Module: DRA6002-20 Staging Shakespeare

Level: 6

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: ROGER APFELBAUM

Module Tutor Contact Details: r.apfelbaum@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module provides you with the opportunity to work collaboratively on a Shakespeare Project.

The module aims to introduce you to:

• a range of critical perspectives on Shakespeare's plays and the theatrical practices with which these perspectives are associated

• some of the established theatrical/ performance strategies employed to present Shakespeare's plays

• appropriate research materials concerning issues pertinent to the production of Shakespeare's plays

2. Outline syllabus

The module examines the ideas and work of 20th/21st century directors of Shakespeare’s plays, analysing their approaches, and investigating the variety of strategies that they have employed to produce versions of Shakespeare’s works. In any given semester, the module may focus on a particular debate e.g. on the tension between conservative and liberal approaches to presenting Shakespeare‘s plays, or the proposition that Shakespeare’s plays provide materials that are ripe for reduction, expansion, transformation, and reconstitution (Marowitz, 1991). On all occasions, the module will explore a range of critical propositions and their related theatrical practices. You will be expected to engage with, and debate, the issues that arise out of these propositions and practices and, in light of them, articulate in written form and present in performance your own aesthetic response/reading of scenes from a designated play.

3. Teaching and learning activities

This module requires a significant amount of self-directed study and group work. You are expected to read relevant texts, research and attend team meetings/rehearsals in non-contact time. Groups will be responsible for arranging meeting/rehearsal schedules and keeping the module leader informed of progress and any issues that need to be addressed. A tutor will attend production meetings, discuss the casting and division of production roles and be available to individuals/groups for tutorial help and advice.

You will be given the opportunity to complete formative tasks before presenting summative work for assessment.

• The first formative task (written work) develops your skills in research and critical analysis

• The first summative task (written work) allows you to relate your skills in research and critical analysis to the performance work you are creating

• The second formative task (performance) relates your skills in research and critical analysis to performance and develops your group skills

• The second summative task (performance) draws on and extends your skills in research, group work, critical analysis and performance

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Written work: critical analysis or reflection on a given topic

• % Weighting: 40

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Performance work and accompanying documentation/tasks

• % Weighting: 60