Theatre & Performance Studies

Teaching staff: Dr Kélina Gotman
Module code: 7AAEM668
Credit level: 7
Semester:  Semester 2 (spring) 

This module introduces you to advanced scholarly research and writing practices in the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies, with an emphasis on language, historiography, ethnography, and performance-as-research, as well as performative writing. Questions that shape this module include: how and what do we see when we consider performance events in theatres or city spaces? How do we record, analyse, and disseminate these events? What frames (institutional or discursive) shape our objects of our analysis? What ethics, aesthetics, and politics of space, archives and print cultures determine our access to and understanding of the contours of theatre and performance?

Module code: 7AAEM667
Credit level: 7

The dissertation is compulsory for all students on the MA in Theatre and Performance Studies. The main component of this module is the completion of a 15,000 word dissertation (worth 75%) and a 4,000 word Critical Survey (worth 25%). Additional compulsory dissertation workshops will prepare students in research skills, in accordance with English Department practice.

Teaching staff: Dr Lara Shalson
Module code: 7AAEM669
Credit level: 7
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Assessment:  coursework 

This module investigates performance and performativity as key theoretical concepts informing contemporary critical inquiry across a range of disciplines. We will explore the disciplinary genealogies that have informed the development of performance studies as a distinctive paradigm, from theatre, linguistics, visual art, anthropology, and philosophy. We will consider the unique forms of knowledge produced by performance theory in its interactions with such theoretical approaches as psychoanalysis, phenomenology, speech act theory, literary theory, feminist and queer theory, postcolonial theory, ethics, and philosophies of science.

Module code: 7AAEM673
Credit level: 7
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn);  Semester 2 (spring); 

This module invites students to engage in a practical programme of study in the area of theatre and performance within an organisation or institution in the field. Fieldwork, guided research, and short-term projects will be determined in conjunction with the host institution, and draw from the areas of theatre, performance and gallery programming; strategy; research and development; archiving; education and outreach; and production, among others. These short-term projects and off-campus placements will allow students to integrate their academic programme of study on the MA with hands-on experience with theatre and performance organisations on the ground. Partner organisations (to be confirmed) include the National Theatre Archives, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Modern, Independent Dance, Turtle Key Arts, Clod Ensemble, and Fuel.

Students interested in the internship should discuss this with the programme convenor by the end of the first semester. All placements will be arranged on a competitive basis, and subject to availability. Students wishing to arrange placements with other organisations should discuss this with the convenor by the mid-point of the first semester.

Teaching staff: Dr Lara Shalson
Module code: 7AAEM670
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: One two hour seminar weekly
Assessment:  coursework 
1 x 1,000 word essay (mid semester, 20%);
1 x 3,000 word essay (end semester, 80%)

This module addresses intersecting histories of live art practices of the past fifty years, including Happenings, Body Art, Performance Art, and Experimental Theatre. We will consider how various media and art forms–including theatre, painting, sculpture, film, and photography—come together in live art practices. We will engage closely with the formal, political, and theoretical challenges posed by live art, including issues of spectatorship, duration, embodiment, liveness, ephemerality, and documentation.

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/english/modules/2012-13/level7/7aaem670.aspx

Teaching staff: Dr Theron Schmidt\
Module code: 7AAEM671
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Teaching pattern: One four hour seminar/lab weekly
Assessment:  coursework;  practical/s; 
Lab work presentation (end semester, 25%); 1 x 3,000 word essay (end semester, 75%)

This module provides students with the opportunity to develop individual and small-group theatre and performance projects as investigations into critical concepts in performance studies. Through sessions and workshops led by guest or resident artists, site visits and personal or group research, students will explore the idea of 'practice-based research', examining theoretical questions through practical exercises leading to performances, critical reflection and analysis. Assessment will be based on performance and written work. All sessions will be held in the Anatomy Theatre and Museum, unless otherwise noted.

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/english/modules/2012-13/level7/7aaem671.aspx

Teaching staff: Dr Theron Schmidt
Module code: 7AAEM672
Credit level: 7
Semester:  Semester 1 (autumn) 
Assessment:  coursework 

This course examines the ways in which theatre and performance practice might engage with issues of human rights. The emphasis of the course is on contemporary philosophical and artistic responses to the abuse, suspension, or appropriation of human rights ideals by modern States. We will discuss the way in which human rights has been framed within an Enlightenment tradition, and address both philosophical and performance-based challenges to this model.