The Research Presentation

This unit will serve as a Mock for the DP Theatre Component: Research Presentations.  All information comes for the IB DP Theatre Guide (directly & indirectly).

There are two focuses on the is task in regards to exploration.

• exploration of performance conventions

• exploration applying performance conventions with a world theatre tradition

Introduction

Students at SL and HL plan, deliver and video record an individual research presentation (15 minutes maximum) in which they evidence their academic and practical explorations of a performance convention from a world theatre tradition they have not previously studied. 

The research presentation is distinctive among the theatre assessment tasks as it requires students to hypothetically cross time and space in order to authentically engage with a dynamic theatre tradition of another culture. As a significant encounter with the unfamiliar, there will be challenges and rewards which will shape the outcomes of this learning encounter differently for each student. Students should be encouraged to view this task as a carefully considered and respectful “opening-the-door” experience in search of cultural insight and creative inspiration, appreciating that to master the skills of the world theatre traditions prescribed in this task would take many years and, in many cases, require total immersion in the culture from which the tradition arises.

Key terminology for the task

Theatre tradition: A theatre tradition is a theatre practice that has a fixed set of specific performance conventions that have not changed significantly over time.

Performance convention: A performance convention is a significant and identifiable element of performance (body and/or voice) that is usually culturally recognized, accepted and identified as a key feature of the theatre tradition. Performance conventions have a particular function within a tradition and are a key feature of communication to the audience. Many conventions are unique to their theatre tradition, although some may appear in similar form but with significant variations in other world theatre practices.

Traditional performance material: Traditional performance material (written, oral, physical) is traditionally performed within that theatre tradition. The performance material where the convention appears is used by the student to guide their practical exploration of, and experimentation with, the convention. Please note: the traditional performance material is intended to be chosen and used as an aid to better understanding the chosen performance convention, rather than as material that is to be performed.

Practical exploration: Practical exploration is defined as inquiry and research conducted through practice, using the body and/or voice to explore information, ideas, theories and/or concepts. Practical exploration might involve experimenting with performance techniques, grappling with physical exercises or developing strategies in order to try out ideas or investigate what works. The purpose of practical exploration is to enrich one’s understanding through action.

Research presentation: The research presentation is a 15-minute video recording of the student presenting their understandings and demonstrating their practical and physical explorations for the examiner. The video recording may be captured as three discrete sections over time (one for each assessment criterion) or as one continuous take. The student has free choice to determine their preferred approach to recording this in order to evidence their learning.

Theatre in the world: Towards the end of this assessment task students are asked to consider how their inquiry into a chosen theatre tradition has further developed their understanding of theatre in the world. This involves students reflecting on their own authentic engagement with the theatrical tradition of another culture or historical time period and considering the ways in which their own understandings of and preconceptions about the function, role and value of theatre in the world have shifted and evolved. As internationally minded learners and theatre-makers, students should consider their own previous experiences of engaging with theatre (both outside of school and as part of the theatre course) and consider the degree to which their understandings have been challenged, developed and expanded through this new learning encounter with the unfamiliar tradition. What have they discovered about the role of theatre in their own and other societies? How have their understandings of the aesthetic, communal, religious, social or spiritual role of theatre in the wider world been confronted, advanced and, perhaps, altered? Students should be provided with adequate time and guidance in order to meaningfully and authentically address this vital reflective component of the research presentation task.

Suggested process

Inquiring

• Each student chooses a theatre tradition from the prescribed list. They carry out primary and/or secondary research into the chosen tradition and identify one performance convention from the tradition they wish to explore.

• Each student researches the one performance convention they have selected.

• Each student presents and video records their work in this area.

Developing

• Each student identifies the performance aspect/s (face, voice, gesture, posture movement and/or manipulation of objects) they wish to employ in order to guide their practical exploration of the one convention.

• Each student undertakes a process of practical exploration in order to develop an understanding of the performance convention through the body and/or voice.

• Each student identifies how the performance convention is employed in traditional performance material from the tradition in order to further guide their practical exploration of the convention.

• Each student presents their physical demonstration of how they experimented with applying the performance convention to the chosen performance material. This is not a performance.

• Each student video records their work in this area.

Evaluating

• Each student reflects on how their practical exploration of the performance convention has contributed to their continuing development as a performer.

• Each student reflects on the process they have undertaken and considers how their inquiry into the chosen theatre tradition has further developed their understanding of theatre in the world.

• Each student presents and video records their work in this area.

The first two sections should be recorded in a formal setting, such as the school theatre space or classroom, while the third section may be recorded in any appropriate setting as determined by the student.

Middle Eastern Theatre