Outline

Overview

How do we make meaning from our experience of text, movement, spatial design, costuming, lighting, sound and other elements of theatrical performance? Through practical workshops and theatre excursions, you will learn some basic production techniques and develop a critical language for analysing live performance.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	PRFM2602
Academic unit	Theatre and Performance Studies
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	PRFM2002
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Theatre and Performance Studies
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Paul Dwyer, paul.dwyer@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	Paul Dwyer, paul.dwyer@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Performance analysis essay Written submission	50%	Formal exam period Due date: 18 Nov 2022 at 23:59	2500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Description and analysis of a short performance sequence Written submission	20%	Week 05 Due date: 02 Sep 2022 at 23:59	800 words
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Critical reflection on workshop performances Written submission	30%	Week 10 Due date: 14 Oct 2022 at 23:59	1200 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found in the Canvas site for this unit.

Assessment criteria

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

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
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

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:

For assignments that come in after the due date, 5 whole marks will be deducted from the student's raw mark for each day (incl. weekends) that the assignment is late.

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.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	How do we "make sense" of theatre? NOTE: THE LECTURES IN THIS UNIT WILL ACTUALLY BE LECTURE "MODULES" IN CANVAS, CONTAINING PRE-RECORDED AUDIO AND VIDEO MATERIAL, ALONG WITH STUDY NOTES. THESE MODULES WILL BE RELEASED ON MONDAY MORNING. YOU NEED TO HAVE WORKED THROUGH THEM BEFORE YOUR TUTE EACH WEEK. THERE WILL ALSO BE AN OPTIONAL ZOOM SESSION (MONDAYS AT 4:15PM) FOR Q&A ABOUT THE LECTURE MATERIAL.	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 02	Considering theatre as "systems of signs"	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 02	Overview of the Unit Structure, Learning Outcomes and Assessment; Analysing theatre posters and promotional material	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 03	Theatre and phenomenology	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 03	Analysing video-recorded sequences of theatre productions	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 04	Signs and the Senses in Beckett, performance art and "postdramatic" theatre	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 04	Focus on Samuel Beckett short plays	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 05	Relationships between script and performance; introducing Gay McAuley's "Schema" for Performance Analysis	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 05	Performance-Making Workshop #1	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 06	Spatial Relationships in Performance Design	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 06	Performance-Making Workshop #2	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 07	Meaning through Position ("Blocking") and Meaning in the Movement Itself	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 07	Performance-Making Workshop #3	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 08	Narrative structures in performance	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 08	Performance Exchange; Briefing on Task #2	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 09	Segmentation ('editing') of performance	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 09	Script analysis	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 10	Paradigms ("clusters of special significance") in performance	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 10	Assembling raw notes on a performance	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 11	The limits of interpretation	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 11	Exploring paradigms in the analysis of case-study performances	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 12	Towards a socio-semiotic understanding of theatre	Individual study (1 hr)
Week 12	Workshopping performance analyses	Tutorial (2 hr)
Week 13	Q & A session with guest artist	Online class (1 hr)
Week 13	Essay Writing Workshop	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.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

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

The reading materials listed below are on the Library’s eReserve system and can be easily accessed through the Canvas site for PRFM2602.

Please read the assigned material before your tutorial class in the relevant week.

Week One

Counsell, Colin. 1996. Signs of Performance: An Introduction to Twentieth Century Theatre. London and New York: Routledge, pp.1-16.

Week Two

Shepherd, Simon and Mick Wallis. 2004. “Semiotics and Phenomenology” in Drama/Theatre/Performance. London: Routledge, pp.236-240.

Week Three

States, Bert O. 1985. “The World on Stage”. Chapter One in Great Reckonings in Little Rooms: On the Phenomenology of Theatre. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp.19-47.

Fortier, Mark. 2002. Excerpts from Chapter One (“Theatre, Life and Language: Semiotics, Phenomenology and Deconstruction”) in Theory/Theatre: An Introduction. London: Routledge, pp.17-46; 57-58.

Week Four

Beckett, Samuel. 1984. “Come and Go”, “Breath”, “Rockaby” & “Catastrophe” from Collected Shorter Plays. London and Boston: Faber and Faber.

Kalb, Jonathan. 1989. “Rockaby and the Art of Inadvertent Interpretation” in Beckett in Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.9-23.

Week Five

Carlson, Marvin. 1985. “Theatrical Performance: Illustration, Translation, Fulfilment, or Supplement?” Theatre Journal 37 (1), pp.5-11.

McAuley, Gay. 1998. “Performance Analysis: Theory and Practice”. About Performance: Working Papers 4. Centre for Performance Studies, University of Sydney.

Week Six

McAuley, Gay. 2010. “A Taxonomy of Spatial Function” in Theatre and Performance Design: A Reader in Scenography. Edited by Jane Collins and Andrew Nisbet. London: Routledge, pp.89-94. (Excerpted from McAuley, Gay. 1999. Space in Performance: Making Meaning in the Theatre. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp.24-32.)

Week Seven

Latham, David. 1988. “Movement Analysis and the Psychology of Movement, Based on the Work of Rudolph Laban (1879 – 1958)”. Unpublished teaching notes from a course at the Victorian College of the Arts: School of Drama.

Fenemore, Anna, Victor Ladrón de Guevara and Wendy Houstoun. 2011. “Body”. Chapter Two in Performance Perspectives: A Critical Introduction. Edited by Jonathan Pitches and Sita Popat. Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.20-51.

Week Eight

Vinaver, Michel. “Dissident, Goes Without Saying”. Unpublished translation by Paul Dwyer, performed by Public Works Theatre, June 1997.

Through Weeks 8-13, other readings (such as scripts and programs for shows that you are studying or sample performance analysis essays from previous PRFM2602 students) will be added to the items listed above.

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.

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

LO1. understand the positioning of theatre practices with respect to the many other genres that are often the object of research in performance studies courses
LO2. demonstrate understanding of, and put to work, key terms and concepts of semiotics and phenomenology
LO3. develop and support, through detailed analysis, an argument about what, and how, a performance can mean
LO4. demonstrate an awareness of the critiques to which semiotic theories and analytical methods have been subjected in recent decades
LO5. produce a small-scale workshop performance

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.

For those of us who are now back on Camperdown Capus and attending classes face-to-face, we expect we will be able to reinstate the excursions to live theatre shows that has long been a feature of this unit. For those who are still studying in remote/online mode, rest assured: in the last two years, we have developed a lot of expertise and resources for delivering this unit over Zoom.

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

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

PRFM2602: Performance: Production and Interpretation

Semester 2, 2022 [Normal day] - Remote

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

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