Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Module Identifier

TP20820

Module Title

Theatre and Contemporary Society

Academic Year

2025/2026

Co-ordinator

Dr Gareth Evans

Semester

Semester 1

Exclusive (Any Acad Year)

TC20920

Reading List

View example reading list on Aspire

Course Delivery

Assessment

Assessment Type	Assessment length / details	Proportion
Semester Assessment	Essay 2000 Words	50%
Semester Assessment	Project Proposal 2000 Words	50%
Supplementary Assessment	Essay 2000 Words	50%
Supplementary Assessment	Project Proposal 2000 Words	50%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the different ways in which theatre manifests social issues and debates.

Demonstrate an ability to summarise and synthesise multiple critical discourses and perspectives, and be able to evaluate their application to creative practices and analyses of live performance events.

Demonstrate and articulate an understanding of the political implications of specific analytical frameworks and positions in relation to performance practice.

Demonstrate an individual understanding of how society is variously manifested and of related social issues, and how one's own creative practice might be positioned within existing contemporary discourses.

Brief description

What is the relationship between theatre and the world in which we live? What might be the purpose of theatre and performance in an age of seemingly unending permacrisis and looming climate collapse? By considering a different thematic topic each week and through reading key critical texts and performance case studies, this module will begin to examine how theatre and performance responds to the most pressing concerns of our contemporary moment.

Over ten weeks, we will examine a breadth of different performance forms and practices, including drama, Live Art, installation, and performance art, and how these relate to wider issues and debates within contemporary society. The module invites students to examine how theatre and performance can address, illuminate, and respond to these contemporary social concerns, and to consider how their own creative practice might – in turn – reflect, respond to, and be positioned within these existing discourses.

Content

The module will be delivered by a one-hour weekly lecture and a two-hour weekly seminar over a period of ten weeks. For each seminar, students will be required to engage with two critical texts and one performance case study. Following an introductory lecture, the module is structured according to three thematic blocks looking at people, places, and things, with each block consisting of three weeks. The first block will look at people and focus on the material body. The second expands to look at places, to focus on material bodies in the material world, the relationships between bodies and the gaps between them. Lastly, the final block will focus on the less material and on more abstract 'things'.

Indicative Course Content:

Week One: Introduction: People, Places, and Things

Part One: PEOPLE
Week Two: The Amateur Body
Week Three: The Gendered Body
Week Four: The Racial Body

Part Two: PLACES
Week Five: Nation
Week Six: Borders
Week Seven: Environment and Ecology

Part Three: THINGS
Week Eight: Trauma
Week Nine: Agency
Week Ten: Hope and Utopias

Module Skills

Skills Type	Skills details
Application of Number	This element is not assessed
Communication	The ability to communicate ideas effectively in written form is directly assessed. The work done in seminars develops oral communication skills although this is not directly assessed.
Improving own Learning and Performance	Self-regulation, motivation and time-management skills are developed through the module and are demanded for the successful completion of its assignments. These skills are directly assessed through all assignments
Information Technology	The ability to utilize information technology both in the research for and delivery of assignment is assessed directly in Assessments 1 and 2
Personal Development and Career planning	Transferable skills (managing personal workloads and meeting deadlines, designing and realising research project) are developed through the completion of the assessment tasks. Career's awareness does not of itself constitute an assessed element of this module, however
Problem solving	Analytical problem solving, outcome recognition and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures are encouraged and assessed
Research skills	Appropriate personal research and the development of effective personal research practices are directly assessed through both written assignments.
Subject Specific Skills	See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007). The following subject specific skills are developed and partly assessed: 1. Describing, theorising, interpreting and evaluating performance texts and performance events from a range of critical perspectives 2. Developing skills of observation and visual, aural and spatial awareness 3. Engaging in research, whether independent, group or performance-based 4. Identifying and interpreting the cultural frameworks which surround performance events and on which these events impinge, and taking these into account in creating and/or interpreting performances. Making records of performance, using skills in notation and/or documentation.
Team work	Effective group work through negotiating ideas and opinions is addressed through the seminars. Seminar discussions demand the application of skills necessary to conduct collaborative activity.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 5