Drama Studies BA (Hons) (Single and Joint Honours) year one modules

The Drama Studies BA (Hons)| modules listed below are just to give you a flavour of what is available in your first year and are subject to change.

Single Honours only

A Technical Introduction to Drama
This module is designed to introduce students to a range of technical aspects of drama. The first half of the module will include the practical aspects of lighting, sound and audio-visual technologies. During these sessions, students will receive instruction on how to use and understand available technical sound and lighting equipment in the context of various dramatic genres and performance spaces (including site-specific and off-site spaces). These sessions will include practical performance work that relates to ‘A Contextual Introduction to Performance’ that will develop technical performance skills and pratcice. The second half of the module will include the theory and practice of technical design in the construction of meaning in performance.  Students will be able to technically explore and realise a dramatic text explored in ‘Texts and Stages’. This module is core for all Single Honours Drama students.

A Contextual Introduction to Performance
This module invites students to engage with a range of 20th century and contemporary performance practices in a manner that is informed by both historical and theoretical contexts. The module is designed to enable students to make connections with material encountered on other year one modules such as ‘Texts and Stages’ and ‘Acting, Scripting and Directing' by tracing the development of and influences upon avant-garde performance practice. Students will also have the opportunity of developing a practical understanding of this material on ‘Technical Introduction to Drama’. We will also critically consider the creation, viewing and documentation of avant-garde performance and performer training, exploring the different relationships, power structures and dynamics, which are embedded in these processes.

Single and Joint Honours

Acting, Directing, Scripting
This studio-based module is designed to introduce students to a range of performance and writing skills.  It allows students to develop a range of key practical skills that they will further refine and build upon at levels 2 and 3, as well as explore key theoretical concepts and concerns. Studio sessions are designed to explore theory through practice and cover the following (overlapping) topics:  Play/playing (games; ritual; performing); performing (acting/non-acting/ representation); meaning and representation (objects, bodies, spaces and words).

Texts and Stages
This module introduces students to the study of drama in historical and cultural contexts. Over the year students will study a range of texts from four distinct periods and places: 5th century Greece, Renaissance England, 20th century Britain and Ireland and post-1945 America. The module will develop students’ awareness of the relationship between drama and the social conditions of its time, paying particular attention to performance practices and audience as well as encouraging a close reading of texts. It will also lead students to make informed comparisons and contrasts between genres, performance practices and dramatic theories from different times and places.