PER2000

The aesthetics of performance

M Coe and C Williams

8 points - 2 hours per week - Second semester - Prerequisite: Completion of first-year BPA subjects

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have developed a basic knowledge of the range of aesthetic principles in operation at rehearsal and during performance, together with some understanding of aesthetic principles at different historical periods. They should have acquired a capacity to engage with scholarly texts at a critical and evaluative level, and have the ability to demonstrate aesthetic principles in practical work as 'text' moves from page to performance.

Synopsis An understanding of aesthetic principles, based on some philosophical awareness of the nature and 'meaning' of arts works, is essential to students working in the discipline. This subject works with selected pairs of 'texts' (in study blocks of two weeks) to examine theoretical issues and creative processes. The emphasis in seminars will be on the ways we understand texts and contexts, how we recognise style, and creative parameters of works for performance. We will examine issues such as the rationale for attempting to recreate 'authentic' performance styles for historical works, issues of audience involvement, communication of 'meanings', design and presentation of extracts or short pieces from longer works. Students will be introduced to pieces of different genres and from a range of historical style periods. Material selected will demand an interdisciplinary approach. There will be a practical component to this course. Although individual performance skills and quality of presentation will be acknowledged, the main aim of the seminar is to work cooperatively on fundamental issues and problems of performance aesthetics. Different text selections for study will be offered each year, for example a mediaeval lai or cycle play, the ballad form, a Court masque, collaborative Robert Wilson/Philip Glass works, modernist performance pieces (including dada, surrealist examples, Pierrot Lunaire), Romantic period styles, and East/West combinations in music and drama.

Assessment Seminar presentation with written up paper (1500 words): 20% - Seminar participation: 10% - Prepared short demonstration of piece (no longer than 10 minutes plus written commentary 1500 words): 30% - Essay (3000 words): 40%

Prescribed texts

To be announced in course book annually

Recommended texts

Kostelanetz R On innovative performance(s) McFarland, 1994
Langer S Feeling and form Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1953
Regan S (ed.) The politics of pleasure: Aesthetics and cultural theory Open U P, 1992

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