Theatre and Performance Studies
About the major
In Theatre and Performance Studies we look at a broad range of aesthetic, social and everyday performances: from theatre, dance and ‘live art’, to the performative dimensions of politics, sport and popular culture. As a Theatre and Performance Studies major you will explore a range of different approaches to performance making, devise short works, and engage with professional artists-in-residence. While this program does not provide vocational training, it functions as a window onto professional practice. As well as developing practical skills in workshops, you will attend a wide variety of performances, learn how to document them, how to describe the way spaces and architecture are used, how bodies are moving, and how to build these observations into a detailed critical analysis.
Performance, as a conceptual lens, also provides a powerful way of interpreting many non-theatrical events, using both theoretical and critical approaches from a diversity of disciplines, including theatre and movement studies, anthropology, history, philosophy and sociology. A Theatre and Performance Studies major provides a strong theoretical basis for students who seek to later train as performers, directors, teachers, arts administrators, or those who wish to work in related areas of the arts and cultural practice.
Students are also encouraged to take optional elective 2000-level units offered by the Department (PRFM2603 Between Improvisation and Text, PRFM2605 Rehearsing Shakespeare) available from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Electives list in Table S of the Interdisciplinary Handbook.
Requirements for completion
The Theatre and Performance Studies major and minor requirements are listed in the Theatre and Performance Studies unit of study table.
Learning outcomes
| No. | Learning outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluate and describe aesthetic performance practices, including those practices involved in the making of performance. |
| 2 | Demonstrate an understanding of performance practice as a mode of inquiry as well as an object of study. |
| 3 | Apply performance theory and performance analysis skills to ‘nontheatrical’ events and practices. |
| 4 | Contribute effectively and inventively to public, industry and community discussions, debate and practice in the field of cultural production, from a theoretically, methodologically, and evidence-based perspective. |
| 5 | Exemplify cultural competence through project work and/or interdisciplinary study by applying transferable skills in observation, documentation, analysis, and the dissemination of discoveries. |
| 6 | Apply high level skills in discipline-informed, evidence-based inquiry in order to produce innovative responses to, and engagement with, aesthetic, cultural and social practices. |
Advanced Coursework
The Bachelor of Advanced Studies in SLAM offers students a program tailored to their disciplinary interests. Through units of study and individually designed projects, each student, guided by a disciplinary expert, will engage in advanced seminars that complement their individual research in project units. In SLAM this may be within the study of arts-based practices such as visual art, film, performance and writing, as well as literature, linguistics, or live and digitised media. Each student will be encouraged to develop and apply advanced disciplinary knowledge and methodologies to researching the past, present and future at local, regional and global levels in creative ways. In the Bachelor of Advanced Studies, students will have the opportunity to apply disciplinary knowledges and methodologies to the legacies of the past, the complexities of the present and possible futures in the areas of communication, literature and art.
Requirements and units of study for advanced coursework can be found on the Theatre and Performance Studies advanced coursework units of study page.
Honours
Our honours year brings theory and practice together. It involves specialised seminars, a research thesis on an individual topic and a detailed case study based on first-hand fieldwork. Honours students become a valued part of the department’s research culture.
Honours admission requirements
Admission into Honours is via the Bachelor of Advanced Studies and requires the completion of a major in Theatre and Performance Studies with an average of 70% or above plus completion of PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies and a second major.
Prior to commencing honours, you will need to ensure you have completed all other requirements of the Bachelor of Arts or other bachelor degree, including Open Learning Environment (OLE) units.
Requirements and units of study for honours can be found on the Theatre and Performance Studies honours units of study page.
Contacts and further information
Contact details can be found on these websites:
Department of Theatre and Performance Studies website: sydney.edu.au/arts/performance/
School of Literature, Art and Media website: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/slam/
Example pathways
Theatre and Performance Studies major pathway
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Theatre and Performance Studies Major |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Year 1 |
Sem 1 |
Core: PRFM1601 Making Theatre: Process & Collaboration |
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Sem 2 |
Core: PRFM1602 Dangerous Performances |
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Year 2 |
Sem 1 |
Core: PFRM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance |
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Sem 2 |
Core: PRFM2602 Performance: Production & Interpretation |
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Year 3 |
Sem 1 |
Core: PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies |
Selective: 3000 level unit from the Theatre & Performance Studies major table |
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Sem 2 |
Selective: 3000 level unit from the Theatre & Performance Studies major table |
Interdisciplinary Project unit: PRFM3999 Interdisciplinary Impact |
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Theatre and Performance Studies minor pathway
| Year and Semester | Units of Study | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Sem 1 | Core: PRFM1601 Making Theatre: Process & Collaboration | |
| Sem 2 | Core: PRFM1602 Dangerous Performances | ||
| Year 2 | Sem 1 | Core: PFRM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance | |
| Sem 2 | Core: PRFM2602 Performance: Production & Interpretation | ||
| Year 3 | Sem 1 | Core: PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies | Selective: 3000 level unit listed for the Theatre and Performance Studies major |
Theatre and Performance Studies advanced coursework pathway
| Year and Semester | Units of Study | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Sem 1 | Core: PRFM1601 Making Theatre: Process & Collaboration | |
| Sem 2 | Core: PRFM1602 Dangerous Performances | ||
| Year 2 | Sem 1 | Core: PFRM2601 Being There: Theories of Performance | |
| Sem 2 | Core: PRFM2602 Performance: Production & Interpretation | ||
| Year 3 | Sem 1 | Core: PRFM3961 Rehearsal Studies | Selective: 3000 level unit listed for the Theatre and Performance Studies advanced coursework |
| Sem 2 | Selective: 3000 level unit listed for the Theatre and Performance Studies advanced coursework | Interdisciplinary Project unit: PRFM3999 Interdisciplinary Impact | |
| Year 4 | Sem 1 | Selective: SLAM4004 Working the arts and Humanities or CAVA4001 Art Writing and Artists | Project unit: SLAM4001 SLAM Project: Pasts, Presents, Futures A |
| Sem 2 | Selective: SLAM4003 Meaning in the Anthropocene | Project unit: SLAM4002 SLAM Project: Pasts, Presents, Futures B | |