TH141-4-AU-CO:
Introduction to Theatre Studies
2025/26
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 02 October 2025
Friday 12 December 2025
15
04 April 2025
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
LT227, TH142, TH241
BA W401 Drama,
BA W402 Drama (Including Year Abroad),
BA W403 Drama (Including Placement Year),
BA W408 Drama (Including Foundation Year),
BA QW24 Drama and Literature,
BA QW25 Drama and Literature (Including Placement Year),
BA WQ28 Drama and Literature (Including Foundation Year),
BA WQ42 Drama and Literature (Including Year Abroad),
BA P400 Film and Drama,
BA P401 Film and Drama (Including Year Abroad),
BA P402 Film and Drama (Including Placement Year),
BA P403 Film and Drama (Including Foundation Year),
MLITQ394 Drama and Scriptwriting,
BA V114 History and Drama,
BA V115 History and Drama (including Foundation Year),
BA V116 History and Drama (including Placement Year),
BA V117 History and Drama (including Year Abroad),
BA WW80 Drama and Creative Writing,
BA WW81 Drama and Creative Writing (Including Foundation Year),
BA WW82 Drama and Creative Writing (including Placement Year),
BA WW83 Drama and Creative Writing (including Year Abroad)
This module introduces students to some important texts, key ideas, and core skills in theatre studies. We will work in three-week units, using a core text and a set of skills to structure each unit.
We will look at four main plays, Sophocles’ Antigone, Becket’s Waiting for Godot, Sartre’s No Exit and Hansberry’s Les Blancs to see how different writers and theatre practitioners have developed a range of theatrical forms and styles. These texts will form the basis for the discussion of issues of genre, representation, narrative structures, theatricality, characterization, gender, the internal world, modernism, identity, as well as the idea of ‘the Other’.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce students to seminal dramatic texts.
- To provide students with an understanding of how to practically approach a dramatic text.
- To enable students to develop their critical thinking about theatre and text-based drama.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Critically evaluate plays.
- Identify and explain how text-based drama work.
- Perform two short extracts of two dramatic texts.
No additional information available.
This module will be delivered via:
- One 3-hour seminar/workshop per week
- Half day assessment (5 hours) for session 10
Students are expected to undertake the reading before classes and be prepared to engage in discussion.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Practical |
Practical presentation of two extracts from the plays covered in the module (Group) |
|
95% |
| Practical |
Attendance and commitment |
|
5% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Yes
Yes
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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