Dramaturgy and Live Performance

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

140 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The subject aims to use the practical and theoretical exploration of the concept of performance dramaturgy to develop students’ potential to make theatre and become reflective theatre practitioners, aware of the relationship between theatre and society.

This subject introduces students to the concept of dramaturgy as a critical tool in devising live performance. The basis of this process is the translation of a central idea and theme, through research, design, documentation and practical investigation, into a studio-scale devised live performance and to reflect on both process and performance. The students will develop their ability to write dramaturgical analysis of live performance.

On completion of this subject students should:

• Be able to engage with the contested and problematic term ‘dramaturgy’
• Have developed an increased consciousness about the nature of the dramaturgical process of selection, construction and framing
• Be able to work in a group through a process of researching, making, performing and reflecting
• Have developed their understanding of performance making and articulating this understanding
• Be able to undertake dramaturgical analysis of their own and others’ performance
• Demonstrate an understanding of the theories and practices of performance dramaturgy and its historical and cultural contexts
• Through processes of collaborative performance making and critical reflection, be able to articulate dramaturgical principles and structures;
• Have investigated and developed collaborative and interdisciplinary modes of working;
• Have developed multi-tasking and cooperative creative work practices.

Practical project: process, performance and documentation. Group project, 20 mins performance - end of semester (60%)

Written Assessment 1. Essay (2000 words) - assessment period (40%)

Attendance hurdle 80%

Cathy Turner and Synne Behrndt, Dramaturgy and Performance, (Hampshire & NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Bogart, Anne & Tina Landau, The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition, (NY: Theatre Communications Group, 2005).

Performance Research: On Dramaturgy 14:3 (2009). Eds. Karoline Gritzner, Patrick Primavesi and Heike Roms.

Contemporary Theatre Review. 20:2 (2010) Special issue on ‘new dramaturgies’, eds. Turner and Behrndt.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Create and organise aesthetic material
• Use a range of research tools and methodologies
• Solve problems
• Interpret and analyse
• Develop the capacity for critical thinking
• Work collaboratively showing initiative and openness