Key Practitioners in Drama and Theatre

Key Practitioners in Drama and Theatre accompanies and builds on students’ skills, knowledge and understanding gained during PERF07006 From Page to Stage.  The key focus here is on exploring the links between the work of practitioners and how they have influenced contemporary theatre makers.  For example, students might examine how a company such as Complicité connects with Le Coq’s movement techniques, or the legacy of Brecht on contemporary political theatre.

Indicative content may include:

• Techniques, approaches and practices of contemporary companies and artists such as Kneehigh, Frantic Assembly, Complicité, Out of Joint, Gecko, Steven Berkoff, Paper Birds, and Tim Crouch.
• Foundational approaches of Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Lee Strasberg, Meyerhold, Grotowski, Brecht, Artaud, Edward Gordon Craig, Jacques Le Coq, Keith Johnstone, Robert Wilson, Anne Bogart, Uta Hagen, Augusto Boal, Laban, and Joan Littlewood.
• The relationship between practitioners and contemporary theatre: e.g., immersive theatre (Gordon Craig, Wilson) verbatim and documentary theatre (Brecht, Boal, Littlewood), physical theatre (Meyerhold, Laban, Grotowski), and improvisation (Johnstone, Strasberg).  Throughout the module, students will have opportunities to interrogate their own emerging understanding of practitioner influence by producing their own performance work.

On successful completion of this module the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate how specific practitioner techniques have influenced the realisation of a live performance.
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the interplay between practitioner techniques and approaches to contemporary theatre making.
• Demonstrate competency in staging a live performance event.

This is an SCQF Level 7 module and upon successful completion, participants will be awarded 20 credits.

Delivery 

Planned timetable as follows (subject to change):

• Monday 12th May 2025: Online, 6pm to 8pm
• Monday 19th May 2025: Online, 6pm to 8pm
• Saturday 24th May 2025: Ayr campus, 10am to 4pm
• Saturday 31st May 2025: Ayr campus, 10am to 4pm
• Monday 9th June 2025: Online, 6pm to 8pm
• Monday 16th June 2025: Online, 6pm to 8pm
• Monday 23rd June 2025: Online, 6pm to 8pm
• Saturday 12th July 2025: Ayr campus, 10am to 4pm

Course presenters

This module will be delivered by Dr James Layton and Dr Henry Bell.

NOTE: This is a university module and upon approval of your application, you will be invited to register and then supported to complete enrolment. To enrol on the university system, the first step involves security set-up using the Microsoft Authenticator app; you will need to ensure that you have a compatible smartphone.

Further information is available at the Student Information Portal.

To access this module via the CPD route, individuals should be ordinarily resident in Scotland.  If you do not meet this criteria, please enquire here.