Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

Faculty of Education and Arts

School: Education

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

• Unit Title

  Contemporary Theatre Practice

• Unit Code

  DST4165

• Year

  2015

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  1

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  

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Description

This unit examines the role of the director as instigator of change in theatre development in contemporary society. This will include the study of major contributors including Brook, Wilson and LePage. It will consider the influence of avart-garde theorists on traditional theatre and explore postmodern performance practice.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Analyse through research presentations the philosophies and theories of theatre experimentation in contemporary society.
2. Appraise critically the major contributors to change in contemporary theatre including Brook, Wilson, Forced Entertainment, Frantic Assembly and LePage.
3. Compare and contrast developments in contemporary theatre with those in the other performing arts.
4. Demonstrate through performance and reflection an understanding of the role of the director as an instigator of change in contemporary theatre.
5. Evaluate in writing the influence of experimental theatre in translating traditional texts into performance.
6. Identify through both practice and theory the roles of playwright, director and actor in contemporary theatre experimentation.
7. Re-visit Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud in this context.

Unit Content

1. Devising with frantic assembly.
2. Innovation in Western Theatre.
3. LePage and emotion.
4. Robert Wilson and his collaborators.
5. The Emergence of the Director.
6. The work of Peter Brook in relationship to Stanislaviski, Artaud, Brecht practical workshops in interpreting and presenting experimental contempory theatre.
7. Theatre of cruelty - Artaud.
8. Tim Etchells and forced entertainment.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Practical workshops Seminars Tutorials

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.

Text References

• ^ Nil
• Harwood, R. (1984). All the world's a stage. London: Secker & Warburg.
• Artaud, A. (1985). The theatre and its double. New York, NY: Grove Press.
• Benedetti, R.L. (1985). The Director at work. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc.
• Birringer, J. (1992). Theatre, theory, post modernism. Indianapolis: Indiana Uni. Press.
• Bradley, D., & Williams, D. (1988). Directors' theatre. London: Macmillan.
• Brook, P. (1986). The empty space. London: MacGibbon & Kee.
• Brook, P. (1989). The shifting point: Forty years of theatrical exploration 1946-1987. London: Methuen.
• Grotowski, J. (1969). Towards a poor theatre. London: Methuen.
• LePage, R. (1999). Connecting flights. Theatre Communications Group.
• Kaye, N. (1994). Postmodernism and performance. London: Macmillan.
• Laurence, S. (1989). Robert Milsom and his collaborators. New York: Theatre Communication Group.
• Morowitz, C. (1986). Prospero's staff: Acting and directing in the contemporary theatre. Indianapolis: Indiana Uni. Press.
• Roose-Evans, J. (1984). Experimental theatre from Stanislavski to Peter Brook. London: Routledge.
• Styan, J. (1990). Modern drama in theory and practice. New York: Cambridge.
• William, D. (Ed.) (1989). Peter Brook and the Mahabharata. London: Routledge.
• Etchell, T. (1999). Certain fragments. London: Routledge.
• Graham. S. (2009). The frantic assembly book of devising theatre. London: Routledge.

Website References

• Nil

^ Mandatory reference

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