Performance and the World

Performance is everywhere. We encounter it not only on stage, but in public spaces, on our devices, in everyday life – and in the mirror. It is used for entertainment, invention, provocation and profit, often at the same time. In this subject, we apply a Theatre Studies approach to a diverse and fascinating range of artistic events and cultural practices to help us think critically and appreciatively about how performance both shows and shapes the world around us. Among other topics, we consider how intercultural performances stage cultural difference; how activists use performance to bring about social change; and how artists use experimentation to challenge what audiences think they know about history, memory, the body, identity and our relationships with technology and the non-human world. Reflecting the varieties of performance studied, class activities and

• 1Demonstrate knowledge of key artists and thinkers whose work has contributed to the contemporary understanding of performance.
• 2Identify the relevance of key theories of performance to the examples studied in the subject.
• 3Analyse diverse forms of performance, including traditional theatre, avant-garde experiments, contemporary dance, and cultural performances.
• 4Interpret information from multiple sources, including published texts, audio-visual materials, and live performances, to develop a coherent argument about performance studies.
• 5Evaluate the aesthetic, cultural and social significance of the performances studied in the context of a world where diverse forms of performance are widely practiced.
• 6Construct well-reasoned, evidence-based arguments about performance practices and their cultural significance in written form.
• 7Create novel, inventive responses to the material studied using an appropriate medium, from live performance to digital media.