PRFM2603 - Between Impro & Text: Making Performance

Semester 2, 2011  |  Credit Points: 6

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

Description

Some performances seem firmly text-based (a David Williamson play; the libretto/score of a Wagnerian opera). Others involve more or less spontaneous "composition-in-performance" (Commedia dell' Arte, Theatresports, "free jazz"). Yet, whatever the form, performance is always the thing you get when skilled artisans "assume a responsibility to an audience and to tradition as they understand it" (Dell Hymes). In this unit, we analyse the interactions between literary and primarily oral traditions of performance, questioning assumptions about the historical primacy of texts.

Assessments

1x1200-1500wd tutorial paper related to group performance work (40%), 1x2500wd essay on rehearsal practices (50%), continuous assessment and formative tasks (10%)

Textbooks

Selected readings available from the University Copy Centre

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 from Table A

Prohibitions

PRFM3005

The information displayed above is indicative only as online information is subject to change without notice. The Faculty Handbook and the University of Sydney Calendar are the official legal source of information relating to study at the University of Sydney