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Principles and Practices of Applied Theatre

Module description

This module is part of the Applied Theatre pathway. It will provide a broad overview of applied theatre, enabling students to engage in advanced enquiry into a range of practices via taught and independent study. You will encounter examples of practice via guest practitioners and case studies from global and local contexts. The module will equip you to discern key critical questions, analyse models of practice and to engage with contemporary methodologies. By the end of the module, you will have an advanced understanding of the practice and theory of applied theatre practices and methodologies, and will have begun to contextualise your own emergent or developing practice within a wider understanding of the applied field.

Module aims - intentions of the module

• to introduce you to contemporary practice that applies theatre as a tool in educational, community and social settings to bring about transformation and change
• to introduce you to a range of applied theatre approaches, theories and contexts, enabling you to situate and contextualize your own emergent or developing practice within a wider understanding of the field
• to develop your experience with practical techniques for working in a variety of applied settings
• to further your skills via practical workshops and case studies drawn from both global and local models
• to develop your advanced discussion, analysis, presentational and academic writing skills

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge of a range of applied theatre practices
• 2. Demonstrate the ability to learn new forms and techniques of applied theatre informed particular cultural forms/histories/contexts and or practitioners and apply these to the creation and facilitation of applied theatre work
• 3. Engage in examples of facilitation of applied theatre work within different contexts, based on the acquisition and understanding of appropriate vocabularies, skills, structures, working methods, and research paradigms in the context of applied theatre practice
• 4. Evaluate projects that apply theatre, participatory and performance subject expertise in social, educational, community, or other socially engaged settings

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 5. Demonstrate the ability to describe, theorise, interpret and evaluate a range of applied theatre practices from different critical and technical perspectives, using appropriate subject specific vocabularies
• 6. Display an advanced understanding of the relationship between applied theatre scholarship, ethics and theatre practice in the area of applied theatre

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Develop advanced personal research skills using personal initiative; set personal objectives that are linked to a sense of challenge and extending boundaries. Identify and evaluate personal learning strategies that are self-critical as much as self-reflective
• 8. Develop a sophisticated appreciation of the research work of yourself and others in practical, theoretical, and methodological terms
• 9. Balance self-direction and collaborative work. Adapt and design working methods for each new situation. Self-management, collaborative working skills, problem solving, critical analysis and valuing own and others' ideas and beliefs

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some of the following topics, slightly varied year-by-year. Depending on the topic, visiting guest practitioners or example case studies of research/practice will be explored.

• Introduction: what does it mean to apply theatre practice across a range of sites, contexts and settings?
• Theatre for Dialogue – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre in Education – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre in the contexts of Health– case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Drama Therapy and Psychodrama – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre in Prisons or the Justice System – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre with, by, for children and young people – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre with, by, for the Elderly or Ageing – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre with and for Communities – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Politics, popular theatre, advocacy and activism – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre in Conflict, War, Refuge/Asylum – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Theatre for Development and Change – case studies and/or guest practitioners
• Practice teaching/leading with feedback from peers
• Formative Presentation – case study of practice
• Portfolio Topic Proposal – formative written assignment/discussion
• Documenting Practice via Toolkit Journal
• Final group presentation/performance
• Final Portfolio submission

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 50%) you will be required to submit assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Baxter, V. and Low, K. E. (2017) Applied Theatre: Performing Health and Wellbeing. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Brodzinski, E. (2010) Theatre in Health and Care. 2010th edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
• Cohen-Cruz, J. (2010) Engaging Performance: Theatre as call and response. 1st edition. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Cohen-Cruz, J. (2005) Local Acts: Community-Based Performance in the United States. Rutgers University Press.
• Cohen-Cruz, J. (2015) Remapping Performance: Common Ground, Uncommon Partners. 1st ed. 2015 edition. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshireâ?¯; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Emunah, R. (2013) Acting for real: drama therapy process, technique, and performance. Routledge.
• Erven, E. van (2000) Community Theatre: Global Perspectives. 1st edition. Londonâ?¯; New York: Routledge.
• Filewod, A. (2012) Committing Theatre: Theatre Radicalism and Political Intervention in Canada. Toronto: Between the Lines.
• Freebody, K. and Finneran, M. (2015) ‘Drama and Social Justice: Power, Participation and Possibility’, in How Drama Activates Learning: Contemporary Research and Practice. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 47–63.
• Gallagher, K. (2018) ‘A Reconsideration of Social Innovation: Drama Pedagogies and Youth Perspectives on Creative and Social Relations in Canadian Schooling’, Canadian Journal of Education, 41(1), pp. 1–23.
• Hatton, N. (2019) ‘Slowing down: performance in care homes and the practice of attunement’, Research in Drama Education, 24(1), pp. 96–104.
• Heddon, D. and Milling, D. J. (2005) Devising Performance: A Critical History. Basingstoke Englandâ?¯; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hughes, J. (ed.) (2016) Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jackson, A. (ed.) (2013) Learning Through Theatre: The Changing Face of Theatre in Education. 3rd edition. London: Routledge.
• Kuppers, P. (2011) Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape. 2011th edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Neelands, J. and O’Connor, P. J. (2010) Creating democratic citizenship through drama education. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books.
• Nicholson, H. (2015) Applied Drama: The Gift of Theatre. 2nd ed. 2014 edition. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshireâ?¯; New York, NY: Red Globe Press.
• Nicholson, H. and Bond, E. (2009) Theatre and Education. 2009 edition. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UKâ?¯; New York: Red Globe Press.
• Premaratna, N. (2018) ‘Theatre for Peacebuilding: The Role of Arts in Conflict Transformation in South Asia’, Springer eBooks.
• Prentki, T. and Preston, S. (eds) (2008) The Applied Theatre Reader. 1st edition. New York: Routledge.
• Saxton, J. and Prendergast, M. (2016) Applied theatreâ?¯: international case studies and challenges for practice. Second edition. Intellect.
• Schaefer, K. et al. (2020) ‘Acta community theatre’s “cycle of engagement” and foundation worker programme: creating pathways into cultural participation and work’, Studies in Theatre & Performance, 40(3), pp. 334–345.
• Sextou, P. (2016) Theatre for children in hospital: the gift of compassion. Bristol: Intellect Books

Key words search

applied theatre, applied drama, socially-engaged practice, theatre in education, theatre in health, community theatre, reflective practice, applied performance