- Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
- See module specification for other years: 2024-25
This module combines a theoretical and practical introduction to making political theatre with an implementation of these ideas in a short performance project. It will consider different ways of approaching 'the political' on the stage and offer students the opportunity to craft their own productions, usually on a specific political issue or theme.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
This module aims:
By the end of the module you will be expected:
You will spend the first four weeks of the module engaging with different theories, practices and examples of political theatre in order both to furnish you with important theatrical approaches and to allow you to experiment with them. You will apply performance ideas to different published plays in order to understand the possibilities of a political theatre. After this period, you will take this awareness of poltical theatre forward into your development of a 30-minute performance, based on a theme set earlier in the semester, drawing on the ideas introduced in the first phase of the module. In groups, you will produce, direct, act, research, write, design and stage manage the performances.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 60 |
Groupwork | 40 |
None
A formative essay task, based on the analysis of political elements in the set play and their performance, can be scheduled for midway through the module.
*For summative assessments, students will lose 3 marks per workshop, seminar or practical missed for this module.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 60 |
Oral presentation/seminar/exam | 40 |
You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times.
Aston, E. (1999). Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. London: Routledge.
Barnett, D. (2014). Brecht in Practice. London: Bloomsbury.
Cantrell, T. (2013). Acting in Documentary Theatre. Houndsmills: Palgrave.
Case, S. (1990). Performing Feminisms. Maryland Johns Hopkins University Press.
Fischer-Lichte, E. (2005). Theatre, Sacrifice, Ritual: Exploring Forms of Political Theatre. London: Routledge.
Forsyth, A. and Megson, C. (eds.) (2009). Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Haedicke, S, et al. (2009). Political Performances: Theory and Practice. London: Rodopi.
Hammond, W.and Steward, D.(eds.) (2008). Verbatim, Verbatim: Contemporary Documentary Theatre. London: Oberon.
Heddon, D. (2007). Autobiography and Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Jurs-Munby, K, et al. (2013). Postdramatic Theatre and the Political. London: Bloomsbury Methuen.
Kelleher, J. (2009). Theatre & Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Martin, C. (2012). Theatre of the Real. Houndsmills: Palgrave.
Patterson, M. (2006). Strategies of Political Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.