Drama 3
The aim of this course is to study significant developments in 20th & 21st Century theatre. This contextual study focuses on contemporary approaches to theatre performances, and utilises historical studies and developments in related art forms, playtexts, critical writings, design and stage techniques, and dance theatre. The course integrates theory and practice in an intensive and extensive manner.
Ms Juanita Finestone-Praeg, course co-ordinator.
="no>THEORETICAL THEATRE STUDIES 2011
Re-imagining Popular Performance (Term 1)
Introducing Research (Finestone-Praeg and Sutherland)
Intro to Popular Theatre:
Dario Fo and Ngugi (A Buckland)
Brecht & Cabaret (Gehring)
The American Musical (J Buckland)
Elective series 1: either New Circus (A Buckland)
or Womyn In Performance: Ballet and the Striptease (Finestone-Praeg)
Theatrical Disruptions (Term 2)
Meyerhold and the Moscow Arts Theatre (Krueger)
Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (Sutherland)
Elective series 2: either Brook and Barba (Gehring)
or In –Yer-Face Theatre with a focus on Sarah Kane’s Blasted (Sutherland)
Experimental performance : Cage, the Living Theatre and the Wooster group (Evanson)
Performing Identities (Term 3)
Cyberpower: digital performance (Finestone-Praeg)
Introduction to Postcolonial Theatre (Sutherland)
Feminist theatre and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 (Gehring)
Elective Series 3 : either Kushner’s Angles in America. Postmodern politics through gay fantasia (Evanson)
or White Men in Exile - A Re-Evaluation of Athol Fugard's Sorrows and Rejoicings. (Krueger)
Post-election South African theatre (Krueger)
Modernist Manifestos (Term 4)
The surreal imagination: Dada Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty (Krueger)
Elective series 4: either Judson Dance (Parker)
or Beckett (A Buckland)
Greenberg & Merce Cunningham (Smit)
Pirandello’s Six Characters in search of an Author (Gehring)
PRACTICAL THEATRE STUDIES 2011
At its simplest, the term praxis is used to describe the integration of theory and practice. On another level, praxis is a complex activity in which people become critically and creatively conscious human beings. Praxis becomes a site where theory is experienced and embodied in a creative and critical manner in a collaborative workshop environment. The notion of integration is further extended in terms of the weaving together of vocal, physical, visual, textual and conceptual components involved in the building of theatre languages. Students participate in a range of workshops led by different staff members, introducing a range of practical theatre experiences. Each experience serves as a catalyst for accessing conceptual, creative and performance related approaches to understanding and making theatre in its broadest sense.
Core Drama 3 Practical | Contemporary Theatre Making (runs for entire year)
This course offers understandings of contemporary performance contexts, processes, practices and forms - from Site specific performance, Live Art, Interventionist Art, to notions of post-dramatic theatre performance. The course consists of a conceptually bases, hands on praxiz through a series of workshops designed to stimulate imaginative approaches to conceiving and constructing original work and exploring its performance in alternative spaces.
Practicals (Terms 2, 3 & 4; select one option):
Introduction to Acting (entry to course by audition)
Introduction to Theatre Design
Introduction to Applied Theatre
Introduction to Choreography
Introduction to Physical Theatre Performance
Introduction to Directing in the Theatre
Introduction to Stage Management
Introduction to Dramatic Writing
