What you will study
You'll work on a range of workshops and across a wide range of performance styles. Through practical classes, you'll acquire analytical, choreographic, directorial, ensemble and performance techniques that will equip you to work in the performance industry.
You will be encouraged to develop projects through workshops, rehearsals and full productions. You'll also take part in Kingston's International Youth Arts Festival and the Camden Fringe Festival, gaining valuable professional experience and adding to your employability.
Modules
Each level is made up of four modules each worth 30 credit points. Typically, a student must complete 120 credits at each level.
Year 1
Core modules
Dance Techniques and Cultures 1
60 credits
This module provides students with the opportunity to further develop their technical and performance skills through engagement with learning, developing, refining and performance of dance techniques from contrasting styles (such as hip hop and contemporary dance styles). Students will learn through intensive practical classes led by professionals in the field, accompanied by seminars to support their ability to critically reflect on their development. There will be regular opportunities to present their work, experimenting with a variety of communication technologies and reaching multiple audiences.
The intensive technical training offered in this module will allow students to expand their vocabulary and increase their fitness level and movement dynamics, working with more challenging and advanced material. Students will continue to engage in reflective practice for personal and professional development. By proposing an integrated approach that blends technical and performance training with an understanding of the role that context and perspective play in shaping and communicating movement, the module aims to equip students with practical tools to become sector leaders and cultural advocates for dance.
The Actor and the Text
30 credits
This module complements and extends knowledge and understanding of key concepts of performance developed in Making Theatre Happen by focusing on the relationship between the actor and the written playtext.
There are two interweaving strands and each is designed to serve as a foundation for your ongoing studies. You will explore fundamental components of drama such as plot, action, character and dialogue and examine ways in which each is presented in a series of written playtexts. These plays are studied in detail and each is identified as a pretext for performance. You are introduced to ways of interrogating the texts and develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the relationship between what is written on the page and what is presented on the stage. The same playtexts are also used to explore a range of differing performance methodologies that can be utilised to identify the performance potentials of a text in a workshop environment. You are led through cycles of Preparation, Exploration and Realisation – understanding what these terms mean and the actions they consist of will be an important aspect of the module. You will not only learn appropriate ways in which to create intelligent and imaginative performance informed by a written text but also develop a range of acting skills necessary to perform them effectively.
Throughout the module you are also introduced to the basic principles of theatre lighting and sound and will be encouraged to explore the impact of these technical elements when used in a performance context.
Performance Vocabularies and Methods
30 credits
This module is a core requirement for all drama students at Level 4 and runs throughout the academic year. It operates and is assessed in conjunction with DA4001 Staging Histories. The module introduces students to significant skills, vocabularies and methods associated with creating performance and explores ways in which these may be applied within a range of dramatic and theatrical contexts. The main features of this module are the study and practice of key elements of performance such as the use of space, time, force (or energy); body and voice; play; interpersonal interaction onstage and off; performance structure and dynamics; and the creation of dramatic meaning and theatrical effect. In the first part of the module students participate in a variety of tutor-led exercises designed to increase their understanding and skills in these areas. These are drawn from methodologies and techniques developed by 20th and 21st century practitioner-theorists such as Anne Bogart; Rudolph Laban, Jacques Lecoq and Augusto Boal. They are also introduced to the basic principles of theatre lighting and sound. In the second part of the module they apply what they have learned in a student-led, staff-supervised project based around material studied in DA4001 Staging Histories.
Year 2
Core modules
Devising: Body and Technology
30 credits
This module builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills students gain in the Level 4, enabling them to develop and adapt these within the context of devising theatre. It begins with an exploration of dramaturgical principles in relation to devised performance with a focus on how companies and practitioners select and respond to stimulus material of different kinds and how they shape that material into performance. Students study and critique devised productions and engage in creative exercises which enable them to experiment with a range of methods and techniques of devising. They then explore ways in which these approaches can be utilised and adapted within community and applied contexts. They are introduced to principles of theatre as social intervention, studying examples of applied theatre practice and participating in workshops focused around the employment of devising techniques in community contexts with a particular emphasis on collaborative methodology.
Dance Techniques and Cultures 2
30 credits
This module provides students with the opportunity to further develop their technical and performance skills through engagement with learning, developing, refining and performance of dance techniques from contrasting styles (e.g. Hip Hop and contemporary dance styles). Students will learn through intensive practical classes led by professionals in the field, accompanied by seminars to support their ability to critically reflect on their development. There will be regular opportunities to present their work, experimenting with a variety of communication technologies and reaching multiple audiences.
Optional modules
Creating Dance 2
30 credits
This module will further develop core compositional techniques encouraging students to develop a more sophisticated and experimental approach to the development of their own choreographic practice with particular emphasis on choreographing on groups of dancers and working in different contexts e.g. site-specific contexts. This module will a explore the work of a range practitioners from diverse range of movement styles and vocabularies from practitioners refining the acquisition of social, political and historical understanding of choreographic contexts. This module encourages students to develop contextual awareness of practitioners, such as Alesandra Seutin to Kate Prince, Botis Seva to Benoit Swan Pouffer, to situate and locate their own practices with.
Hip Hop and Urban Performance Practices 1
30 credits
This module offers students the opportunity to gain valuable practical experience of black dance practices, such as hip hop, afrobeats and dancehall, and to develop skills in articulating the artistic and sociopolitical relevance of these practices. Through a combination of practical and theoretical learning the module lays a foundation for students to develop necessary skills and knowledge to become critically aware, articulate and accomplished practitioners. This includes working in the private commercial and public arts sectors as choreographers, dancers, teachers, producers and researchers.
The Theatre Director: crafting productions for the stage
30 credits
This module enables Level 5 Drama students to explore in detail a range of theatre rehearsal and production processes. Students will develop knowledge and understanding of the role and function of the theatre director in relation to the other key members of the creative team: actors, designers and technicians, and apply the skills and competencies they develop to the independent creation and production of theatre performance. The module's initial focus is directorial preparation. Students will use Katie Mitchell's The Director's Craft as a template to explore, amongst other things, production-focused play analysis; interpretation and Dramaturgy; workshopping the text and ways in which to rehearse a scene. This section of the module will culminate in the preparation and presentation of a rehearsal demonstration. They will then be encouraged to think about the production more broadly and produce a director's book demonstrating that they are able to consider carefully the perspectives and approaches of theatre designers and technicians whilst discovering effective ways to collaborate with the production team.
Popular Performance I: Mask and Clown
30 credits
This module runs throughout the academic year and introduces students to a range of European popular performance traditions. Commedia dell' arte, pantomime and clown are typical examples of these traditions although the module could equally focus on a number of other forms. The origins and histories of these modes of performance are examined and used as a foundation for the exploration of theory associated with academics and practitioners such as Jacques Lecoq, John Rudlin, Dario Fo and John Wright. Both the historical context and the theoretical framework provide a reliable basis for the practical exploration of essential techniques and conventions of performance associated with each of the forms studied. The mutable and capricious Clown, an enduring feature of popular performance, is a recurrent figure within the module and serves as a playful means of approaching concepts such as presence, play, and the role of the spectator in the creation of meaning as well as common themes such as marginality, transgression order and chaos.
Optional year
You have the option to take an additional year to study abroad.
Final year
Core modules
Dance Company
30 credits
This is a practical module designed to take students through the process of making a dance production, from initial conception to final performance whilst also further developing and applying advanced levels of dance techniques and dance training. The focus of the module is to provide students with the experience of being in a dance company and of working closely within professional contexts of training, creating, refining and consolidating final production pieces suitable for professional performance environments. Students will apply ideas and creative problem-solving skills acquired through prior learning, in more diverse performance settings. Students will work in company environments with their choreographer both in scheduled learning time and during independent study hours to create, rehearse and produce full-scale dance-based productions. Students will work in companies led by a module tutor with choreographic experience. The companies will be set be set by timetabled classes.
Drama Production Projects
30 credits
This module is a core requirement for single honours students. It enables students to develop ideas and research and carry them through to realisation. The assessment for this module is a capstone project which allows students to draw together their learning from across the degree and apply it in a 'real-world' context through the creation, rehearsal and performance of a theatre production.
This module is largely undertaken through independent group-based rehearsal, although there is also a series of presentations and workshops addressing specific areas such as groupwork strategies, problem-solving, rehearsal planning and scheduling, managing budgets and publicity and marketing. Students form groups, select roles and choose scripts, themes and modes of performance based on a 'pitch' they make and the feedback received at the end of Teaching Block One. The size of groups may vary but groups should not be made up of fewer than five students or more than 12. Each group will have a designated supervisor and a budget allocated on the basis of group size. The rehearsal process will be constructed around a series of formatively and summatively assessed stages such as work in progress performances, group and individual reflective exercises, submission of design and technical plans and presentation of publicity materials. Performances will be scheduled across a number of weeks in consultation with the Drama Technical Production Manager.
Optional modules
Creating Dance 3
30 credits
This module provides student with the opportunities to experiment, innovate and develop choreographic outputs for context of their choice. It will enable students to further develop artistic leadership skills, communication skills and organisational skills within a collaborative environment to produce a creative output. Moreover, the module enables students to draw on all aspects and disciplines explored throughout prior learning to support students' emerging professional identities as future leaders and dance artists who could work in the dance, participatory, and related arts sectors. It will support students to further develop their choreographic skills and leadership for creating work for specific communities and contexts that have relevance to the wider global world. At the end of the module students will present a performance/creative output such as a live performance, installation or video performance reflecting their aspirations for future choreographic work upon graduation. Students will be offered tutorials at the beginning of teaching block two to support the selection of their chosen pathway. Collaboration with dancers and practitioners in other art forms will be encouraged. To further develop students' professional identities, they will develop a portfolio of their creative work and critical evaluations of the influences on their creative practice.
Popular Performance II: Cabaret and Variety
30 credits
The cultural impact of music hall, variety theatre and differing incarnations of cabaret has been felt at various times since the latter half of the nineteenth century and the legacies of these traditions continue to inform a wide range of current performance practice. This year-long module, which is optional for all Drama students at Level 6 provides, an opportunity to study a range of popular performance forms from historical, theoretical and practical perspectives. It therefore enables students to investigate issues such as the impact of Modernism and the emerging avant garde on the cabaret culture that spread throughout Europe, but significantly not as far as the UK, during the late nineteenth century; the importance of the halls in the development of popular culture; the birth of alternative cabaret and subsequently alternative comedy as a reaction to the Thatcherite politics of the late 1970s and early 1980s; and the current popularity of neo-burlesque. It also supports the exploration of essential practicalities such as the development and expression of a performer's personality; establishing rapport with the audience; ways in which material might be generated; and the necessity of presence and spontaneity.
Hip Hop and Urban Performance Practices 2
30 credits
This module offers students a focused practical and contextual engagement with black dance practices, such as hip hop, afrobeats and dancehall. Students will develop skills in articulating the artistic and sociopolitical relevance of black performance practices through reflective discussion of their own work. The module enables students to refine dance skills and further develop embodied knowledge relevant to this sector. This focus helps in building the attributes required for the students to become articulate entrepreneurs and socially-aware pioneers in the dance industry. This includes working in the private commercial and public arts sectors as choreographers, dancers, teachers, producers and researchers.
Special Study: Tragedy, Catastrophe, Trauma
30 credits
Tragedy, Catastrophe, Trauma is a special-study option module in the third year Drama field, and may be taken by both single honours and joint honours students. The module examines how ideas about tragedy have changed, and how these changes have produced different forms of tragedy at different times. The major emphasis of the module is on approaches such as Howard Barker's Theatre of Catastrophe, where the idea of tragedy is re-worked in relation to the practitioner's understanding of contemporary social, political and cultural contexts. The main feature of the module is critically-informed experimentation with staging a tragic drama for today. The module is taught through practical workshops exploring key texts in the development of tragedy. These texts are introduced and contextualised through a series of seminars and research tasks. The module is assessed formatively through presentations in class, and summatively through an academic essay, and the performance of an extract from a Barker play. Core materials are provided through Study Space and the LRC. This module provides students with an independent and in-depth practical and critical engagement with the origins, development and significance of different forms of tragic theatre.
Special Study: Applied Theatre
30 credits
Applied Theatre is a placement-learning module, which investigates the process of making drama and theatre in communities and non-traditional performance spaces, both practically and critically.
The main emphasis of the module is on developing the practical skills and contextual understanding needed to facilitate theatre processes and/or performances in partnership with a local community group or organisation. The main feature of the module in Semester One is a structured experimentation with a range of applied theatre techniques, which are read against important critical questions. This part of the module is taught through seminars and practical workshops, exploring case studies, key concepts and techniques, critical questions, ethics, aesthetics, and project design. In Semester Two, the main feature of the module is the delivery of a practical drama, theatre or performance project, of a significant scale, and taking place in partnership with a chosen constituency within the local community. This part of the module is made up of independent, student-led research and practice. The student project is supervised practically through placement visits by Drama staff, ongoing creative laboratories, as well as by the submission of research, project design and planning materials. The module is assessed formatively through presentations in class of practice and research, and summatively through the delivery of the placement project, reflective writing, and, where necessary, an end of project viva.
