Assessment Pattern

This module introduces the significance of theatre staging in a range of historical contexts.  It considers the implications of framing place for theatre, the ways in which theatre makers have marked out stage spaces and the implications of changing theatre stages.

• To introduce historical and contemporary interpretations of stage space in theatre and so reveal site as a critical aspect of theatre and performance (a, b)

   

• To question the politics of the stage in theatre  (e.g. ownership; navigation, mythic and imagined place, interior/exterior place) (d, f)

   

• To introduce methods and theories (disciplinary and interdisciplinary) of analysing theatre staging in performance and wider historical and cultural contexts of place in artistic practices (a, b, h)

   

• To enable students to show cognitive and social skills in the articulation of ideas in different forms (e).

   

On completion of this module students should be able to

• Identify historical and contemporary approaches to staging theatre and be able to articulate ways in which they have communicate meaning (A1, A2)

   

• Apply theoretically informed disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives to theatre staging (A3, B2, B3)

   

• Identify and debate political implications of uses of the stage (B1, D2).

   

• To present ideas through written work and presentation and, in so doing, clearly communicate ideas to others to a clear deadline (D3, D4).

   

The module will consider perspectives on staging theatre that may include:

·        Classical Stages: Noh theatre, Greek theatre, Roman theatre

·        Elizabethan Stages: London Inn Yards, Globe Theatre and Burbage’s ‘Theatre’

·        Realist Stages: European Stage Realism, Moscow Art Theatre

·        New Stages: The Performance Group

·        Operatic Stages: Robert Wilson

·        Border Stages: Gomez Pena

·        Shifting Stages: Janet Cardiff, Graeme Miller

·        Outdoor Stages: Minack, open Air Theatre (Regent’s Park), Cirque du Soleil

This module will emphasise the significance of the stage in historical and contemporary theatre.  Students will be introduced to a series of approaches to staging theatre.  Students will be encouraged to recognise the practical and the political implications of specific stages when making their own conclusions in assessment.

Lecture/seminars.

Bradley, D, From text to performance in the Elizabethan theatre : preparing the play for the stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Brater, E, The theatrical gamut : notes for a post-Beckettian stage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

Brecht, S, The theatre of visions: Robert Wilson. London: Methuen Drama, 1994.

Brook, P, The empty space. New York: Atheneum, 1984.

Carlson, M, Performance: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge, 1996.

Carlson, M, The haunted stage : the theatre as memory machine. Ann Arbor ; [Great Britain]: University of Michigan Press, 2001.

Conville, D, The Park : the story of the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. London: Oberon, 2007.

de Certeau, M, The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Hancox, J, Kingdom for a stage : magicians & aristocrats in the Elizabethan theatre. Stroud: Sutton, 2001.

Harris, J W, The traditional theatre of Japan : kyogen, noh, kabuki, and puppetry. Lewiston, N.Y. ; Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006.

Holmberg, A, The theatre of Robert Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Hopkins, D J, City/stage/globe : performance and space in Shakespeare's London. London: Routledge, 2008.

Lingwood, J, Van Noord, G, and Warner, M, Off limits : 40 Artangel projects. London: Merrell, 2002.

Pearson, M, Bubbling Tom. In: Adrian Heathfield ed., Small Acts: Performance, the Millennium and the Marking of Time, London: Black Dog Publishing, 2000. Pp. 172-185.

Taylor, D J, The Greek and Roman stage. Bristol : Bristol Classical Press, 1999 (2001 printing),

Watt, S, Postmodern/drama : reading the contemporary stage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.

Wiles, D, A Short History of Western Performance Space. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.