Voice Theatres (DRA3091)

Staff	Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis - Convenor
Credit Value	30
ECTS Value	15
NQF Level	6
Pre-requisites	DRA2067: Staging the Text
Co-requisites	None
Duration of Module	Term 1: 11 weeks;

Module aims

This module is designed for students with an interest in voice as a central aspect of performance making. It aims to allow you to:

Develop your skills in recording, manipulating, listening to and devising ‘around’ voice.
Develop a collaborative piece of voice theatre
Gain experience in reflecting on your practice through a blog
Introduce interdisciplinary approaches to voice drawn from sound studies, fine art, poetry, philosophy and performance

The module is open to all students in the BA Drama, BA English and Drama and the BA Art History and Visual Culture and Drama.

ILO: Module-specific skills

1. Situate your creative practice within a specific lineage of voice-based performance
2. Create a collaborative piece of voice-based theatre using advanced techniques in voice-sensitive dramaturgy and devising
3. Critically evaluate your performance practice using theoretical approaches to voice

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

4. Relate to others in theatrical processes and performances; to work effectively with others in small task-orientated groups and to initiate and sustain creative, analytic and interpretative work within strict time limits and to solve a number of specific technical problems and apply that understanding to performance work
5. Utilise research tools effectively and to translate theory into practice
6. Contribute research to small groups in effective presentations, to evaluate visual evidence and to develop advanced confidence in the ability to analyse, critique and manipulate complex material

ILO: Personal and key skills

7. Develop group cooperation skills, including the ability to give and receive constructive critical feedback and to improve communication skills and analytic abilities in discussions
8. Develop advanced confidence in performance skills and public presentation, in a variety of situations and/or with a variety of audiences, both of dramatic practice and researched material
9. Develop advanced personal research skills using personal initiative; to set personal objectives that are linked to a sense of challenge and extending boundaries and to identify and evaluate personal learning strategies that are self-critical as much as self-reflective

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Each session, you will do preparatory reading and watch recordings of performances that we will discuss in class.
During studio sessions, you will be introduced to specific techniques and practices and develop your own approach to voice-based devising through small-group tasks, for which you will receive peer and staff feedback. You will also blog about your devising process.

Here is an indication of how the module may be structured:

Contextual lectures and workshops
Group presentations (formative assessment)
Group devising
Summative assessment (assessed group performance)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
66	234	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching	66	Studio practice and lectures: a combination of staff-led lectures, devising tasks, feedback and discussion
Guided independent study	33	Self-directed sessions to work on small group presentations and devising tasks set in lectures and workshops
Guided independent study	201	Reading and individual preparation for lectures and group rehearsals

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Blog	500 words	1, 3, 5-6, 9	Written
Group presentation	20 minutes	1, 3, 5-8	Oral from peers and staff

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Group performance	50	30 minutes	1-2, 4-9	Written
Blog	50	3000 words	1, 3, 5-6, 9	Written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Group performance	Piece of written work related to intended performance, plus additional critical analysis of professional archive performance (3000 words total)	1-2, 4-9	Referral/Deferral period
Blog	Essay (3000 words)	1, 3, 5-6, 9	Referral/Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Barthes, R. (1977), Image-Music-Text, trans. S. Heath, London: Fontana Press.
Brown, R. (2010), Sound: A Reader in Theatre Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Cavarero, A. (2005), For More than One Voice: Toward a Philosophy of Vocal Expression, trans. P.A. Kottman, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Chion, M. (1999), The Voice in Cinema, trans. C. Gorbman, New York: Columbia University Press.
Connor, S. (2014), Beyond Words: Sobs, Hums, Stutters and Other Vocalizations, London: Reaktion.
Curtin, A. (2014), Avant-Garde Theatre Sound: Staging Sonic Modernity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Doane, M.A. (1980), The voice in cinema: the articulation of body and space, Yale French Studies, 60: 33-50.
Dolar, M. (2006), A Voice and Nothing More, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grotowski, J. (2002), Towards a Poor Theatre, New York and Oxon: Routledge.
Karpf, A. (2007), The Human Voice: The Story of a Remarkable Talent, London: Bloomsbury.
Kreiman, J. and Sidtis, D. (2011), Foundations of Voice Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Voice Production and Perception, Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
Linklater, K. (2006), Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language, London: Nick Hern Books.
Macpherson, B. & Thomaidis, K. (eds) (2015), Journal of Intredisciplinary Voice Studies, Intellect: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=248/view,page=2/
Neumark, N., Gibson, R., and van Leeuwen, T. (eds) (2010) Voice: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rebstock, M. & Roesner, D. (eds.) 2012. Composed Theatre: Aesthetics, Practices, Processes. Bristol, UK & Chicago, USA: Intellect.
Roesner, D. (2014). Musicality in Theatre: Music as Model, Method and Metaphor in Theatre-Making. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Thomaidis, K. & Macpherson, B. (eds) (2015), Voice Studies: Critical Approaches to Process, Performance and Experience, London and New York: Routledge.
Thomaidis, K. (2017) Theatre & Voice. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Young, M. (2015) Singing the Body Electric. London and New York: Routledge/Ashgate.

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7065

Available as distance learning?

Origin date

16/02/2017

Last revision date

15/11/2018

Key words search

voice, sound, vocality, headphones, installation, devising