment
Individual consultation with tutors, email
Courses
This module is Core for:
- Year 2 of TENA-Q3PD Postgraduate Taught Critical and Cultural Theory
-
TENA-Q3PE Postgraduate Taught English and Drama
- Year 1 of Q3PE English and Drama
- Year 1 of Q3PE English and Drama
This module is Core optional for:
- Year 1 of TENA-Q3P1 Postgraduate Taught English Literature
- Year 2 of TCWA-Q3PB Postgraduate Taught Literary Translation Studies
- Year 2 of TENA-Q3PB Postgraduate Taught Literary Translation Studies
This module is Optional for:
- Year 1 of TENS-Q2PE MA World Literature
- Year 1 of TENA-Q3PD Postgraduate Taught Critical and Cultural Theory
- Year 1 of TENA-Q3P1 Postgraduate Taught English Literature
-
TENA-Q3PE Postgraduate Taught English and Drama
- Year 1 of Q3PE English and Drama
- Year 2 of Q3PE English and Drama
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 1 of TPHA-V7PN Postgraduate Taught Philosophy and the Arts