Postgraduate - UnitAPG5269 - Rethinking theatre history

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

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

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Centre for Theatre and Performance
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Dr Yana Taylor

Synopsis

This unit explores ways of rethinking theatre history, including: challenges to received critical thinking and methodology, and canonical assumptions; implications for theatre history of parallel texts reflecting 'translations' into new media; responses of analytical and critical approaches in Drama and Theatre Studies to other disciplines; reframing canonical texts in light of contemporary theoretical and cultural perspectives, and the implications for historicised interpretation. It examines plays in relation to traditional scholarly interpretations and specific recent re-readings. At fifth-year level students are expected to demonstrate a deeper knowledge and integration of the material.

Outcomes

A working awareness of contemporary theoretical perspectives
The capacity to apply specific theoretical approaches to a diverse range of theatrical texts
An ongoing sensitivity, openness and scepticism to shifts in the climate of disciplinary debate
A developed sense of the continuing volatility and contingency of intellectual debate in the field
A sophisticated understanding of the issues underlying those debates at a level appropriate to graduate study
Enhanced confidence in articulating informed arguments and interpretations, in both oral and written form
At fifth-year level students will be required to pay specific attention to a theoretical area, such as gender, race or identity politics, in their final essay.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 288 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Yana Taylor

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

Theatre and performance

Prerequisites

ATS4421/APG4421 is a compulsory class in the programme