BA Music and Drama

This module is an introduction to the academic study of theatre and performance at the university level. It will challenge you to think about what theatre and performance are, what they can do, how they work, and the concepts we use to study them. In the module we think about performance as an artistic form and also as a social and cultural phenomenon. The module will help you develop skills in performance analysis, critical reading, and critical writing that will prepare you for the rest of your degree and your future engagement with theatre and performance as both artists and audiences. Each week we explore key concepts and debates in the study of theatre and performance by focusing on a single keyword. Such keywords might include: theatricality, text, performers, audience, participation, space, liveness, time, and performativity. 

To engage students with foundational and contested concepts prevalent within theatre and performance studies.

To encourage students to critically examine practice using theoretical frameworks as proposed in the fields of theatre/performance studies.

This unit will be taught through a mixture of lectures and small-group seminars. Lectures will provide students with an introduction to key concepts and debates in theatre and performance studies, alongside contemporary theatre and performance examples that illustrate or complicate them. Seminars will allow students to apply skills and knowledge through discussion, mini-presentations and other academic skills exercises. The VLE will be used to support and guide students in their weekly preparation through the use of software which may include Adobe Express and Padlet. The VLE will be used to structure and focus preparatory work.

Students should be able to:

Distinguish key concepts of theatre and performance studies.

Recognise the significance and complexity of these concepts and apply them to independent analysis of performance practices and theatre events.

Draw on a range of critical texts on contemporary performance in studying contemporary practices  

Students should be able to:

Use appropriate critical concepts to analyse performance practices and events

Identify potential social, political or ethical issues raised by contemporary performance practice

Articulate the significant formal features of different kinds of performance practice

Students should be able to:

Locate and use academic sources on theatre and performance

Locate and use performance documentation in different forms

Present critical analysis of performance in written forms  

Students should be able to:

Ability to analyse concepts, techniques, methods, study materials (et cetera) independently

Ability to draw on individual research preparation to engage in close analysis

Ability to present ideas effectively in writing (including adherence to academic conventions)

• Marvin Carlson, Performance: a critical introduction. London: Routledge, 2003
• Christopher Balme, The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
• Erika Fischer-Lichte, The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies. London: Routledge, 2014.
• Tracy C. Davis and Thomas Postlewait, eds., Theatricality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Richard Schechner, Performance studies: An introduction. London: Routledge, 2015, 3rd edition
• Diana Taylor, Performance, Durham: Duke, 2016.
• Helen Freshwater, Theatre & Audience. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
• D. Soyini Madison and Judith Hamera, eds., The Sage Handbook of Performance Studies. London: Sage, 2005