2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ENGL3036 Speech Acts: Contemporary Approaches to Text and Performance

20 creditsClass Size: 13

School of English

Module manager: Dr Benjamin Dunn
Email: b.a.dunn@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Speech Acts is a workshop-based module that explores the relationship between text, theatre, and performance. Drawing on key theorists and practitioners, this module explores a range of contemporary approaches to developing, presenting, and performing text, considering how and why they emerged in response to contemporary contexts and developments. Speech Acts explores these ideas in practice, providing opportunities for students to develop their own area of inquiry and interest within this field.

Objectives

• On completion of this module, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate practical understanding of a range of methods for developing and performing text
2. Identify and articulate relationships between practice and theory, positioning their own work within a specific conceptual field
3. Apply understanding of the relationship between text and performance, selecting appropriate strategies and techniques depending on audience and outcome
4. Work effectively to plan and realise performance ideas

Learning outcomes
• Workshops will support in-depth practical understanding of contemporary approaches to developing, presenting, and performing text, and their outcomes for audiences and meaning making in performance
• Selected reading and facilitated discussion will support a critical understanding of the relationship between text and performance, and related social and politics affects
• Critical reflection on contemporary practice and practitioners will develop students’ understanding of the field, mapping work undertaken in class on to the wider context of the cultural sector
• Written and practical work will explore the theoretical and aesthetic relationships between text and performance, providing opportunities to develop a specific area of inquiry and expertise within this field
• The practical assessment and regular scratch performances will provide opportunities to develop and refine practical skills

Syllabus

Speech Acts examines the ways in which contemporary theatre practitioners engage with and use text in their work, and the implications for how we think about and understand theatre and performance. Considering text and meaning as social phenomena, this practice-focused module looks at a range of strategies for developing, performing, and presenting text and their different theatrical and dramaturgical outcomes. The first six weeks of the module will explore key practitioners in context to develop understanding, not only of the practices themselves, but of how they operate socially, conceptually, and politically. This module will examine the ways in which contemporary developments such as globalisation, digital media, and identity politics have complicated the status of the play text and traditional modes of performance, to consider the new modes of performance that have emerged in response. A focus on student-led practical work, scratch performances, and peer-feedback will provide opportunities to develop in-depth understanding of these methods. Indicative practitioners include: the Wooster Group, Quarantine, Tim Crouch, Glas(s) Performance, Riptide, Selina Thompson.
In the final weeks of the module, you will develop your own area of inquiry within this field. Your written assessment will provide the opportunity to investigate a theory or concept in depth, identifying and examining the relationship between theory and an example of practice, to outline the conceptual terrain of your own performance work. You will work with your tutor to develop a research question to be explored and developed in practice and, individually or in small groups, over the final weeks of the module you will work towards a piece of performance as your final submission.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Student-led discussion	6	2.00	12.00
Practical	9	2.00	18.00
Seminar	1	2.00	2.00
Independent online learning hours			168.00
Private study hours			0.00
Total Contact hours			32.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Students will receive ongoing feedback on their learning and engagement with practical and theoretical material during the workshops. Additionally, a mid-semester performance proposal will invite students to make links between their planned performance and ideas explored on the course, providing opportunities for feedback on their understanding of critical and theoretical concepts, and how they are being applied. Students will also receive feedback from the tutor and other students during the process of developing their final piece for assessment, which will provide feedback on how effectively they are realising their ideas, and constructive advice for how to develop and improve their work. Finally, week 11 is planned as a reflection session, providing an opportunity for students to gather feedback on their performance from their audience, reflect on their progress throughout the module, and how they have engaged with their own learning.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1750-2250 word essay	30.00
Practical	10-15 minute performance examining themes and practices introduced through the module	60.00
Reflective log	A series of 100-200 word reflections identifying a key moment of learning from the self-directed sessions in weeks 1-6, and the development sessions in weeks 7-9.	10.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 22/05/2024

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