FT2IPC: Identity, Performance and Culture

Module code: FT2IPC

Module provider: Film, Theatre and TV; School of Arts and Comm Design

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Ms Zoe Tweed, email: z.tweed2@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 5 August 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

• To cultivate an understanding of the construction, representation and performance of diverse modes of identity in theatre and in culture more generally, including, for example, gender, sexuality, class, nation, ethnicity or disability;
• To gain an understanding of how theatre and culture more generally intervenes in the construction, representation and performance of identities to reinforce identity positions and / or to interrogate them;
• To develop appropriate critical and theoretical frameworks for analysing the performance of identity in theatre and culture more generally;
• To develop skills of close textual and performance analysis, along with an understanding of the shifting local, national and global contexts that have informed playwrights, theatre makers and theatre cultures.  

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Employ a range of appropriate critical and theoretical frameworks to analyse the performance of identity / identities
2. Relate play texts, theatrical practices and cultural performances to wider national, social, cultural and political discourses
3. Analyse and evaluate contemporary performance criticism using a range of appropriate methods and theoretical perspectives
4. Demonstrate skills of performance analysis, through detailed consideration of play texts as well as live and recorded productions
5. Develop skills and competencies which are central to the course. It is expected that the level of skills and competencies achieved in the following will be appropriate to the level of study: oral communication and argument in group situations; deployment of research using printed and electronic resources; critical analysis and coherent argument in both oral and written forms; undertaking self-directed, independent work; presentation of written work using IT; identifying and addressing problems in the analysis of theatre

Module content

The course will begin with an exploration of ideologies of gender and performance, including the study of key feminist texts (such as the work of Caryl Churchill), and the analysis of femininity, masculinity and queer identities in a range of theatre texts and performances. The course will then study a range of the following depending on staff availability: questions of a national theatre, issues of disability and performance, and the performance or interrogation of norms of embodiment; the performance of class identity and how this might have changed over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; the construction and performance of race, and the impact of migration or diaspora on questions of identity.  

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The normal teaching pattern will consist of lectures and seminars. These may include some practical exercises. There will be at least one visit to a performance as an important part of the module, and this will inform lectures and seminar discussion, as well as reading plays and critical material. Where relevant, film and television screenings will be arranged.  

Study hours

At least 12 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Oral feedback is regularly given in seminars.   

Reassessment

Additional costs