Module Information
Module Identifier
TP35520
Module Title
Ensemble Performance Project
Academic Year
2024/2025
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Pre-Requisite
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Group Project Pitch (10 minutes, groups of 3-6) | 30% |
| Semester Assessment | 7 Hours Group Performance (25 -30 minutes) | 70% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 Hours Conceptual presentation of ensemble project (15 minutes) | 70% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Solo Project Pitch (5 minutes) | 30% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Locate and implement appropriate rehearsal methodologies and identify and implement appropriate compositional skills drawn from contemporary ensemble performance practice.
Create a live performance that negotiates issues of dramaturgical form, resources, performer-audience relationships and collaboration.
Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated aesthetic judgments about making ensemble performance, evidenced in their response to feedback given on the project pitch.
Show innovation and imagination in the compositional strategies used.
Analyse the collaborative and compositional working processes involved in making a performance and situate these within a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance practice.
Brief description
This module offers students an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present their own performance project in collaborative groups in response to a given brief. The module will be delivered primarily through student-led, studio-based practical work, which will lead to a live performance, which can be studio-based or site-based. The work will be guided by staff-led lecture/screenings in weeks 1 – 3, which will ground the module in three case studies of ensemble practice in contemporary theatre and performance making. In addition staff will lead a weekly two hour development lab, during which students will present and discuss work developed during the timetabled student-led practical sessions.
Students will be expected to work collaboratively in developing a conceptual pitch for an ensemble project (to be presented in week 4) and thereafter towards a 25 – 30 minute live performance.
Students will be expected to work collaboratively in developing a conceptual pitch for an ensemble project (to be presented in week 4) and thereafter towards a 25 – 30 minute live performance.
Aims
This module aims to:
• consolidate and extend students’ conceptual and compositional skills by offering them an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present a live performance
• encourage the development of independent, self-directed learning by making students responsible for the negotiation and realisation of all aspects of the performance, under a tutor’s supervision
• develop students’ critical tools by inviting them to apply reflexive evaluation of the process up to and including the live performance in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
• consolidate and extend students’ conceptual and compositional skills by offering them an opportunity to conceive, develop, rehearse, produce and present a live performance
• encourage the development of independent, self-directed learning by making students responsible for the negotiation and realisation of all aspects of the performance, under a tutor’s supervision
• develop students’ critical tools by inviting them to apply reflexive evaluation of the process up to and including the live performance in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
Content
The process of the development of a collaborative performance piece will typically include the following:
• identification of existing models of contemporary theatre and performance practices from which to draw methods and approaches (e.g. Goat Island; Lone Twin Theatre; Frantic Assembly, etc.).
• research into and the application of different dramaturgical models
• appropriate scoring or scripting
• the planning and implementation of rehearsals and appropriate training
• the planning and implementation of scenographic and technological elements
• the exploration of a series of choices regarding the formation of a collaborative group
• the negotiation of roles within the group, starting points for the work, aesthetic choices and collaborative theatre-making methodologies
• the management of budget, time and technical resources
• the identification and evaluation of audience- performer relationships and the generation of appropriate staging for the live event
Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply reflexive and critical self-evaluation of the process leading up to the realisation of the performance event in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
• identification of existing models of contemporary theatre and performance practices from which to draw methods and approaches (e.g. Goat Island; Lone Twin Theatre; Frantic Assembly, etc.).
• research into and the application of different dramaturgical models
• appropriate scoring or scripting
• the planning and implementation of rehearsals and appropriate training
• the planning and implementation of scenographic and technological elements
• the exploration of a series of choices regarding the formation of a collaborative group
• the negotiation of roles within the group, starting points for the work, aesthetic choices and collaborative theatre-making methodologies
• the management of budget, time and technical resources
• the identification and evaluation of audience- performer relationships and the generation of appropriate staging for the live event
Throughout, students will be encouraged to apply reflexive and critical self-evaluation of the process leading up to the realisation of the performance event in the context of a wider understanding of contemporary theatre and performance.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | The ability to communicate ideas effectively orally is assessed directly through Assessment 1 and 2. Written communication is developed through Assessment 2 |
| 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 Assessments 1 and 2. |
| Information Technology | |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Transferable skills (managing personal workloads and meeting deadlines, designing and realizing assessment project) are developed through the completion of assessment tasks 1 and 2. Assessment task 1 provides students with an awareness of and skills in the devising of performance work, which are regarded as being valuable preparation for their move into professional practice. |
| Problem solving | Analytical problem solving, outcome recognition and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures are encouraged and assessed through both assessments. |
| Research skills | Appropriate personal and collaborative research and the development of effective personal and collaborative research |
| Subject Specific Skills | See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007). The following subject specific skills are developed and partly assessed: * reading the performance possibilities implied by a script, score and other textual or documentary sources * realising a script, score and other textual or documentary sources in public performance * 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 | The application of skills necessary to conduct collaborative activity, such as negotiating ideas and opinions, are developed throughout the module and directly assessed through Assessments 1 and 2. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6