Module: DRA6007-20 Writing and Directing for Performance 1

Level: 6

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Sharon Clark

Module Tutor Contact Details: S.Clark@bathspa.ac.uk

This module is a pre-requisite for DRA6008-20 Writing and Directing for Performance 2.

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This is a collaborative module run between creative writing and drama, giving you the opportunity to collaborate on developing a piece of new writing for performance. The module introduces you to the fundamentals of writing/ staging/ directing new writing for live performance. It is based on an industry model of the director / writer partnership.

This module aims to provides you with:

• An appreciation of the wider dramaturgical issues intrinsic to the directing and writing of new work and a practical understanding of the collaborative process between writer and director in the shaping of a new play or performance text, and the ability to utilise those when developing your own work.

• A deeper knowledge of the artists and writers who are currently shaping British drama.

• The opportunity for writers to work with a director from the inception of a new play and a chance for you to develop your own directing skills for live performance in response to a new script.

• An increased understanding of industry led approaches to developing new work and a chance to collaborate with other disciplines.

2. Outline syllabus:

Writing and Directing runs across two modules. The first module examines and explores contemporary dramaturgy and performance forms through workshops, seminars and lectures and leads to the writing of a script. The second module is structured to provide a platform for writer/director partnerships to develop and stage a new piece of work.

Writing and Directing for Performance 1

Project 1 is a period of exploration in dramaturgy and form within the writing for performance oeuvre.

Dramaturgical principles will be taught by the creative writing tutor. You will explore your writing practice by investigating several different theatre/performance forms and through writing and directing exercises examine how you might utilise these forms in your own creative work.

You will examine the theoretical and practical considerations around making original writer-led work for:

• Children/young people

• Solo performance

• Immersive theatre

• Adaptation

Text study, practical workshopping, seminars and discussion groups will lead to the first draft of a new play that may embrace one of these forms.

3. Teaching and learning activities:

Practical workshops build on the ideas introduced in the lectures, seminars and critical readings and give you an opportunity to explore your directing and writing and develop staging for a text. A sequence of smaller directing and writing tasks related to the development of your short plays will be set over the course of the module. These will be evaluated through practical workshops, individual tutorials, and mediated group discussion and feedback.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: 20 page first draft of a script

• % Weighting: 90%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Class pitch / discussion

• % Weighting: 10%