Handbook : Unit informationEdith Cowan University

Faculty of Education and Arts

School: Communications and Arts

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

  Writing Drama

• Unit Code

  WRT3105

• Year

  2015

• Enrolment Period

  1

• Version

  1

• Credit Points

  15

• Full Year Unit

  N

• Mode of Delivery

  On Campus
  Online

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Description

This unit will offer the student an opportunity to develop an existing strength in writing drama. The work of established writers in the genre will be the starting point for the workshops in which students will be encouraged to explore a range of subjects and styles in the development of their own writing. There will be an emphasis on twentieth century and contemporary, English-language drama, and, within that, on current Australian playwriting.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. Discern and discuss the characteristics and conventions of various styles of drama, including structure, plot, characterisation, dialogue, stage-direction and relevant stage-craft and acting styles.
2. Express an understanding of the history of English-language drama in relation to contemporary playwriting.
3. Identify and discuss intercultural issues and themes in Australian and international plays.
4. Identify and employ the conventions of stage-script layout.
5. Workshop with peers to develop scripts through reading, movement and role-play.
6. Write a stage play of at least one act (no less than 30 minutes).
7. Write an analytical essay deploying academic conventions.

Unit Content

1. Academic essay writing skills and conventions.
2. Creative arts research.
3. Playwriting skills.
4. Research published plays and historical and critical commentary, with an emphasis on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
5. Role-playing and workshopping of students' plays.
6. Teamwork and peer evaluation skills.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Workshops. Practice-led research. Textual analysis. Class discussion.

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

• ^ Smiley, S. (2005). Playwriting: the structure of action. London and New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Allan, R., & Pearlman, K. (Eds.). (1999). Performing the unnameable: An anthology of Australian performance texts. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.
• Bradley Smith, S. (2001). Griefbox and other plays. Cambridge, UK: Salt Publishing.
• Brisbane, K. (Ed.). (1991). Entertaining Australia. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.
• Eyre, R., & Wright, N. (2000). Changing stages: A view of British theatre in the twentieth century. London, UK.: Bloomsbury.
• Brooks, P. (1990). The empty space. London: Penguin.
• Parsons, P. (AM) (Ed.). (c1995). Companion to theatre in Australia. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.
• Pfistere, S. (1999). Playing with ideas: Australian women playwrights from the suffragettes to the sixties. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.
• Vandenbourke, R. (Ed.). (2001). Contemporary Australian plays. London, UK: Methuen.
• Wilmeth, D. B., & Bigsby, C. (2000). The Cambridge history of American theatre, Vols 1-3. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Artaud, A. (1999). The theatre and its double. London: Calder.
• Meyrick, J. (2002). See how it runs: Nimrod and the new wave. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.
• Filewod, A., & Watt, D. (2001). Workers' playtime: Theatre and the labour movement since 1970. Sydney, NSW: Currency Press.

^ Mandatory reference

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