DTS3000

Ideas of theatre

P Snow

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, which this year will focus on theatre directing, students should have an understanding of the relationships between directors, other theatre practitioners, and spectators. They should have a critical knowledge of the practices of selected directors, of their social and performance contexts, their rehearsal stretegies and their productions. They should have had some experience of selected directorial practices such as preparing a text and working with actors, and have an understanding of some key conceptual issues concerning directing, such as rehearsal methodologies, mise en scene and performance aesthetic.

Synopsis Theatre directing will take as its premise the profound and reciprocal influence directors have had on the theory and practice of theatre, on dramaturgy, performance making, playwriting, the theory and practice of acting, even the design and construction of the performance space. Over the course of the semester we will follow three principal lines of inquiry. We will look at the rise of directors in the twentieth century and take Peter Brook for particular investigation. We will explore aspects of directorial practice such as casting, scheduling, working with actors and writing a mise en scene and we will cover key, contemporary issues concerning directing such as theorising the actor, interculturalism and performance aesthetic.

Assessment Seminar/workshop participation and presentation (1500 words): 30%
* Short exercise or short directed performance with notes (1500 words): 30%
* Long essay (3000 words): 40%

Prescribed texts

Cole S Directors in rehearsal Routledge, 1992
Hunt A and Reeves G Peter Brook CUP, 1995
Mitter S Systems of rehearsal Routledge, 1992

Recommended reading

Bradby D and Williams D Directors theatre Macmillan, 1988
Brook P The empty space Penguin, 1968
Brook P The shifting point Methuen, 1988
Brook P There are no secrets Methuen, 1993
Bruan E The director and the stage Methuen, 1982
Clurman H On directing Macmillan, 1972
Cole T and Chinoy HK Directors on directing Peter Owen, 1963
Grotowski J Towards a poor theatre Methuen, 1969
Suzuki T The way of acting Theatre Communications Group, 1986
Williams D (ed.) Peter Brook and the Mahabharata Routledge, 1991
Williams D (ed.) Peter Brook: A theatrical casebook Routledge, 1995