Final Year Performance Project (Q3109)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

You will develop the analytical, creative, intellectual and practical skills you have acquired throughout your degree by helping to develop an original, full-scale production.

Projects intentionally vary in approach and aesthetic, with recent examples including devised works based on diverse materials such as

archival holdings, site-specific locations, or literary texts; and productions of plays from a range of historical periods and genres, such as works by Beckett, Crimp, Handke, Goldoni and Wedekind.

Although approaches will differ, you can usually expect work on this module to include:

• analysing the chosen texts or materials in their social, political, cultural and historical contexts
• undertaking research into issues relating to the production
• investigating performance materials and their contexts practically in workshops
• locating appropriate performance modes and compositional strategies for the work
• acquiring necessary design, stagecraft and technical skills to help realize aesthetic goals
• performing in the final production.

You are expected to document and analyse your own and the group's processes, feeding this back into the development of the performance. You should also read, watch and discuss materials chosen for and about the performance, and share your own research and ideas on issues relating to the production.

In workshops you will expand on your investigations of these materials, woking collaboratively to develop and refine the final production. Workshops with guest artists and theatre trips may also play a role in defining project goals.

The module concludes with a full-scale production for an invited public audience.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 118 hours of contact time and about 182 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2020/21. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.