Portfolio (30%) [Learning Outcomes 3,4,5]
A portfolio of work individually assessed including Health and Safety certificates and critical responses to theatre industry strand. In order to ensure that students are able to work safely in a workshop and theatre environment students must attend all four Drama Health and Safety training sessions in order to complete this element of assessment. (Students will be awarded attendance certificates for each Health and Safety training session)

Practical Project (70%) [Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3 & 4] Consisting of two elements :-
Continual Assessment Individually marked taking into account openness of approach, attendance and punctuality during the first semester practical workshops as well as during the rehearsal period in Semester 2, where the use of professional work practices and methodologies will be taking into account as part of the assessment (which will including attendance and punctuality, a willingness to engage and collaborate creatively with other students and to work as a member of the ensemble).

Performance of the project (0.5hrs) - During the final week the student will participate as an ensemble member in the presentation of an extract of a play. Although this is a group presentation students will be marked individually.

Key Information Set Data:
30% PORTFOLIO
70% PRACTICAL

SEMESTER 1
Students will be introduced to the creative choices available for the professional theatre maker including directing, ensemble building, scenography, lighting and sound.

Students will be introduced to a range of key practitioners and practices and be asked to consider how meaning is generated for an audience in a theatre context.

Concurrently, students will also be introduced to key aspects and debates of the UK professional theatre industry (e.g. funding), with an emphasis on building-based venues and performances.

SEMESTER 2
Working in ensemble companies, a practical project will give students the opportunity to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge acquired in the first semester as well as skills gained from ‘Explorations in Acting and Performance’.)

It will involve the textual analysis of a play and contemporary rehearsal techniques and then the staging and performance of an extract (or extracts) from that play.

Students will be expected to apply a professional theatre making approaches to their rehearsal and production process led by a staff or guest director, including acting and/or directing, as well as considering production and scenography (for example, stage management, lighting design and operation, costumes, props and settings, sound design and operation and publicity and marketing).

You will also undertake four Health and Safety sessions in order for you to work independently and safely within the Drama Studios

SEMESTER 1
Sessions will introduce students to differing directing, scenographic and production challenge along with aspects of the professional theatre industry in the UK.

Using an integrated approach to learning, the workshops will entail practical exercises alongside discussions, masterclasses and mini-lectures. Part of the module will be delivered by visiting professional theatre practitioners.’ The module will also involve backstage tours of working theatres.

SEMESTER 2
Each student will be part of an ensemble company. Weekly staff or guest-led rehearsals, student-led rehearsals and tutorials will enable student groups explore the challenges of presenting short extracts from plays through the study and application of professional methodologies of rehearsal, performance, direction and production as well as applying acting techniques from ‘Explorations in Acting and Performance’. This work will culminate in assessed performances of the extracts in a studio theatre.

A workshop programme will also provide students with Health and Safety training which will support their practical project in the second semester and throughout the remainder of their degree programme

Studio Spaces
Lecture Theatres
Smartboards
Stage-management, lighting and sound equipment
IT Software (e.g. word processing, lighting and sound design software)
Library
Safety equipment, ladders, tools and materials.
Small production budgets

The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available to support this module.

Butterworth, Phillip and McKinney, Joslin (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Scenography.Cambridge University
Collins, Jane and Nisbet, Andrew (2010) Theatre and Performance in Design: a Reader in Scenography. Routledge
Fraser, Neil (2002). Stage Lighting Explained (Crowood Press)
Gillett, J (2009). Acting on Impulse. NHB.
Houseman, B. (2008). Tackling Text and Subtext. NHB
Leonard, John A (2001). Theatre Sound (A & C Black)
Merlin, B (2010). The Complete Stanislavski Toolkit. NHB
Mitchell, K (2010). The Director’s Craft (Routledge)
Palin, Gail (2008). Stage Management: The Essential Handbook (Nick Hern Books)
Palmer, S (2013). Light. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Also;- Drama and Theatre Arts Health and Safety Code of Practice

1. WORK POSITIVELY AND CREATIVELY WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GROUP INCLUDING ATTENDANCE, PUNCTUALITY AND ENSEMBLE WORKING.
[Creative Collaboration]

2. DEMONSTRATE A CREATIVE APPROACH TO THEATRE MAKING THROUGH IDENTIFYING AND MAKING APPROPRIATE, EFFECTIVE AESTHETIC AND PRACTICAL CHOICES
[Creativity]

3. DEMONSTRATE THE CREATIVE PROCESSES AND PLANNING INVOLVED IN THE REALISING OF A THEATRICAL PRODUCTION AND THE METHODS OF APPROACH OF THE ACTOR, DIRECTOR OR SPECIFIC TECHNICAL OR PRODUCTION ROLE IN THE REHEARSAL AND PRESENTATION OF A DRAMATIC TEXT.
[Application]

4. UNDERSTAND THE TIME MANAGEMENT, ORGANISATIONAL, PREPARATION, PLANNING SKILLS AND HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES INVOLVED IN CREATING A THEATRE PRODUCTION INCLUDING THE ABILITY TO MAKE RISK ASSESSMENTS AND WORK SAFELY IN A THEATRICAL ENVIRONMENT.
[Problem Solving]

5. DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORICAL AND/OR CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES OF THE PROFESSIONAL THEATRE INDUSTRY
[Knowledge and Understanding]