Postgraduate taught 

Playwriting & Dramaturgy MLitt

Applied Theatre: Contextual Practices and Critical Pedagogies THEATRE5041

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Culture and Creative Arts
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

This introductory course offers insights into the critical and theoretical frameworks, as well as the wide-ranging practices and outputs associated with applied arts theatre. Through a range of participatory learning methods, students will be asked to combine an exploration of the ethical and representational issues at play within this field of theatre-making, with the development of skills required to further pursue a career in the socially-engaged, justice orientated arts sector.     

Timetable

8 x 3 hour in-person Seminars 

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

Equivalent of 1000-reflection in either a BLOG, Audio Recording or VLOG format (20%)

2,500 word essay focused on Case Studies (50%)

Project Proposal Workshop Presentation (group assessed) (30%)

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ Provide an overview of the rich local and international historical legacy of applied and/or community theatre

■ Introduce leading ethical and academic discourses surrounding applied theatre in a contemporary context

■ Offer insights into the wide-ranging pedagogies that are employed within applied theatre practice, as well as the broad contexts within which these processes take place

■ Strengthen students' knowledge of practical, logistical and creative skills required to practice applied theatre in a professional context

■ Provide a learning experience that expands each student's experience of participatory methods in practice 

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the key theoretical and critical discourses underpinning contemporary applied theatre 

■ Apply an intellectual and ethical rigour when examining the relevant pedagogical and methodological approaches taken across the professional discipline 

■ Reflect openly, and critically about their own positionality in relation to the applied or community contexts they are interested in engaging with

■ Demonstrate an embodied understanding of facilitation, collaboration and key creative practices that are central to applied theatre-making processes 

■ Produce written, oral and creative work that illuminates on the core course strands, and reflects their developed knowledge across the time-frame of the module 

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.