MASTERS BY COURSEWORK 2011

COURSE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Masters by coursework aims:
- to build on the mature abilities, experience and interests of theatre artists, community workers, educators and researchers;
- to cultivate attitudes and practices that are creative, critical and scholarly;
- to foster a measure of originality in thought and practice;
- to engender research about theatre study and practice in South Africa;
- to provide a creative, experimental and professional environment in which artistic standards can be practised, challenged, developed and extended.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A. Specialisations
- Applied Theatre
- Choreography
- Contemporary Performance
- Dramatic Writing
- Design for the Theatre
- Directing (Note: Not all specialisations are offered in any one year.)
Each candidate engages with practices and discourses of the selected specialisation in order to develop and refine an individual theatre praxis. This will entail assignments, workshops, presentations and productions culminating in a major production or project to be presented in June of the second year.
B. Contextual courses
Contextual courses complement the selected specialisations by providing a conceptual framework for creative and critical rigour and leading to outputs such as research papers, published articles and theatre productions. Candidates will select two contextual courses from the following topics :
- Performance and Theatre Studies (compulsory)
- Contemporary Choreography and Dance Theatre
- Contemporary Theatre Praxis
- Applied Theatre
- Studies in Directing
- Textuality and Performativity

SPECIALISATIONS

Choreography
Course Supervisor | Ms Juanita Finestone-Praeg

AIMS
In pursuit of the general aims of the Masters by coursework, this option aims specifically to:

- promote understanding of the practice of choreography,
- develop artistic maturity in the making of dances,
- enable creative artists to develop competence in the presentation of dances in a conventional theatre context and/or in a context appropriate to the concept and function of the work,
- provide the opportunity to gain confidence in the realisation of a personal repertoire,
- extend artistic standards of dance making in South Africa.

Contemporary Performance
Course Supervisor | Ms Heike Gehring

AIMS
In pursuit of the general aims of the Masters by course work, this practical option aims specifically to:
- engage with the practical elements encountered in the creation of an original contemporary performance practice;
- develop artistic maturity in the making of theatre performance;
- develop competence in the presentation of performance in a conventional theatre context or in a context appropriate to the concept and function of the work;
- provide the opportunity to gain confidence in the realisation of a personal repertoire;
- cultivate attitudes and practices that are creative, critical and scholarly;
- foster innovation in thought and practice;
- engender practical research on theatre practice in South Africa;
- extend artistic standards of theatre performance in South Africa;
- provide a creative, experimental and professional environment in which artistic standards can be practised, challenged, developed and extended.

Directing
Course Supervisor | Professor A.F. Buckland

AIMS
In pursuit of the general aims of the Masters by coursework, this option aims specifically to:
- promote and develop understanding of the practice of theatre directing;
- develop artistic maturity in the directing of theatre;
- enable creative artists to develop competence in the presentation of theatre in a conventional theatre context and/or in a context appropriate to the concept and function of the work;
- provide the practical opportunity to extend and develop a wide range of directorial skills rehearsal management and production;
- present the opportunity for the student to develop confidence through practical experience exposure towards realizing the beginnings of a personal directorial signature;
- extend artistic standards of theatre directing in South Africa.

Dramatic Writing
Course Supervisor | Anton Krueger

AIMS

- to become familiar with current national and global trends in writing for theatre;
- to understand the context of writing for the stage in South Africa, becoming familiar with local platforms, including competitions and festivals, as well as particular theatres and companies;
- to promote an understanding of different kinds of dramatic text;
- to develop artistic maturity in the development of a fully formed original work;
- to gain confidence in the development of an original voice.

CONTEXTUAL COURSES

Performance and Theatre Studies (Compulsory)
Course Co-ordinator | Prof Andrew Buckland

This course provides an introduction to different approaches to the practicalities of theatre and performance research, as well as an investigation of selected trends emerging and evident in contemporary theatre praxis with a particular focus on selected practitioners and/or companies. A series of seminars will examine a range of works published by staff members in order to give masters students an inside view of the challenges and possibilities of post graduate research and publication from a range of individual perspectives. Other seminars will draw attention to a range of issues, contexts and concerns pertinent to current theatre and performance research. This will drive the course content and provide the basis for interrogating theatre expressions; deconstructing meanings, and provoking possibilities for theatrical research.

Contemporary Choreography and Dance Theatre
Course Co-ordinator | Ms Juanita Finestone-Praeg

This course examines selected choreographers that have worked during the second half of the twentieth century and whose legacy has continued to impact upon current choreographic practice. The course is located within the fields of contemporary dance, physical theatre and dance theatre.

The study programme opens up for discussion some of the ideas, issues, sources, movements, identities and contexts that have driven choreographers to explore corporeality, theatricality, narrative, collaboration, intertextuality and dance aesthetics within the evolving terrain of contemporary dance expression.

Contemporary Theatre Praxis
Course Co-ordinator | Ms Heike Gehring

This course is an investigation of selected sites, discourses and dialogues emerging within the range of diverse conceptual and practical contexts evident in contemporary theatre praxis. Candidates are required to engage critically with seminal texts in performance theory, critical writings, cultural studies, gender studies, artistic viewpoints and collaborations/cross-cultural productions. The tensions and interplay between performance practice and theory will be a particular focus and candidates are required to engage with, observe and/or work with selected artists as a way of informing their own evolving theatre praxis.

Studies in Directing
Course Co-ordinator | Prof Andrew Buckland

This course examines selected contemporary directors whose work has impacted upon current theatre practice. The course is located within the fields of contemporary theatre and performance.

The study programme opens up for discussion some of the ideas, issues, sources, movements, identities and contexts that have driven theatre directors to explore theatrical aesthetics within the evolving terrain of contemporary theatre and performance.

The course is underpinned by an examination of some of those trends and concerns that have shifted, altered and questioned the idea of theatre and its language, form and function.

Textuality and Performativity
Course Co-ordinator | Dr Anton Krueger

In writing drama, one is caught between the discourses of two disciplines – literature and performance; text and speech. Jacques Derrida (in Of Grammatology [1976]), insistently draws attention to a prioritisation of text over orality. All language, he says, "is beginning to let itself be transferred to, or at least summarized under, the name of writing" (6). It is "as if", he says, speech, voice, hearing, sound are "revealed today as the guise or disguise of a primary writing" (7). Writing is no longer merely a "supplement" to speech, but has become the means of understanding the origination of language. In this sense Derrida sees no reason to value homo loquens over homo scriptor and every performance becomes a type of text, which can be read in terms of its semiotic representation.