Honours 2011

Candidates are required to select five papers in consultation with the Head of Department. Paper 1A and 1B are compulsory. A student must choose a further THREE papers, in any combination, from those offered this year.

Group A

Paper 1A | Theatre Studies

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms A Sutherland
Lecturers |
Dr W.G. Meintjes (School of Languages)
Ms J Praeg
Ms A Sutherland

The aim of this core course is twofold. Firstly, to interrogate theatre and performance through the use of critical theory, cultural studies and performance studies. This study involves detailed conceptual rigour and the application of selected critical theories to the making, performing and production of theatre. This part of the course culminates in the presentation of a research paper. Secondly the course aims to introduce students to the rigours of the research process in and through Theatre Studies.

The course content consists of an introductory section on post-modernism and post-colonial theory, and performance studies. Extensive reading lists will be provided during seminars . The main teaching in this course will be conducted by Professor Meintjes. A number of additional seminars will be conducted by Drama department staff and guest lecturers to extend further understandings between critical theory, performance and theatre. These sessions are devised to help with the identification of an appropriate topic and effective research methodology for the research paper.

Paper 1B | Introduction to Management in Theatre Studies

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms C Stevenson-Milln

The course raitonale is to investigate the potential nature, function and significance of performing arts management with a particular focus on theatre. This study includes a theoretical investigation of key concepts and texts, and the application of these to the current theatre industry in South Africa.

This part of the course culminates in the presentation of a proposal to the National Arts Festival.

The course consists of a series of seminars designed to provide a general overview of the management and administrative functions related to theatre in practice. These include aspects of group dynamics and leadership principles; planning and strategizing through communication; exploring and understanding copyright law in theatre and the arts; drawing up and implementing budgets and budgetary control; together with the principles of marketing and branding to create a competitive edge within the market place.

The seminars are co-ordinated by Carolyn Stevenson-Milln (MBA (UCT)) together with guest lecturers such as Tony Lankester (CEO, National Arts Festival); Ismail Mohamed (Artistic Director, National Arts Festival); Janet Buckland (Director, UBOM); Sarah Driver (Lecturer in Law, Rhodes University) and other specialists in the field

Paper 2 | Dramatic Literature

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Dr Anton Krueger

By the end of the Dramatic Literature course, students should be able to:
- assess the contribution of particular writers to the development of 20th and 21st century dramatic literature.
- provide a detailed, informed and challenging analysis of particular play texts with reference to other work in the writer’s oeuvre or other related texts in terms of style or content.
- question existing critical approaches to particular play texts.
- present findings in a well structured seminar paper and rewrite their seminar as a thoroughly researched essay.

Paper 4 | Dance History

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms Juanita Finestone-Praeg

The course aims to provide a background and appreciation of selected developments in dance history, with a focus on the twentieth century. The course includes an historical investigation of the following areas:

- the challenge of undertaking an historical perspective in relation to the study of dance
- the emergence and impact of modernism in dance, with a particular focus on the notion of primitivism
- the identification of a research area pertaining to dance in South Africa.

The course will look at the following themes:
- Primitivism and Modernity | an investigation of the collusion between primitivism and modernism in the emerging modern dance
- Re-thinking a History of Dance | an investigation and appraisal of selevted key debates that have contributed to current discourse on the idea of dance history
- Current Excursions in Choreographic Form and the Challenge for Writing Dance History | an examination of a range of case studies, on the challenges involved in the writing of dance history and current choreographic practice

Group B

Paper 7 | Applied Theatre

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms A Sutherland

This course aims to introduce students to the theoretical and practical applications of drama and theatre media for education, conscientization, change and development. Applied Theatre as an umbrella term embraces a varied and eclectic range of approaches, including the drama-in-education and theatre-in-education methodologies, Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, community theatre, dramatherapy, and Theatre for Development (TFD). Fundamental to all these approaches is the notion of audience as participant in creating and influencing dramatic action and meaning. Students will explore aspects of these approaches as a way of developing their own skills, theoretical understanding, and practice. We will also analyse key debates regarding the positioning of Applied Theatre within artistic practices.

PRACTICAL WORK

Students will conceptualise and implement at least three applied theatre programmes during the year with groups of their choice; as far as possible, these will be linked to existing community, school or NGO projects, and should reflect a diversity of experiences. In the first half of the year, the project will be conceived and implemented by the whole Honours group. The first term project will explore the use of theatre and theatre techniques in the interpretation of heritage sites and museum collections. This is a growing area of applied theatre practice. From the second term, each student is encouraged to develop their own practice individually by researching, setting up, conceiving and structuring their own weekly experiences with one group. It is important that an integrated approach is taken in dealing with theoretical and practical aspects of the course. A fundamental means of relating theory and practice and developing reflexivity as a practitioner will be through the development of a learning journal.

Paper 8 | Directing

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms J Buckland

This paper affirms the work of the theatre director as a creative artist rather than merely an interpreter of literary texts. The course challenges the perception of the director as one who "stages" the playwright's vision. The aim of the course is to equip students with the abilities to select appropriate and stimulating resource material, research and develop this material into an arresting theatrical concept; direct a performance that not only realizes this theatrical concept but engages the audience in a sophisticated demonstration of all the elements of performance craft and theatre technique; organise, co-coordinate and manage performance to the level of a professionally performed event.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Select appropriate resource material, research and develop this material into an arresting theatrical concept.
- Direct a performance that not only realizes this theatrical concept but engages the audience in a sophisticated demonstration of all the elements of performance craft and theatre technique;
- Organise, co-coordinate and manage performance to the level of a professionally performed event.

Paper 9 | Choreography

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms J Finestone-Praeg

The course provides a creative laboratory for the investigation of choreography in relation to contemporary dance, physical theatre and dance theatre. The study programme is necessarily integrated drawing on creative, experiential and discursive modes within dance inquiry and related fields. In this way choreographic, theatrical and performance choices can be evaluated, researched and workshopped culminating in the conceptualisation and realisation of innovative choreography.

The aim of this course is to enable students to conceptualise, choreograph and produce a fully realised contemporary dance event (10 –15 minutes); present written critiques of performed dance works; articulate critical understandings about contemporary choreography; identify and articulate discursive, experiential and creative explorations that have contributed to a personal choreographic style.

Paper 10 | Acting

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Prof A Buckland

This course aims to provide students with diverse approaches to actor training. Each term will provide a different approach to understanding the acting craft, and theoretical seminars aim to complement practical explorations as a means of understanding what social, cultural, and theoretical context informs each performance approach.
Along with this, a vision of a contemporary actor is imagined who is multi-skilled, able to deal with the demands of conventional acting situations including textual interpretation, creation and clear delivery of character, tone and mood of the world of the play, while at the same time an actor who is focused outwardly toward the ensemble and the world in, and for which, the work is being created. This will be pursued through practical engagement with a variety of theatre styles and a strong focus on the need for consistent and committed vocal and physical training and a growing understanding of the creative power of the ensemble. Work will involve the analysis, research and rehearsal and performance of “set pieces” either based on theatre texts or other source material culminating in term-end showings and ultimately to the creation of a program of diverse acting styles.

By the end of this course, students should be able to :
- Demonstrate the development of vocal and physical technical ability for different performance styles;
- Access emotional and creative resources relevant to the style of performance required;
- Address tasks of sub-textual realization, the creation of full three-dimensional and convincing characterization, and the complex interactions of ensemble playing with confidence and the appropriate level of skill;
- Research, rehearse and effectively perform a variety of acting styles for the theatre;
- Perform effectively as a part of an artistic ensemble;
- Research and discuss different theories of acting and performance and how these can be effectively applied in diverse contexts;
- Create and maintain a journal of critically reflective writing on the creative and learning processes of the course.

Paper 11 | Physical Theatre

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms J Finestone-Praeg

In general, western theatre has tended to favour a cerebral theatre of words and ideas and the text has become the cornerstone for performance. One of the current alternatives to this theatre practice is a transformation towards a new physicality - a physical theatre that is non-conformist, challenging and innovative in relation to ideas, moralities, form and theatricality. This new physicality should not be viewed as a negation of the cerebral but should be seen rather as an integration of the physical with the vocal, mental and emotional resources of the performer thereby creating an intertextual theatre experience.

The aim of this course is to equip students to research, conceptualise and implement a range of physical theatre experiences appropriate to academic and performance contexts; reflect on physical theatre practice in the context of experiential practice and performance theory; engage with key debates relevant to the conceptualization and performance of physical theatre practice internationally and nationally.

Paper 13 | Contemporary Performance

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Ms H Gehring

This paper is aimed at encouraging independent and innovative thinking with regards to the performer as theatre maker. It affirms the position of contemporary performance as an art form that seeks ways to transcend traditional notions of performance.

"[It] is like finding yourself in an alternate universe, the familiar suddenly becomes a terrain of possibilities, bristling with unmapped spaces, virgin forests, alien influences, new performative species. Explanatory metaphors fill the air; time and space seem different here. The inhabitants speak of perceptual fields and about having to learn to sit with ambiguity and uncertainty. Here performer-creators are proud of their autonomy and the capacity to collaborate, occupy theatres, streets, sites, and interact with communities. This world is a wilderness, new and uncharted, but like all such places, it has its own proliferating laws, methodologies and possibilities. In this world, artist -teachers are instigators and fellow travellers, opening out notions of theatre-making and performance.”
(Gallasch,K. ”A Wild Space”. http://www.realtimearts.net)

This course aims to provide:
- a learning environment that encourages independent thought, creativity and craftsmanship through workshops, seminars, self-directed exercises and practicals
- a space for the exploration of a variety of performance practices in relation to issues of contemporary relevance
- an opportunity for the discovery and development of a personal signature in the art of contemporary theatre making
- a structure for the incorporation and transcendence of traditional forms of theatre

Group C

Paper 12 | Theatre Design

COURSE SUPERVISORS |
Mr R Engelbrecht (Set and Costume Design)
Mr R Paynter (Lighting Design)

This paper promotes the integral and creative role of the designer in the process of theatrical realisation. The practical investigation of style, light, space, and body transformation is paralleled with research and theoretical enquiry into design methodologies and contemporary trends.

Objectives:
- Develop a design concept for a play supported by script analysis and research.
- Translate your conceptual ideas into realized lighting/set and costume designs.
- Apply the controllable properties of light/design elements and compositional principles to create aesthetic lighting/set/costume designs.
- Communicate your ideas through drawing, visual research, drafting, writing and oral presentation.
- Collaborate with a director/choreographer to develop a shared lighting concept for a dance piece.
- Constructively evaluate your own and others’ work.
- Make innovative and relevant choices which impact integrally on the effective theatrical realisation of production concepts.

Paper 14 | Creative Writing for the Theatre

COURSE SUPERVISOR | Dr A Krueger

Despite the shift towards the perception of performance as the primary theatrical experience, play texts still maintain a crucial position in the creation and development of theatre in South Africa. For one thing, it still seems to be the case that plays which are published survive longer than plays which are not. As Temple Hauptfleisch indicates in "The (Re)Canonization of South African Theatre" (1996:115), publication is "[f]undamental to canonization and literary history...most assuredly so in the case of an ephemeral art form such as theatre". He goes on to make his point even more forcefully:

Ultimately we all perceive the evolution of the theatre in this country in terms of published texts, no matter what we all say and write about performance and oral traditions....Eventually everyone seeks a text to read, analyse, discuss and (re-) perform. Theoretically that is a dubious state of affairs, but de facto that is how it is (115).
For this reason, the development of the ability to conceive, structure, edit and publish a play text is a vital part of the furtherance of South Africa's theatrical traditions.

The primary focus of this option is on the production of an original theatrical text. Through a series of structured exercises, students will discover and explore their own preferences in terms of genre, style, characterisation, mood, narrative structure and thematic concerns. Students who choose this option will not only be given the opportunity to develop their own original writing, they will also practise critiquing the work of contemporary authors and thus be in a position to assess their own writing from within the context of a contextual framework.