Introductory description

n/a.

Module web page

Module aims

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.

Schedule (subject to revision):
Autumn term:
Performance Analysis & Theatre Criticism
Week 1
Performance analysis & theatre criticism: differences and similarities
Introduction: What is theatre performance? Introduce basic elements of performance analysis – plot (what it is about), character/acting, theme, language, space and time, décor, directing, music and sound, audience reception. Pavis’ model for performance analysis.
Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Transformative Power of Performance. A new aesthetics. London, New York: Routledge 2008. (“The Transformative Power of Performance”: 11-24)
Pavis, Patrice. “The State of Current Research”. In: Analyzing Performance. Theatre, Dance, and Film. Vert. David Williams. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2003. 7-30.
Week 2
Performance analysis & theatre criticism: differences and similarities cont’d
What is a theatre review? Working with published reviews; ask each student to choose newspaper and critic to follow, to bring one review in class, to discuss its content, structure, major elements, title, major phrases. / Library skills workshop with Richard Perkins (TBC)/ See a theatre show at the WAC
Croggan, Alison. “How to Think Like a Theatre Critic.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 309-311.
Week 3
Reviewing and its alternatives
Discussion of review basics, embedded criticism, and criticism in media forms other than writing / Bring a solid draft of your review of a play recently seen to the class
Fisher, Mark. How to Write about Criticism. A Manual for Critics, Students, and Bloggers. Bloomsbury Methuen, 2015. (p. 95-114;
Fricker, Karen. “Going inside: The New-Old Practice of Embedded Criticism. Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 168, 2016, pp. 45-53.
Vaughan, Megan. “The Internet is a Serious Business.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 325-327.
Week 4
Finding your voice
Review workshop / Skype with a theatre critic / see a theatre show 2 at the WAC

Fisher, Mark. How to Write about Criticism. A Manual for Critics, Students, and Bloggers. Bloomsbury Methuen, 2015. (p.29-51; 75-93)
Week 5
Criticism as a team sport?
Time in class to work on your projects
Macarthur, Michelle. “Crowdsourcing the Review and the Record: A Collaborative Approach to Theatre Criticism and Archiving in the Digital Age.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 255-272.
Week 6 – READING WEEK

II- Basic Methodologies for Performance Analysis
Week 7
Semiotics
Multiplicity of signs in theatre/performance/Pavis’ questionnaire/Critique of semiotics/ See a theatre show at the WAC / Review workshop
Readings:
Patrice Pavis, “Theatre Analysis: Some Questions and a Questionnaire,” New Theatre Quarterly 1, no. 2 (1985): 208–12.
Fortier, Mark. Theory/Theatre. An Introduction. London, New York: Routledge, 1997. (Theatre, life and language: semiotics, phenomenology and deconstruction, 17-37)
Additional readings:
Marvin Carlson, “Semiotics and Its Heritage,” in Critical Theory and Performance, ed. Janelle Reinelt and Joseph Roach (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007), 13–25;
Week 8
Phenomenology
Time in class to work on projects/ See a theatre show at the WAC
Fortier, Mark. Theory/Theatre. An Introduction. London, New York: Routledge, 1997. (Theatre, life and language: semiotics, phenomenology and deconstruction, 37-58)
Additional readings:
Bleeker, Maaike, Jon Foley Sherman en Eirini Nedelkopoulou. “Introduction.” In Performance and Phenomenology. Traditions and Transformations. Ed. Maaike Bleeker, Jon Foley Sherman en Eirini Nedelkopoulou. New York, London: Routledge, 2015. 1-19.
Peggy Phelan, Unmarked: The Politics of Performance (New York/London: Routledge, 1993).
Bert O. States, “The Phenomenological Attitude,” in Critical Theory and Performance, ed. Janelle Reinelt and Joseph Roach, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007), 26–36.
Rebecca Schneider, Performing Remains: Art and War in Times of Theatrical Reenactment (New York/Oxon: Routledge, 2011).
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. The World of Perception (Routledge, 2008). (Introduction)
Week 9
Cultural (Performance) Analysis
Review workshop/ Time in class to work on your projects
Stuart Hall, Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, ed. Stuart Hall (London and Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1997), 223–90.
Additional readings:
Richard Schechner, ‘Performance Processes’ in Performance Studies: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2002), 221–62.
Francine A’ness, “Resisting Amnesia: Yuyachkani, Performance, and the Postwar Reconstruction of Peru,” Theatre Journal 56 (2004): 395–414.
Anuradha Kapur, Actors, Pilgrims, Kings, and Gods: The Ramlila at Ramnagar (Calcutta: Seagull Books, 1990).
Week 10
Project show-and-tell

Spring Term:

III - Theoretical Frameworks for Performance Analysis
Week 1
Historiography -- Performance Analysis as a Memory Machine / MLA and essay writing workshop (a visit to the RSC this week)
Postlewait, Thomas, The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), Ch. 3 "The historical event", p. 89-116.
Additional readings:
Diana Taylor, “Performance And/as History,” TDR/The Drama Review 50, no. 1 (2006): 67–86.
Hayden White: Metahistory. The historical imagination in nineteenth century Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1973, p. 1-42.
Phillip B Zarrilli et al., eds., Theatre Histories: An Introduction, 2nd ed (New York: Routledge, 2010), 1–39.
Week 2
Postcolonial /Intercultural Theories and Performance Analysis (The Tempest)/ MLA and essay writing workshop
Anna M. Aganthangelou and Heather M. Turcotte, “Postcolonial Theories and Challenges to ‘First World-ism’”, Gender Matters in Global Politics, ed. Laura J. Shepherd (Routledge, 2010), 44-58.
Erika Fischer-Lichte, “Familiar and Foreign Theatres: The Intercultural Trend in Contemporary Theatre,” and “Changing Theatrical Codes: Toward A semiotics of Intercultural Performance,” The Show and the Gaze of Theatre: a European Perspective, by E. Fischer-Lichte (U of Iowa P, 1997), 133-146; 147-157.
Additional readings:
Takashi Sasayama, J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring, eds, Shakespeare and the Japanese Stage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp.1-11 and 110-123
Neil Lazarus, “What Postcolonial Theory Doesn’t Say,” Race and Class 53.1 (2011): 3-27.
*** Yukio Ninagawa’s production of The Tempest as a potential case study
Week 3
Queer /Feminist Performance and Analysis / Workshop
David Roman, “Performing All Our Lives: AIDS, Performance, Community,” in Critical Theory and Performance, ed. Janelle G. Reinelt and Joseph R. Roach (Ann Arbour, University of Michigan Press, 1992), 208-221.
Sue-Ellen Case, “The Screens of Time: Feminist Memories and Hopes,” in Feminist Futures?Theatre, Performance, Theory, ed. Geraldine Harris, and Elaine Aston (London: Palgrave, 2006), 105-17.
Additional readings:
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2015 [1995]), 1-30.
Freddie Rokem, Performing History: Theatrical Representations of the Past in Contemporary Theatre (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2002).
David Dean, Yana Meerzon, Kathryn Prince, eds. History, Memory, Performance. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
Week 4
Theatre Sociology / Workshop
Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of Capital,” in Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. J. Richardson (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986), 241–58.
Additional readings:
Eleonora Belfiore and Oliver Bennett, “Rethinking the Social Impacts of the Arts,” International Journal of Cultural Policy 13, no. 2 (2007): 135–51.
Eleonora Belfiore and Oliver Bennett, The Social Impact of the Arts: An Intellectual History (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
Maria Shevtsova, Sociology of Theatre and Performance (Verona: QuiEdit, 2009).

IV - Advanced Methodologies: Alternative Strategies
Audience Research / Workshop
Kirsty Sedgman, “Audience Experience in an Anti-Expert Age: A Survey of Theatre Audience Research,” Theatre Research International 42, no. 3 (2017): 307–22.
Additional readings:
Susan Bennett, Theatre Audiences: A Theory of Production and Reception (London/New York: Routledge, 1990).
Helen Freshwater, Theatre & Audience (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009).
Caroline Heim, Audience as Performer: The Changing Role of Theatre Audiences in the Twenty-First Century (London and New York: Routledge, 2016).
Matthew Reason, “Asking the Audience: Audience Research and the Experience of Theatre,” About Performance, no. 10 (2010): 15–34.
Week 6: READING WEEK
Week 7
Ethnography / Time in class to work on your final projects
Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (London: Zed Books, 1999), 142–62.
Additional readings:
Dwight Conquergood, “Rethinking Ethnography: Towards a Critical Cultural Politics,” in Sage Handbook of Performance Studies, ed. Soyini Madison and Judith Hamera (London and Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2006), 351–65.
D Soyini Madison, Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005).
Week 8
Practice as Research (PaR) / Time in class to work on your final projects
Robin Nelson (2006) “Practice-as-research and the Problem of Knowledge,” Performance Research, 11:4, 105-116.
Additional readings:
Baz Kershaw et al., “Practice as Research: Transdisciplinary Innovation in Action,” in Research Methods in Theatre and Performance, ed. Baz Kershaw and Helen Nicholson (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), 63–85.
Richard Sennett, The Craftsman (London, New York: Penguin, 2009).
Week 9
Collaborative Scholarship / Time in class to work on your final projects
Readings: Tbc
Week 10
Module summary

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• analyse various kinds of performance and introduce terminology suitable to the analysis of theatre and performance
• better understand, appreciate, and discern the different elements of theatre production (writing, directing, acting, design, the role of the audience)
• produce critical response to (live) performance via various forms of writing as well as visual and digital forms of communication, and have improved skills in written critical expression
• distinguish between various forms of performance criticism and critical theory and examine how they are shaped by social, political, and historical contexts
• analyse the role of theory and criticism in the processes of theatrical production and reception
• have a more nuanced understanding of contentious concepts such as taste, quality, and beauty

Indicative reading list

Bial, Henry (Ed.). The Performance Studies Reader. (2nd ed.) London: Routledge, 2007
Carlson, Marvin. Performance: a Critical Introduction. (2nd ed.). London: Routledge, 2004.
Coté, David. “A Second Act for Theatre Criticism?” American Theatre, December 2017.
Croggan, Alison. “How to Think Like a Theatre Critic.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 309-311.
Dolan, Jill. “Code-Switching and Constellations: On Feminist Theatre Criticism.” Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 187-200.
Drexel, Kitty. “On Harassment Policies for Critics in the Age of #MeToo.” Howlround Theatre Commons, 26 August 2018, https://howlround.com/harassment-policies-critics-age-metoo.
Fisher, Mark. How to Write about Criticism. A Manual for Critics, Students, and Bloggers. Bloomsbury Methuen, 2015.
Fricker, Karen. “Going inside: The New-Old Practice of Embedded Criticism. Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 168, 2016, pp. 45-53.
Knowles, Ric. Reading the Material Theatre, Cambridge UP, 2004, pp. 1-23.
Macarthur, Michelle. “Crowdsourcing the Review and the Record: A Collaborative Approach to Theatre Criticism and Archiving in the Digital Age.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 255-272.
Morris, Wesley. “Should Art be a Battleground for Social Justice?” The New York Times, 3 October 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/03/magazine/morality-social-justice-art-entertainment.html
Postlewait, Thomas. The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography. Cambridge: CUP, 2009.
Shaffeeulluah, Nikki. “Reimagining Theatre Criticism.” Canadian Theatre Review, vol. 168, 2016, pp. 34-38.
Schechner, Richard. Performance Studies: An Introduction. (2nd ed.) London: Routledge, 2006.
Vaughan, Megan. “Teh Internet is a Serious Business.” Theatre Criticism. Changing Landscapes, edited by Duška Radosavljević, Bloomsbury Methuen, 2016, pp. 325-327.
Zarrilli, Phillip et al. Theatre Histories: An Introduction (Routledge)

Subject specific skills

Upon completion of this module, students should demonstrate an ability to:

• analyse various kinds of performance and introduce terminology suitable to the analysis of theatre and performance
• better understand, appreciate, and discern the different elements of theatre production (writing, directing, acting, design, the role of the audience)
• produce critical response to (live) performance via various forms of writing as well as visual and digital forms of communication, and have improved skills in written critical expression
• distinguish between various forms of performance criticism and critical theory and examine how they are shaped by social, political, and historical contexts
• analyse the role of theory and criticism in the processes of theatrical production and reception
• have a more nuanced understanding of contentious concepts such as taste, quality, and beauty

Transferable skills

teamwork, technical ability, creativity, discipline, time management , organisation , communication