PRFM2602 - Performance: Production & Interpretation

Semester 1, 2011  |  Credit Points: 6

Coordinator: Paul Gregory Dwyer
Phone: +61 2 9351 6850
Email: paul.dwyer@sydney.edu.au

Description

How do the members of an audience make meaning from their experience of theatrical performance? How (and to what extent) can theatre-makers guide this process through the use of text, movement, spatial design, costuming, lighting, sound and other production elements? In this unit of study, students will attend events at a number of Sydney theatres and develop a critical language for analysing live performance. Practical workshops will also provide an introduction to theatre production techniques.

Assessments

1x750wd brief semiotic analysis of a poster/flyer advertising a theatre performance and description/analysis of a moment from the actual performance (20%), 1x1250wd tutorial paper (with an appendix of brief homework tasks/research notes) arising from a performance-making exercise in workshops (30%),
1x2500wd completed performance analysis essay, including a reflective commentary on methodology (50%)

Textbooks

Selected readings available through the Unversity Copy Centre
Recommended Readings:
Counsell, C. and W. Wolf, eds. Performance Analysis: An Introductory Coursebook (London: Routledge, 2001) McAuley, G. Space in Performance: Making Meaning in the Theatre (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999) Whitmore, J. Directing Postmodern Theatre: Shaping Signification in Performance (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994)

Classes

1x1-hr lecture/week, 1x2-hr tutorial/week

Prerequisites

18 junior credit points in no more than two subject areas including at least 12 credit points from Table A

Prohibitions

PRFM2002

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