Group Presentaion - Duration 30 minutes
Presentation element relates to [Learning Outcomes 2,3,4]
Essay element relates to [Learning Outcomes 1,4]

Library (Including secondary source material and video recordings from the Victoria Theatre Archives.)
Lecture room, Seminar and Studio space.
Audio recording facilities
Video and audio playback facilities
IT Software (e.g. word processing and internet access)
Slide projection

The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.

The Vic Archive Documentary File.
(containing - journal and newspaper articles and interviews with practitioners)
Documentary Theatre in the United States
Peter Weiss, The Investigation (London: Marion Boyars, 1982)
Derek Paget, True Stories? (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990)
Peter Cheeseman "Fight for Shelton Bar" (Methuen 1977)

Lectures and screenings will introduce the students to examples of documentary theatre practice and practitioners and will be supported by seminar discussions. Students will also be given guidance and support in research and interview techniques. The topic/s for research will be selected in consultation with the tutors and students will research primary and secondary source material using archives, newspapers, the internet and library facilities and/or oral interviews with first-hand witnesses. During the research period students will be supported by weekly feedback and progress meetings with the tutors. The material will then be gathered together and analysed in relation to its potential dramatic content and an assessed presentation. The essay will enable the students to demonstrate their understanding of the development of the form and the principles that make Documentary Theatre a distinct theatrical genre.

This module will introduce students to the genre of Documentary Drama, a form which was developed by the Victoria Theatre, Stoke on Trent to forge links with the local community and has become a style of theatre that is now practiced internationally. The module will introduce students to the techniques of documentary research and will examine the work of a range of practitioners and their differing documentary forms, (including the community-based work of Peter Cheeseman between the years of 1964 and 1995). Students will also investigate, collect and collate original source material for their level two core "Documentary Performance" module in Semester 2.