New Media in Performance

This module will introduce students to practical and theoretical innovations in contemporary theatre and performance, brought about by a consideration and response to new technologies and forms of information exchange available in the late 20th/early 21st Centuries. Through a mix of practical and theoretical exploration, students will consider how the live body on stage is commented upon, mediatised or celebrated through technological intervention.
The module represents an attempt to contextualise theatre and performance practice in relation to contemporary media, art and related disciplines. Technologies of sound and music, virtual reality, video and digital media, web casting and email dialogue have all recently been incorporated into play texts and live performances, this module will introduce students to the reactive nature of selected practitioners of contemporary performance who could be seen to be responding to, and questioning the use-value of new technologies at the beginning of the 21st Century.