Drama and Performance Studies 1 (DRAT1605)
Students are exposed to different genres and styles, semiotic theory and dramaturgical text analysis theory. This module also includes the theory of acting, according to Boleslavsky, and introduces you to alternative approaches to the art of performance and acting as developed and/or theorised by selected practitioners as Jerzy Grotowski, Vsvevolod Meyerhold, Bertolt Brecht, and/or Anne Bogart.
Unit 1: What is Art?
This unit will focus on exploring the complex concept of art by examining the limitations of art (historical, political and cultural factors) and the multiplicity of art (including an introduction to the most influential art movements from antiquity to contemporary art). Finally, this unit will guide students to develop a working definition of art. Additionally, theatre etiquette will also be discussed in this unit.
Unit 2: Decoding the Viewing Experience
This unit introduces students to two academic approaches to studying the viewing experience: Semiotics and Phenomenology. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and how decoding signs contribute to meaning-making. Important semiotic theorists covered in this unit include Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Umberto Eco and Roland Barthes. The second approach examined in this unit is Phenomenology (the study of making-meaning through lived experience). Influential phenomenology theories in this unit are credited to Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau Ponty, and Jaques Derrida.
Unit 3: Movement theory
This unit will focus on the theoretic conception movement of Irmgard Bartenieff and Rudolf Laban along with basic studies deriving from the theories of mime (Jacques Capeou, Etienne Decroux, Marcel Marceau) and mask practitioners (Jacques Lecoq, Commedia Dell’ Arte, Mummenschanz).
Unit 4: Speech theory
This unit provides insight into the theoretical knowledge concerning basic speech and voice theory and the anatomy of speech.
Unit 5: Text Analysis theory
In this unit, the student will be introduced to dramaturgical text analysis theory, focusing on Structure and Given Circumstances. Students will also be introduced to the theories of Aristotle’s Poetics.
Unit 6: Application to Performance
You will start this unit off with an introduction to the nature of “Performance” in theatre. We further seek to understand what acting is all about. We study the famous theories on how to create a different personality on stage. Where do we start? What thought processes and emotional and physical adjustments must I make to create a character? What techniques should I use? This unit concentrates on obtaining theoretical knowledge on acting, mainly focusing on Boleslavsky and investigating other practitioners.
An additional overview of alternative approaches to acting, performance, and character-creation, with a specific focus on the range of “relationships” between an actor and their intended “character” will also be studied.
In the 2nd semester, students will engage in text analysis focusing on reading and understanding Shakespeare texts, studying iambic pentameter to understand Shakespeare’s language and how to utilise it when performing a monologue/scene from a Shakespeare play.