Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Group-Devised Presentation 15 Minutes | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Essay 2000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Essay 2000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Solo-Devised Presentation 5 Minutes | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Locate new media performance within the historical trajectory of experimental and avant-garde theatre and performance.
Read analytically the presence of new media within/as forms of contemporary theatre and performance practice.
Articulate critically the impact of new media on key concepts such as space, text, narrative and the body.
Begin to develop critical and practical strategies for making use of new media forms in performance.
Brief description
This module examines the growing and diverse field of new media performance to question how the presence of new media and digital elements (such as virtual environments, hypertexts and avatars, as well as projected film) might lead us to reconsider key concepts within theatre and performance studies, including space/place, narrative, text and body/performer/character. The module engages in the critical analysis and study of the presence of new media and digital elements within the work of British and international practitioners, including Blast Theory, Katie Mitchell, Imitating the Dog, Robert Lepage, The Builder’s Association and Stelarc. This module is taught through lectures and mixed-mode seminar/workshop sessions. A key part of the module’s assessment will involve an investigation of one of the themes encountered on the module through the creation and presentation of a devised fragment incorporating elements of new media.
Content
1. The genealogy and definitions of 'digital' and 'new' media
2. New media and the early 20th century avant-garde
3. Liveness and Remediation
4. Screen and Space
5. Audio Theatre
6. Interactivity and Participation
7. Actors and Cyborgs
8. Post-Cinematic Performance
9. Mixed-Reality Performance
10. Games as Performance: MUDs, Warcraft and Second Life: narrative in digital worlds
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | There will be specific reference to the funding of new media performances within the module, but these areas are not directly assessed. |
| Communication | Each student’s ability to articulate and communicate their ideas to one another and to specific audiences is developed throughout this module. All forms of assessment include a consideration and evaluation of effective communication. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be required to evaluate their own process and performance as proof of their understanding of the module, and the heuristic methods of education that it proposes. |
| Information Technology | This is not directly taught on the module, though the performance forms and theories explored demand the engagement with various new technologies (including social media, wikis, blogs etc.) contributing directly to digital literacy. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The exploration of possible uses of new media and digital technologies will aid students to identify possible career avenues presented by digital literacies, though this skill is not directly assessed. |
| Problem solving | The identification of problems, the development of creative approaches to solving problems, and the evaluation of potential solutions is a central element of this module. Students will be engaged, through seminar/workshops, in the question of how new media and digital practices might inform traditional performance conventions. |
| Research skills | Research skills will be developed in preparation for, and as a result of, lectures, and workshops, and assessed as part of the essay and the creation of the performance fragment. |
| Subject Specific Skills | See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007). • describing, theorising, interpreting and evaluating performance texts and performance events from a range of critical perspectives • reading the performance possibilities implied by a script, score and other textual or documentary sources • engaging in performance and production, based on an acquisition and understanding of appropriate performance and production vocabularies, skills, structures and working methods • contributing to the production of performance and/or film and/or television, for example, through direction, choreography, dramaturgy, stage management, scenography, sound and lighting production, editing, promotion, administration and funding • creating original work using the skills and crafts of performance making • using performance techniques associated with particular cultural forms and/or practitioners |
| Team work | This skill is indirectly addressed on the module and will be evaluated and assessed in the creation/presentation of a fragment of new media performance. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5