In this course, students gain an in-depth knowledge of the structures, frameworks, and practices that make the contemporary theatre industry flourish in London. Connecting dramatic theory with practice, students engage directly with the “makers” of both traditional and alternative theatre sectors, with particular emphasis on the non-mainstream. Seminar discussions will be led by the tutor, the students themselves, and guest practitioners from the industry. The curriculum includes regular field study.
Learning outcomes:
Students will demonstrate the ability through class discussion and written assignments to engage in current debates and dialogue regarding the theatre industry in London.
Students will explore the relationship between dramatic theory and practice.
Through first-hand experience and continually-assessed reflection, students will gain an understanding of non-mainstream theatre, including non-verbal performance.
Students will incorporate into their written and verbal analyses information gleaned from interviews with field practitioners (e.g., guest speakers, writers, directors, and/or designers).
Students will demonstrate through class discussion and written assignments that they are knowledgeable about the Arts Council funding practice.
Method of presentation:
Seminar discussions, field study visits, and workshops.
There is some flexibility required with regards to the dates and times we meet outside of the regular class slot, in which case there will always be notice given.
Required work and form of assessment:
In-class participation (10%)
Journal in which students reflect on and current theatre events and site visits (30%) Lead a discussion on an assigned academic text (10%)
Presentation on final paper topic (15%) Please note the paper is not handed in on the week in which you
present; the presentation is to enhance and focus your paper
Final paper of 2500 words in which the student compiles original research and analysis of one movement or practitioner (35%)
content:
To reiterate: the order of sessions and specific works, field visits, and guest practitioners are subject to change based on production and practitioner availability. Also, the specific subject of the practical workshops may well be changed to take advantage of what or who becomes available. The final content will be finalized the first few weeks of class.
(The show in brackets indicates the production seen the previous week in Theatre in London class. Exact titles given in Week 1.)
Week 1: (Show 1)
Explanation of course module & discussion around main differences between American and British theatre cultures – referencing The Musical, Censorship, Ritual, Arts Council Funding & the Olympics
2012.
There will be a clarification of Academic weighting – particularly of the role of the Journal writing.
Week 2: (Show 2)
Site Visit. A production from the London International Mime Festival (Spring) or London Dance Umbrella
(Fall) followed by a Q&A with the company members after the production.
Week 3: (Show 3)
Radio drama workshop; additionally, each student will select the material they will record for voiceover at the end of the semester.
Week 4: (Show 4)
Casting Workshop with a Casting Director. Presentation 1 on Boal will be offered (20 mins long)
Week 5: (Show 5)
(Fall) Boal Forum Theatre production hosted by the company ‘Cardboard Citizens’. This ‘show’ will be observed on tour, in a homeless hostel, during this session time.
(Spring) Shakespeare workshop at a homeless resource centre - Playscripts at Skylight at the slightly later time of 5.00 - 8.00. This is a Cardboard Citizens initiative with Peter Searles. OR;
There is also opportunity for any of the groups to attend voluntarily a Forum Theatre Workshop on Mondays at Skylight between 3.00 and 5.00. Interested students should speak with the professor regarding. This is highly recommended for those students writing on Forum Theatre
Week 6: (Show 6)
Meet at IES Abroad (time TBD) for individual tutorials with the instructor to finalize final paper topics and develop a plan for putting together a successful paper and presentation and to visit again the
journal writing and guidelines for grading. Meet an actor or director from one of the shows seen to date.
Presentation on 3 of the set texts: The Empty Space, The Shifting Point and Grotowski.
MIDTERM
Week 7: (Show 7)
Guest speaker - Stephen Rice from the Actors’ Union Equity to give a talk on the role of unionisation within the profession. Following this session, students will reflect in their journals on how their personal assumptions about the acting profession have been challenged or changed by the guest speakers to date.
Following, travel elsewhere to join the tech or dress rehearsal for a Drama School Production, this will take the rest of the evening.
Week 8: (Show 8)
Practitioners’ workshop on Shakespeare and the iambic pentameter and an introduction to the authorship debate. Students to lead discussion on final 2 of the assigned texts (20 mins each) The Field
of Drama and Brecht on Theatre.
Week 9: (Show 9)
Performance Art at the British Library (Spring)
Attend rehearsals for Pantomime (Fall)
Week 10: (no shows from now on)
Presentation of 4 of the research papers (30 mins each)
(Spring only) On the lunchtime of the Wed or Thu of this week you will attend a Showcase of graduating performance students from a leading London drama School.
Week 11:
Presentations on remainder 3 papers (30 mins each). Workshop on the pantomime and attend the professional production of the pantomime observed in rehearsal (Fall only)
Week 12:
Record voice-over clips each in professional voiceover studio in Soho.
Required readings:
Babbage, Frances. Augusto Boal. Routledge. Barba, Eugenio. The Paper Canoe. Routledge.
Boal, Augusto. Theatre of the Oppressed. Pluto Press.
Brook, Peter. The Empty Space. Methuen.
Brook, Peter. The Shifting Point. Methuen. Esslin, Martin. The Field of Drama. Methuen.
McConachie, Bruce, and Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei, Gary Jay Williams, and Phillip B. Zarrilli, Eds. Theatre Histories. Routledge.
Esslin, Martin Brecht on Theatre, Methuen Joel Schechter. Popular Theatre. Routledge. Grotowski, Jerzy Towards a Poor Theatre, Methuen
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Marina Caldarone is a theatre director, BBC Radio drama producer, acting coach in film and television, and is actively involved in monitoring actor training in Britain. Her book, Actions – An Actor’s Thesaurus, is a set text in every drama school in Britain and in many schools in the U.S. She has written five monologue/duologue collections and is in commission for another 4 texts. Having received her BA Honours Drama degree from University College of Wales, she has worked since 1984 in the main London Drama Schools, Universities (Thames Valley University, Birckbeck, Middlesex University and City University), and at The Actors’ Centre. Marina has held key positions at a number of different theatres, including Theatre Clwyd, The Queens Theatre the National Theatre Studio. Still directing theatre, (more than 100 productions in Britain and abroad to date), she began working in radio in 2000 as a producer, the year she started teaching at IES Abroad.
In this course, students gain an in-depth knowledge of the structures, frameworks, and practices that make the contemporary theatre industry flourish in London. Connecting dramatic theory with practice, students engage directly with the “makers” of both traditional and alternative theatre sectors, with particular emphasis on the non-mainstream. Seminar discussions will be led by the tutor, the students themselves, and guest practitioners from the industry. The curriculum includes regular field study.
Seminar discussions, field study visits, and workshops.
There is some flexibility required with regards to the dates and times we meet outside of the regular class slot, in which case there will always be notice given.
In-class participation (10%)
Journal in which students reflect on and current theatre events and site visits (30%) Lead a discussion on an assigned academic text (10%)
Presentation on final paper topic (15%) Please note the paper is not handed in on the week in which you
present; the presentation is to enhance and focus your paper
Final paper of 2500 words in which the student compiles original research and analysis of one movement or practitioner (35%)
To reiterate: the order of sessions and specific works, field visits, and guest practitioners are subject to change based on production and practitioner availability. Also, the specific subject of the practical workshops may well be changed to take advantage of what or who becomes available. The final content will be finalized the first few weeks of class.
(The show in brackets indicates the production seen the previous week in Theatre in London class. Exact titles given in Week 1.)
Week 1: (Show 1)
Explanation of course module & discussion around main differences between American and British theatre cultures – referencing The Musical, Censorship, Ritual, Arts Council Funding & the Olympics
2012.
There will be a clarification of Academic weighting – particularly of the role of the Journal writing.
Week 2: (Show 2)
Site Visit. A production from the London International Mime Festival (Spring) or London Dance Umbrella
(Fall) followed by a Q&A with the company members after the production.
Week 3: (Show 3)
Radio drama workshop; additionally, each student will select the material they will record for voiceover at the end of the semester.
Week 4: (Show 4)
Casting Workshop with a Casting Director. Presentation 1 on Boal will be offered (20 mins long)
Week 5: (Show 5)
(Fall) Boal Forum Theatre production hosted by the company ‘Cardboard Citizens’. This ‘show’ will be observed on tour, in a homeless hostel, during this session time.
(Spring) Shakespeare workshop at a homeless resource centre - Playscripts at Skylight at the slightly later time of 5.00 - 8.00. This is a Cardboard Citizens initiative with Peter Searles. OR;
There is also opportunity for any of the groups to attend voluntarily a Forum Theatre Workshop on Mondays at Skylight between 3.00 and 5.00. Interested students should speak with the professor regarding. This is highly recommended for those students writing on Forum Theatre
Week 6: (Show 6)
Meet at IES Abroad (time TBD) for individual tutorials with the instructor to finalize final paper topics and develop a plan for putting together a successful paper and presentation and to visit again the
journal writing and guidelines for grading. Meet an actor or director from one of the shows seen to date.
Presentation on 3 of the set texts: The Empty Space, The Shifting Point and Grotowski.
MIDTERM
Week 7: (Show 7)
Guest speaker - Stephen Rice from the Actors’ Union Equity to give a talk on the role of unionisation within the profession. Following this session, students will reflect in their journals on how their personal assumptions about the acting profession have been challenged or changed by the guest speakers to date.
Following, travel elsewhere to join the tech or dress rehearsal for a Drama School Production, this will take the rest of the evening.
Week 8: (Show 8)
Practitioners’ workshop on Shakespeare and the iambic pentameter and an introduction to the authorship debate. Students to lead discussion on final 2 of the assigned texts (20 mins each) The Field
of Drama and Brecht on Theatre.
Week 9: (Show 9)
Performance Art at the British Library (Spring)
Attend rehearsals for Pantomime (Fall)
Week 10: (no shows from now on)
Presentation of 4 of the research papers (30 mins each)
(Spring only) On the lunchtime of the Wed or Thu of this week you will attend a Showcase of graduating performance students from a leading London drama School.
Week 11:
Presentations on remainder 3 papers (30 mins each). Workshop on the pantomime and attend the professional production of the pantomime observed in rehearsal (Fall only)
Week 12:
Record voice-over clips each in professional voiceover studio in Soho.
Marina Caldarone is a theatre director, BBC Radio drama producer, acting coach in film and television, and is actively involved in monitoring actor training in Britain. Her book, Actions – An Actor’s Thesaurus, is a set text in every drama school in Britain and in many schools in the U.S. She has written five monologue/duologue collections and is in commission for another 4 texts. Having received her BA Honours Drama degree from University College of Wales, she has worked since 1984 in the main London Drama Schools, Universities (Thames Valley University, Birckbeck, Middlesex University and City University), and at The Actors’ Centre. Marina has held key positions at a number of different theatres, including Theatre Clwyd, The Queens Theatre the National Theatre Studio. Still directing theatre, (more than 100 productions in Britain and abroad to date), she began working in radio in 2000 as a producer, the year she started teaching at IES Abroad.