ATS3913 - Playtext study 2 - Shakespearean stages - 2018

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit




Organisational Unit

Centre for Theatre and Performance

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Fiona Gregory


Dr Fiona Gregory

Unit guides



  • First semester 2018 (On-campus)


Two gateway units in Theatre


Students work through three to five key play-texts by, or related to, Shakespeare , analysing these in the context of theoretical texts by practitioners and scholars, and concentrating on how the works might be staged and performed. Histories of acting, directing, and production theories are explored in detail, giving consideration to how the texts have been performed throughout their production histories. Students will apply the theories in practical exercises based on the texts and the writings of the practitioners. The unit emphasises the comparative practical consequences of different approaches and understandings.


Upon completion of this course students will:

  1. possess a first-hand embodied knowledge of different approaches and techniques of a variety of practitioners and theorists from throughout the history of theatre;
  2. have received an introduction to key concepts in the history of theatre performance;
  3. have a practical understanding of the relationships between theory and practice in theatre performance;
  4. be able to employ a variety of practical approaches to the analysis of playtexts;
  5. understand and employ the concepts of a historiography based on performance;
  6. have experience of the relative importance of actor, director, writer and other participants in different approaches to theatre performance;
  7. have considered experience of the affective dimensions and assumptions of different understandings of theatre performance.


Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements


See also Unit timetable information

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study