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Practitioners in Context

Module description

Theatre is deeply connected to the time and place of its creation. It is shaped by sociocultural factors and by its constitutive elements. These are many, as theatre is made collaboratively by combining artistic disciplines (e.g. writing, acting, composing, designing). Therefore, we need to contextualise theatre to gain a deeper understanding of what it means. This involves historicising it: linking what happens onstage to what is happening, and what has happened, offstage – not just ‘behind the scenes’, but in society.

This is what this theatre history module does. It will introduce you to some important and influential modern Western theatre practitioners, situating them in their cultural and historical contexts. The module will inform you about the richness and diversity of 20^th century theatre, as well as its connections with culture and society, both historical and present-day.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to enrich your understanding of twentieth-century Western theatre history. It will:

• Teach you about historiography, i.e. how history is made, and how you can analyse the theatrical past and offer your own ideas and questions about it.
• Learn how to analyse different kinds of text and evidentiary sources, and how to combine these analyses to form a scholarly argument. You will work independently and in a small group to do this.
• Be introduced to new ideas and practices in this module. Your learning will be guided, but you should also learn how to make sense of this material for yourself. This involves learning how to engage with the assigned reading, how to attend in lectures, and how to participate in seminar discussion.
• Demonstrate that the history under survey is not only of academic interest but continues to have contemporary relevance. Ideally, you will become passionate about one or more of the featured practitioners, and may be inspired by them!

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate familiarity with the ideas, work, and historical significance of selected theatre practitioners
• 2. Analyse different kinds of text and evidentiary sources relating to theatre history
• 3. Use evidentiary and scholarly sources to answer a historiographical research question

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Develop basic library and IT skills (in independent additional research)
• 5. Develop confidence in the ability to contribute research to small groups in effective presentations and to evaluate visual evidence (and analyse, critique and manipulate complex material)

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Develop basic personal research skills; (using personal initiative; to set personal objectives) to identify and evaluate at a basic level personal learning strategies
• 7. Collaborate in various groups and group sizes, develop confidence in (to learn elements of) aspects of teamwork and presentation
• 8. Develop group cooperation skills, including the ability to give and receive constructive critical feedback and to develop confidence in (and improve) communication skills and simple analytic abilities in discussions

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that each week you will have a lecture and a seminar that focus on one or more theatre practitioners from the late nineteenth century onward.

Examples of practitioners who may feature include: Antoine, Stanislavsky, Craig, Beckett, Littlewood, Appia, Svoboda, Popova, Reinhardt, Wilson, Meyerhold, Duncan, Graham, Marinetti, Tzara, Artaud, Piscator, Brecht, Bausch, The Wooster Group.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• D.Bradby and D.Williams (1988) Directors' Theatre, Basingstoke: Macmillan
• E.Braun (1982) The Director and the Stage, London: Methuen
• D.R.Jones (1985) Great Directors at Work, Berkeley: University of California
• S.Leiter (1991) From Stanislavski to Barrault, NY: Greenwood
• S.Leiter (1991) From Belasco to Brook, NY: Greenwood
• S.Mitter (1992) Systems of Rehearsal, London: Routledge
• M.Vanden Heuvel (1991) Performing Drama/Dramatizing Performance, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
• Zarrilli, P, McConachie, B., Williams, G.J., Fisher Sorgenfrei, C (2010), 2nd Edition, Theatre Histories, London and New York: Routledge

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• Exeter Digital Archives
• ELE page: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7333

Key words search

Modern theatre, theatre practitioners, theatre history, theatre historiography