Workshop Seminar

Artefacts

Essay

Unit 1: From Antiquity to Renaissance
This unit of the module will be characterised by a series of weekly lectures on key developments in early theatre history each of which will be followed by a student led seminar on a related play text. Notions of containment, celebration and liminality will also be explored through an analysis of the role of ritual, carnival and popular entertainment. In parallel students will undertake practical workshops exploring the use of mask in performance. At the end of the unit students will complete a 1500 word essay analysing the impact of a specific historical theatre practice on contemporary theatre/drama.

Unit 2: Theatre for Social and Political Purpose
This unit will begin with a series of lecture/workshops focusing on the key theatre movements/practitioners that influenced the contemporary spectrum of Applied Theatre and Community Drama practice. Beginning with the use of theatre by various reform movements in the early 20th Century, via the revolutionary period of political theatre in the 20s and 30s through to the counter culture of the 60s and 70s, the lecture/workshops will seek to explore each movement in terms of both theory and practical application, charting links to contemporary practice . In parallel students will engage in a series of critical viewings of documentary and dramatic material that explore the social and political context of each movement.

Following the taught sessions the students will break into groups to design and deliver a workshop-seminar on a given practitioner / theatre movement. Utilising a mixture of participation, performance and presentation each seminar will seek to define and explore the objectives of the practice or genre being looked at by drawing upon and emphasising the intention/efficacy of the group/practitioner. Furthermore each seminar should reflect an awareness of :

• the social, political, philosophical and historical factors that impacted upon the group/practitioner;
• the relationship with their audience(s);
• the theories and realities that linked this to the objective.

Finally, each student will design and create a poster articulating a critical response to the theories and practices they have been introduced to.

Origins: From Ritual to Revolution - 4500ATCD

Origins: From Ritual to Revolution

Recognise and discuss the impact of theatre with a social or political purpose in the 20th Century.

Articulate a broad understanding of the timeline of European theatre history from Antiquity to the Renaissance.

Demonstrate an ability to contextualise a specific theatre practice within the design of a workshop seminar.

To identify and interpret the political, economic and social frameworks that surround theatre/drama practices and on which these practices impinge

Demonstrate an ability to analyse and critically assess the impact of past traditions on present practices