Critical Frameworks

Tutor(s): Dr Glenn Odom
Assessment: essay (2000 words) [90%], participation [10%]

This module is designed to extend and deepen students’ abilities in semiotic analysis first developed in Encountering Theatre at Level 4. It demonstrates how semiotic approaches to analysis are incorporated within and sometimes supplemented by a range of ‘critical frameworks’: theoretical approaches to analysing plays and performances. Students are guided through adopting each approach in turn to consider a number of relevant performances. They rehearse ways of reading performance texts, carry out textual analysis and develop skills in research and essay-writing that will be used in the Level 6 Dissertation module.

The module is divided into a series of two-week blocks, each exploring a different critical framework (e.g. globalization; race; spatial theory; technology). The first week of each block involves a lecture introducing students to the theoretical approach and to key critical terms and issues within it; the second week takes the form of an ‘analysis workshop’, where the group experiments with applying the theory to a specific case study. The case studies will be a mix of scripted plays, screened productions and, where possible, live performances.