EA246-5-FY : Contextual Studies

This is a compulsory full-year course for students on the FdA Community Theatre course. The module explores the role of the arts in the public realm and will introduce the wider history and context of community theatre in the UK and Europe. It will draw on the development of ideas of 'popular theatre', including theories of carnival, spectacle and community empowerment, with examples from a range of cultural contexts and practices. Students will also explore theories of representation including semiotics, drawing on visual, aural and popular culture

They will critically analyse performances, lectures and classes they have attended, drawing on appropriate technical and theoretical vocabulary. They will learn to locate performance practice within a social and cultural framework.

Term One
Theories of culture, community and identity
Community and Education
The work of Paolo Freire - oppression or empowerment?
Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed
Forum/Participatory theatre and activism

Term Two
Introducing Semiotics
Analysing Popular Culture
Theories of Representation
Semiotics and Theatre
Analysing Performance
Open/Closed Performance
Feedback, questionnaires and assessing success in learning through the arts

Term Three
Commedia dell'arte
Vaudeville and Music Hall
Bakhtin's theory of Carnival
Defining the Popular - Theories of High and Low Art
Brecht and Political Theatre
Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop
Invisible Theatre