Outline

Overview

What if all the world really is a stage? In this unit, you will learn key theories and conceptual tools for analysing the broad spectrum of performance events that lie beyond what is conventionally associated with the term 'theatre'. You will conduct original research, focusing on how performance (re)constitutes identity and (re)forms a culture.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	PRFM2601
Academic unit	Theatre and Performance Studies
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	PRFM2001
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level from PRFM including PRFM1601
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Amanda Card, amanda.card@sydney.edu.au
Tutor(s)	Laura Ginters, laura.ginters@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Research essay Essay	50%	Formal exam period Due date: 05 Jun 2024 at 23:59	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response #1 Short Answer	10%	Week 03 Due date: 08 Mar 2024 at 23:59	400 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response #2 Short Answer	10%	Week 06 Due date: 29 Mar 2024 at 23:59	400 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Short response #3 Short answer	10%	Week 07 Due date: 12 Apr 2024 at 23:59	400 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research proposal Essay template	20%	Week 10 Due date: 03 May 2024 at 23:59	800 words
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ?

Assessment summary

Assessments 1, 2 & 3. We begin with three simple tasks (400 words each, 1,200 words in total). These three short pieces of writing offer a real world example, preferably from your own experience, that shows your understanding of the theories of performance you have encountered in the preceding weeks.

Weeks 1-3: performance, identity, style, bodies
Weeks 4-6: performance, community, status, bodies
Weeks 7-8: performance and ritual

Research Proposal. This proposal (800 words) is based on an event you have attended, chosen across the early weeks of semester in consultation with your tutor. This proposal will follow a template provided on Canvas and form the basis of you Essay. Your Research Proposal is marked and discussed at an individual meeting with your tutor on Weeks 11 and 12. This proposal is compulsory and you cannot submit your essay without first having contributed your proposal and meet with your tutor.

Essay. Based on your Research Proposal, and the one-on-one feedback, you submit a 2,5000 word essay.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

In this unit of study ALL Assessments must be attempted to pass the course. Detailed rubrics are available for each Assessment on Canvas.

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Exceptional work
Distinction	75 - 84	Work of a high standard
Credit	65 - 74	Work of a good standard
Pass	50 - 64	Work of an adequate standard
Fail	0 - 49	Does not meet satisfactory standards

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

5 marks a day. To avoid this penalty, apply for a Simple Extension through Sydney Student (up to 5 days). Special Consideration should be sort for longer periods of extension. If you are struggling to submit work or attend class please get in touch with your tutor before assessments are due.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy 2023 reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy 2023. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	All the world's a stage? (all lectures are online, they will available each week on Monday by 8am, if not before)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 01	Theories of P(p)erformance	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 02	Performance, Identity, Style, Bodies #1 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 02	Performance, Identity, Style, Bodies #1	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Performance, Identity, Style, Bodies #2 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 03	Performance, Identity, Style, Bodies #2	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	Performance, community, status, bodies #1 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 04	Performance, community, status, bodies #1	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Performance, community, status, bodies #2 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 05	Performance, community, status, bodies #2	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Performance, community, status, bodies #3 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 06	Performance, community, status, bodies #3	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Performance and Ritual #1 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 07	Performance and Ritual #1	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Performance and Ritual #2 (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 08	Performance and Ritual #2	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Your Event (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 09	Your Event	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	Your Proposal (online, available Monday 8am)	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 10	Your Proposal	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	Research Proposals--individual student consultations to discuss proposals and give feedback.	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 12	Research Proposals--individual student consultations to discuss proposals and give feedback.	Workshop (3 hr)
Week 13	Recap	Lecture (1 hr)
Week 13	From Research Proposal to Essay	Tutorial (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold. Please contact your tutor if you are unable to attend the workshop for reasons of illness or misadventure.

All lectures are prerecorded. All lectures will be available on Canvas the Monday of the relevant week with tutorials on the Wednesdays (tutorials will not be recorded). It is expected that all students will attend their workshop having listened to the pre-recorded lecture for that week. There is no face to face lecture at 8pm on Monday mornings, this is merely a time table reminder that you need to listen to the lecture.

Tutorials are not recorded

All Assessments must be attempted to pass the course.

Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours preparation time (listening to lecture reading, studying, homework, reading essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction (2 hour tutorials = 6 hours prep).

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Readings (not all these readings are compulsory. Some are used in lectures, but all will be available on Canvas)

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. ‘Structures and the Habitus’. In Outline for a Theory of Practice, Cambridge University.

Butler, J. 1998. Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 519-531

Connell, Catherine and Ashley Mears, 2018. Bourdieu and the Body, in The Oxford Handbook of Pierre Bourdieu, Thomas Mevetz and Jeffery J. Sallaz (eds), New York: Oxford University Press

Deer, Cecile. 2008. Doxa, in M. Grenfield (ed), Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, Acumen.

Dolezal, Luna. 2017. “The Phenomenology of Self-Presentation: Describing the Structures of Intercorporeality with Erving Goffman.” Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences, Vol. 16, No. 2.

Foster, Susan Leigh, 2019. Valuing Dance: Commodities and Gifts in Motion, Oxford University Press

Hage, Ghassan. 2013. Eavesdropping on Bourdieu’s philosopher, Thesis Eleven, Vol. 114, No. 1, pp. 76-93

Hochschild, A. R, 2003. The commercialization of intimate life : notes from home and work. University of California Press.

Garner, Helen. 2005/2016. In the Wings, Everywhere I Look, Melbourne: Text Publishing, pp. 218-227.

Goffman, Erving, 1959. The presentation of self in Everyday life, New York: Doubleday

Gornick, Vivian, 2002. Situation and the Story: The Art of Personal Narrative, Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York

Entwistle, Joanne. 2015. Fashion and the Fleshy Body: Dress as Embodied Practice, Fashion Theory 4.3, pp. 323–347.

Lewis, John Lowell. 2013. Chapter 3 Rituals and Ritual- Like Genres, Special Events and Everyday Life, in The Anthropology of Cultural Performance, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 43-63

Maton, Karl. 2008. Habitus. In Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, M. Grenfell (editor), Acumen, pp. 49–65.

Maxwell, Ian, 2015. My Big Fat Greek Baptism. In Performance and Temporalisation: Time Happens. Grant, McNeilly and Veerapen (ed.), Basingstoke, U.K: Palgrave Macmillan, Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Moran, Joe, 2018. First Write a Sentence, Penguin.

Robbins, D. 2008. Theory of Practice, Pierre Bourdieu: Key Concepts, M. Grenfell (editor), Acumen.

Rossmanith, Kate, 2018. Courtroom Appearances, Small Wrongs: How we really say sorry in love, life and law, Melbourne: Hardie Grant, pp. 1-4.

Rossmanith, Kate, 2023. On Not Asking ‘Should I Insert Myself in the Text?’, Sydney Review of Books, September.

Turner, Victor W. 1982. ‘Liminal to Liminoid, in Play, Flow, Ritual: An Essay in Comparative Symbology’. In From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play, pp. 20–59. New York : Performing Arts Journal Publications.

Turner, Victor, 1990. Are there rituals of performance in myth, ritual and drama?, in By Means of Performance: Intercultural Studies in Theatre and Ritual, R. R. Schechner and W. Appel, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 8-18

Wacquant, Loïc J.D. 1995. ‘Pugs at Work: Bodily Capital and Bodily Labour among Professional Boxers’. Body & Society 1 (1). SAGE Publications: pp. 65–93.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. understand the contributions of some key thinkers to the development of performance studies
LO2. apply methods drawn from the work of these thinkers in order to analyse a variety of performance events
LO3. draw on general theories of performance as a conceptual lens for understanding some non-theatrical events in everyday life
LO4. demonstrate an embodied understanding of, and response to, key concepts
LO5. plan and execute a piece of independent performance research.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Modifications have regularly been made to the delivery of this course in response to student feedback.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

PRFM2601: Being There: Theories of Performance

Semester 1, 2024 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect