This unit introduces performance studies through a guided rehearsal of a play [in 2014 Brecht's 'The Measures Taken']. Students learn to reflect upon and analyse performance-making processes, debating, testing and documenting decision-making as they work. They will be introduced to theoretical, methodological and historical approaches in performance studies: embodiment theory; the relationship between thinking, knowing and doing; dramaturgical processes; how "performance" extends beyond drama and theatre. No theatre-making experience required; students will not be assessed on their acting.

What is performance, and how can we understand what it is that performance does? This unit of study will introduce students to the study of performance, and the particular problems associated with approaching a phenomenon that is often ephemeral, experiential in nature, and frequently shrouded in mystery. Students will learn key theoretical and methodological approaches to the study and practice of a range of performance genres, including, but not limited to theatre and other artistic practices.

How do the members of an audience make meaning from their experience of theatrical performance? How (and to what extent) can theatre-makers guide this process through the use of text, movement, spatial design, costuming, lighting, sound and other production elements? In this unit of study, students will attend events at a number of Sydney theatres and develop a critical language for analysing live performance. Practical workshops will also provide an introduction to theatre production techniques.

Theatre and performance as artistic practices are not autonomous: they take place in a complex cultural field, the effects of which necessarily influence and shape the practice itself. In this unit of study, we will develop an understanding of the field of theatrical production in contemporary Australia, both theoretically, using the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu, and practically, as we create our own, viable, performing arts company. Areas to be covered include production management, budgeting and programming.

Many theatre practitioners and performance artists have sought to make their work an explicit cultural intervention into movements of social and political change. Here we will critique in detail, and to some extent explore practically, the strategies adopted by a number of key artists and companies, both past and present: from Brecht to Boal, from 'community theatre' to 'contemporary performance'. We will also consider the way protest actions and, indeed, mainstream processes of parliamentary democracy appear to have become increasingly theatricalised.

Can we investigate and understand historical moments and social movements through a study of dancing bodies? In this unit we will be looking at popular dance practices in western cultures over time. From the Charleston, the Lindy and Jive, through musical comedy and jazz, to gogo, disco and hip hop we will develop an understanding of the relationship between movement, music, time and place. This will be done through a combination of observation and practical participation. No previous dance training is required.

All approaches to acting are grounded in implicit theories about the human self: to Stanislavsky, for example, the self is a repository of memories; while for Meyerhold, the self is a biomechanical resource. We will survey - and experiment with - a range of theories of acting, from Quintilian to Method, Zeami to Suzuki, uncovering the assumptions about human being underlying each. The unit involves a workshop component, although no experience is necessary: you will not be assessed on your acting ability.

What is a dramaturg? How do you read a play? Write a non-text based performance? Prepare a production of a classic play? This unit of study will investigate the various roles of the dramaturg, focusing on new play dramaturgy, background research for historical texts, translation and the role of the dramaturg as co-creator in non-text-based work. This unit will include practical exercises in analysing and workshopping a new Australian play or text for performance.

Rehearsal is typically off-limits to outsiders but the exceptional creativity of performance-makers in this 'hidden world' makes it a compelling focus of performance research. This unit examines accounts of rehearsal by playwrights, actors, directors, journalists and academics, as well as video recordings, prompt books and other rehearsal documentation. We will also approach the study of rehearsal through ethnographic theory, reading key texts on participant-observation fieldwork and trying out these methods through small-scale practical exercises.

Over five days, students attend the rehearsals of a company of professional artists-in-residence at the department's Rex Cramphorn Studio, observing and documenting the skills and intuition that go into crafting those magic moments an audience will later encounter in performance. In the seminars following these observations, students will explore ways of interpreting their experience, deepening the principles of ethnographic research learned in PRFM3961, and developing a casebook which analyses aspects of the "culture" underpinning the creative work of rehearsals.

The Honours program in Performance Studies consists of:
1. a 12000-15000 word thesis written under the supervision of a member of the academic staff
2. a 12000-15000 word casebook based on fieldwork observations of the training/rehearsal/preparation processes involved in a genre of cultural performance
3. two assessable coursework seminars - 4500 words each (Critical Theory and Performance and Emobodiment)
4. a research methods seminar (formative assessment only) and auditing of the departmental postgraduate/staff research seminar.
For more information, contact Dr Laura Ginters.

Refer to PRFM4011

Refer to PRFM4011

Refer to PRFM4011