| Unit name | Interpreting Plays |
|---|---|
| Unit code | THTR20011 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Mark France |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of Theatre |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
This unit provides an opportunity to develop theatre-making skills introduced in Year 1 and build frameworks for analysis in relation to staging play texts, through a fully realised performance project. Through collaborative group work, the unit develops strategies for planning and rehearsing a play, including ways to negotiate creative decision-making and resolve differences. It provides practical and authentic engagement with contemporary issues and questions that arise when reviving play texts, informing students’ theatre-making and supporting them to develop a critically reflexive practice.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study:
This unit builds on skills and knowledge applied in Year 1 through Making Theatre and Reading Drama, offering students the opportunity and agency to develop a more ambitious project through to performance with support and mentoring from teaching staff. In doing so, it helps to prepare students for more independent practical work in the 3rd year of their studies.
An overview of content
In this unit, students will follow the process of rehearsing and staging a play from initial encounters with the text through to a performance in front of an audience. They will develop their critical understanding of genre, structure, rehearsal method and planning, casting, strategies and methods for stage acting, through a series of seminars and practical workshops. They will consider play texts in relation to their genre, form, and the historical, cultural and political context in which they are written, and apply that knowledge through the process of reviving a play text. The unit offers the opportunity to develop skills in multiple areas of performance-making, including acting, directing, dramaturgy, scenography, as well as their ability to collaborate creatively and effectively towards mutual goals.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
They will have developed their critical understanding of play texts and how they operate in performance, what questions they pose for the contemporary theatre maker, and the tools they might use to stage them for performance. They will question and interrogate historical materials, practices and forms from a contemporary perspective, and be able to apply their thinking through practical performance-making and critical reflection. They will have developed as critically engaged theatre practitioners with a greater understanding of how decisions made in the conceptualisation and rehearsal stages of a production relate to the performance outcomes that arise from them.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
(1) Demonstrate a critical understanding of selected play texts in terms of their dramatic conventions, genre and historical period, and the importance of such contextual knowledge;
(2) Apply or adapt techniques/approaches informed by or derived from particular cultural forms/histories/contexts and/or practitioners to play texts, in order to stage them for performance;
(3) Critically reflect on their learning and creative practice across the process of making a performance from a play text;
(4) Develop and rehearse a play, or part of play, from conceptualisation to performance, in collaboration with others.
1 x weekly seminar
1 x weekly practical workshop
Asynchronous material and tasks, usually online
Independent rehearsal and planning meetings
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Group performance and production paperwork (50%) [ILOs 1, 2, 4]
Individual contribution to group performance (20%) [ILO's 2, 4]
15-minute individual viva (30%) [ILOs 1, 2, 3]
When assessment does not go to plan:
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. THTR20011).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
