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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : English Literature

Postgraduate Course: Time and Space of Performance (ENLI11176)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis 20 credit course is a series of experiential rather than abstracted lectures/professional master classes on different aspects of the making of and reading of live performance. The spine of the course is a series of 4/5 lectures/workshops on the semiotics of live performance, which will be linked to actual productions happening in Edinburgh. The rest of the course comprises of 5/6 master classes on aspects of translating text from the page to the stage. A number of visits to specified productions in Scotland will be compulsory.

Please note this course is ONLY available to students on the MSc Playwriting and MSc Theatre and Performance programmes.
Course description SEMINAR SCHEDULE

1. Intro: Theatre in Four Dimensions- Nicola McCartney

2. Philip Howard

3. The Dramaturg - Maja Zade

4. Space and Image - Nicola McCartney

5. Time and Dramatic Structure - Nicola McCartney

6. The Designer - Kai Fischer

7. TBC

8. NO CLASS

9. The Actor - Ros Steen

10. Stabilising and Destabilising Meaning - Dr Simon Malpas

11. Devising Theatre - Scott Graham, Frantic Assembly


Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs Students will be expected to attend at least five performances at Edinburgh theatres during the semester. These are essential as they will be discussed and referred to in depth during the Performance Analysis seminars. Some visits will be group visits and the costs of tickets for these will be covered by additional programme costs. For others, students will be expected to purchase themselves. The minimal reading list for this course reduces book costs allowing for theatre tickets to be purchased. A list of the performances will be provided at the beginning of the course.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  9
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 196 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) A portfolio submission comprising of the following two pieces of work to be submitted:

a) A 2,500 word performance analysis essay of a current production happening in Edinburgh.
b) A 2,000 word design or directing proposal: this will be based on one of a choice of scenes taken from a range of classical and contemporary theatre texts; students will be asked to research and imagine the scenes into a mise-en-scene for performance, arguing their case based on a close reading of the texts, and through proposed manipulation of the sign systems of theatre explored through the course such as dramaturgical choices, set, props, costume, actors vocal and physical gestures, arrangement of actors within the stage space, lighting design, sound and music.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Develop a knowledge of the semiotics of live performance and how to manipulate those sign systems in the making of text for performance.
  2. Further explore issues relating to the making and reading of live performance through an experiential rather than abstracted series of workshops/ seminars
  3. Have knowledge of a range of first rate theatre practitioners and their methods for the making of live performance through a series of master classes
  4. Develop a deeper understanding of and enhance their critical skills to write about theatre as a live event taking place in real space and real time
Reading List
Primary Texts:
Aston, Elaine & Savona, George . Theatre as Sign-System: a Semiotics of Text and Performance, Routledge, 1991.
Leach, R. Theatre Studies: The Basics, Routledge, 2008
Shakespeare, William, The Complete Works , various editions

Secondary Reading:
Counsell, C. & Wolfe, L. Performance Analysis: An Introductory Coursebook, Routledge, 2001.
Leacroft, Richard & Leacroft, Helen. Theatre and Playhouse: An Illustrated Survey of Theatre Building from Ancient Greece to the Present Day, Methuen, 1984.
Elam, Keir. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama, Routledge , 2002.
Carlson, Marvin. Places of Performance: Semiotics of Theatre Architecture, Cornell Fortier, M. Theory/Theatre: An Introduction. Routledge, 2002.
Allain, P. & Harvie, J. The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, Routledge, 2005.
Schechner, R. Performance Studies: An Introduction,. Routledge, 2006
Bial, H. ed. The Performance Studies Reader, Routledge, 2002.
Graham, S. & Hoggett, S. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre, Routledge, 2009.
Carlson, Marvin. Performance: A Critical Introduction (second edition), Routledge, 2003.
Mitchell, Katie. The Director's Craft: A handbook for the theatre,. Routledge, 2008.
Shevtsova, M & Innes, C. Directors/Directing: Conversations on Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Collins, J & Nisbet, A. Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography. Routledge (2010).
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserMs Nicola McCartney
Tel: (0131 6)50 3629
Email: nicola.mccartney@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kara McCormack
Tel: (0131 6)50 3030
Email: Kara.McCormack@ed.ac.uk
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