Module Information

Module Identifier
TP30320
Module Title
Performance and Disability
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Reading List

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Presentation  15 Minutes  50%
Semester Assessment Essay  A critical response to one of the set questions. 2000 Words  50%
Supplementary Assessment Essay  A critical response to one of the set questions. 2000 Words  50%
Supplementary Assessment Presentation  15 Minutes  50%

Learning Outcomes

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

Demonstrate an advanced understanding of social, cultural and aesthetic perspectives on disability representations in theatre and performance.

Critically engage with the work of disabled artists through an analysis of historical, theoretical, and aesthetic approaches.

Evaluate and respond to disability representations in theatre and theory, using a critical and analytical vocabulary

Present live critical reflection to an audience on themes and/or issues covered on the module.

Brief description

This module will offer an overview of disability and performance via lectures and seminars that will be structured around three themes: Historical representations, Activism, and Disability Aesthetics. Over the 10 weeks of teaching the module will look at key theorists and social/political shifts, and how theatre and performance artists have moved alongside theorists and been at the forefront of contemporary understandings of disability and aesthetics. Examples from the Global North are the focus for much of this module as this privileged minority has driven recent scholarship. However, examples from the majority Global South will be given as examples of how different cultural contexts form specific responses and actions to disability and performance.

Aims

This module aims to develop to students' interest in, and awareness of, disability in general and to expand critical knowledge and understanding about theatre and performance. The module aims to develop critical awareness of disability aesthetics and the potential of theatre and performance to illuminate discourses around normativity and the potential of theatre and performance to critique and expand such discourses and resultant material effects on people.

Content

Each week the module will be taught as a 1 hour lecture and 1 hour seminar:

The module will cover the following topics:

1. Historical understandings of disability and illness
2. The Medical Model and the Social Model
3. Aesthetics 1
4. Aesthetics 2
5. Aesthetics 3
6. Learning/Intellectual disability
7. Deaf cultural approaches
8. Radical acts
9. Current Issues and Developments: Austerity
10. Politics and Implications for the future.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Creative Problem Solving This skill is required as part of the second assessment in particular
Critical and analytical thinking critical and analytical thinking is a key aspect of the module
Professional communication The presentation requires students to develop and demonstrate appropriate oral communication
Reflection Reflecting on the issues, concepts and practice presented on the module is key

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6