This course sets out to explore why an important number of contemporary performance makers have abandoned the confines of the black-box stage and have turned instead to various types of space-based performance. It does so by focusing on how a practice of location is played out through 3 key terms: space, place and landscape.

10 sessions of 3 hours duration

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None

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Group presentation which will be a practice-based performance that embodies the concepts and ideas explored in the course (20-30-minutes) - 50%

■ Research Essay (3500 Words) - 50%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ Recorded presentation or written script of equivalent length as an alternative to the group presentation.

■ There is no alternative to the research essay, but a flexible deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.

[No exceptions]

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ explore contemporary site-based performance that focuses on ideas/practices of location

■ develop a theoretical context for site-based performance by investigating concepts of space, place and landscape

■ allow students to practise theory and expand their knowledge and repertoire of performance making

■  enhance student knowledge of the contemporary performance field, and to show the extent to which performance is always part of larger spatial discourses and practices

■ To develop interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary skills by showing how geographical and ecological concepts and texts inform contemporary theatre practices

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

■ understand the diversity of site-based performance practices and engage critically with the set of historical, political and aesthetics reasons for their development

■ work in an interdisciplinary manner by applying spatial theories and concepts from geography and ecology to the reading and making of contemporary performance

■ identify the different ways in which contemporary performance practitioners 'compose' or 'sculpt' dramaturgies of place, space and landscape

■ partake in critical and creative research through interpretative and practice-based methodologies

■ produce a practical presentation that explores issues of location in line with concepts explored in the course