Popular Performance 1: Mask and Clown

Course Content:

This module runs throughout the academic year and introduces students to a range of
European popular performance traditions. Commedia dell? arte, pantomime and clown
are typical examples of these traditions although the module could equally focus on a
number of other forms. The origins and histories of these modes of performance are
examined and used as a foundation for the exploration of theory associated with
academics and practitioners such as Jacques Lecoq, John Rudlin, Dario Fo and John
Wright.

Both the historical context and the theoretical framework provide a reliable basis for the
practical exploration of essential techniques and conventions of performance associated
with each of the forms studied. The mutable and capricious Clown, an enduring feature
of popular performance, is a recurrent figure within the module and serves as a
playful means of approaching concepts such as presence, play, and the role of the
spectator in the creation of meaning as well as common themes such as marginality,
transgression order and chaos.

Autumn Semester:
Lectures and seminars trace the histories of commedia, pantomime and clown and
introduce theories and conventions associated with these traditions. Workshops
introduce techniques of improvisation, stagecraft, slapstick, stock characterisation, basic
acrobatics, half-mask technique and comedic rules.

Teaching: Lectures, Seminars and Practical Workshops.

Assessment:
STUDY OPTION 1:
A portfolio of assessment tasks that may include that following:
? 3 - 5 minute Performance developed and realised in small groups or by
individual
? 8 - 10 minute Performance developed and realised in small groups
? 2000 word Reflective Essay
STUDY OPTION 2: 5 minute group-based performance using mask, character and persona
and 2000 word reflective essay.

Study Option 1 = Whole Year
Study Option 2 = Autumn
Study Option 3 = Spring/summer