Undergraduate - UnitATS3987 - Theories of theatre 2

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Centre for Theatre and Performance
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Stuart Grant

Synopsis

This unit will examine three primary traditions in Contemporary Performance - Experimental Theatre, Contemporary Dance and Performance Art. The work of key practitioners and movements will be studied with an aim to establish their importance to and influence on contemporary performance practices. Ideas of avant-gardism, theatre as laboratory, physical theatre, site-based performance, and conceptual performance art will be examined and discussed.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students will:

Possess a broad knowledge of a range of the origins of contemporary theatre and performance traditions;
Have received an introduction to the ideas of key concepts, developments and practitioners in the story of contemporary performance;
Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the relevance of theories of the avant-garde to Twentieth and Twenty-First Century art practice;
Be able to understand the importance of different meanings of embodiment in performance practice;
Debate the key concepts in contemporary aesthetics;
Be able to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the importance of performance in the broader realm of contemporary art practice.

Assessment

Group Class Presentation (15 minutes, 900 words): 20%
Individual write-up of presentation (900 words): 20%
Essay (1800 words): 40%
Participation (900 words): 20%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Stuart Grant

Workload requirements

One 2-hour seminar per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Theatre

Prerequisites

Two gateway units in Theatre