| Semester 1, 2021 On-campus Toowoomba | |
| Short Description: | Making Theatre History 1 |
| Units : | 1 |
| Faculty or Section : | Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts |
| School or Department : | School of Creative Arts |
| Student contribution band : | 2021 Grandfather Funding Cl 2 |
| ASCED code : | 100103 - Drama and Theatre Studies |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
Staffing
Examiner:
Requisites
Enrolment is not permitted in THT1001 if THE1001 has been previously completed.
Other requisites
Students will require access to e-mail and have internet access to UConnect for this course.
Rationale
The study of the performance event, dramatic texts, and theatre theories, provides insights into human experience and modes of critical thinking that will be useful throughout a student’s program of study and beyond. To do this effectively a student of theatre requires foundational skills in reading, researching and analysing plays, and the ability to formulate and present academic arguments about drama in its historical contexts. A broad knowledge of pre-modern playtexts from the Western classical tradition (from ancient Greece to early modern Europe), is central to the knowledges required for theatre, arts, communication, humanities and education students.
Synopsis
This course offers the student an historical and theoretical journey through theatrical and dramatic literature. Through a contextual study of some of the most read and performed plays from the classical tradition, covering ancient Greek, Shakespearean, and neo-classical drama, this course provides students with foundational techniques in textual analysis, academic debate, research, essay writing and scholarship in drama. It will include a focus on the ways in which these stories continue to be staged, adapted, and re-written in early twenty-first century contexts.
Objectives
On successful completion of this course students should be able to:
- apply concepts of cultural literacy to explain the way in which drama functions within specific theatrical and social contexts;
- investigate and examine specific dramatic and theoretical texts from Western classical traditions of pre-modern theatre up until the 17th Century;
- analyse the processes which make up the performance event in specific historical contexts;
- apply fundamental principles of scholarly method to the writing of essays;
- interpret and communicate ideas in writing using the essay genre and examination format.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Defining Theatre: How to read a play in context | 10.00 |
| 2. | The origins of tragic theatre: Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Euripides’ Medea | 20.00 |
| 3. | Comedy and patriarchy: Aristophanes’ Lysistrata | 10.00 |
| 4. | The rebirth of tragedy: Marlowe’s Dr Faustus and Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus | 20.00 |
| 5. | 'Boundaries’ of the body and identity: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. | 10.00 |
| 6. | Neo-classical formations: Moliere’s Tartuffe | 10.00 |
| 7. | The classical is contemporary: Dan Evans’ Oedipus doesn’t live here anymore and Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq | 20.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2021&sem=01&subject1=THT1001)
Please for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)
Reference materials
(Volume 1.)
Student workload expectations
| Activity | Hours |
|---|---|
| Directed Study | 39.00 |
| Independent Study | 126.00 |
Assessment details
| Description | Marks out of | Wtg (%) | Due Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESSAY 1: POSITION PAPER | 100 | 20 | 01 Apr 2021 | |
| ESSAY 2: RESEARCH PAPER | 100 | 40 | 24 May 2021 | |
| OPEN EXAM - TAKE HOME | 100 | 40 | End S1 | (see note 1) |
Notes
- This will be a take home exam. Students will be provided further instruction regarding the exam by their examiner via StudyDesk. The examination date will be available via UConnect when the Alternate Assessment Schedule has been released.
Important assessment information
-
Attendance requirements:
Students must attend and complete the requirements of the Workplace Health and Safety training program for this course where required.
It is the students’ responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. -
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks for that item.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. -
Penalties for late submission of required work:
Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4) -
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course -
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course. -
Examination information:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: An Open Examination is one in which candidates may have access to any printed or written material and a calculator during the examination.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
The exam for this course is a CLOSED examination, and candidates are allowed to bring only writing and drawing instruments into the examination. -
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Normally Deferred and Supplementary Examinations are held in the next Examination period. In S1 2021 selected courses will pilot an early Deferred and Supplementary Examination period held within 30 business days of results release. The list of courses involved can be found at . -
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at .
Other requirements
-
Students can expect that questions in assessment items in this course may draw upon knowledge and skills that they can reasonably be expected to have acquired before enrolling in the course. This includes knowledge contained in pre-requisite courses and appropriate communication, information literacy, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving or numeracy skills. Students who do not possess such knowledge and skills should not expect to achieve the same grades as those students who do possess them.