Issues and Perspectives in Contemporary Performance (Q3262)

30 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

This module enables you to deepen your understanding of performance as a way of thinking and the implications of theory for performance. You will engage with three distinct fields of study that address, explore and interrogate important aspects of contemporary performance. The module is taught in three distinct three-week sections, one for each field of study. They are diverse topics that will expand your understanding of issues and questions relevant to contemporary practices in and/or theoretical approaches to theatre, theatre-making and performance. The module will expose you to perspectives and ideas at a more advanced-level and engage you with areas of staff research specialism. Due to the concentrated nature of the three-week sessions, teaching will focus on particular examples taken from the field of study under discussion that will, in turn, expose larger issues and questions. We will negotiate fields of study that address ethical, political, social and aesthetic issues surrounding ongoing debates in modern and contemporary theatre.

The module deals with advanced material. Yet while the content of the module will develop your understanding of and relationships to contemporary theatre and performance, the methods through which the material have been processed will also form a part of the teaching, so that you will be introduced to varieties of research methodologies, as well. While you will be assessed on the material taught, you are encouraged to take up and develop particular aspects suggested by the module, in terms of subject matter and research approaches to subject matter, in the independent research project module in the following term.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 267 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 2019/20. 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.