Stage And Screen: Performance And Film Interrelated

Timetable

1. The course begins on 1 March 2022
2. Classes: Tuesdays, 3:15–6:30 pm
3. Office hours: Tuesdays, 7–9 pm
4. Place: The Theatre Studio in Collegium Maius, 10 Fredry str. (entrance from the library hall, behind the main building, from Kowalczyka lane)

Module aim (aims)

Module aims

The course aims to teach how to:

1. problematise performance-screen relationship
2. employ practice-as-research approach in the work at the intersection of stage and screen, including practical performative work
3. carry out in-depth explorations into the intersections between contemporary drama, theatre, performance and film and video
4. investigate selected cases, critically assess materials related to them, and share findings within the framework of a group presentation or an individual essay.

Assessment

Students are assessed on the base of their:

1. attendance (30% of the grade)
2. active participation in laboratories and seminars (10% of the grade)
3. group performative works and their film versions (40% of the grade)
4. a 20-slides group presentation or a 2,000-word essay written individually or in pairs (20% of the grade).

Grades

1. 90–100% = 5
2. 85–89% = 4,5
3. 75–84% = 4
4. 70–74% = 3,5
5. 60–69% = 3
6. 0–59% = 2

Assessment criteria:

1. meeting deadlines;
2. level of preparation for work sessions and consultations
3. quality of performative work and its filmed version, including distribution of workload within the group and collaboration with others
4. quality of a group presentation (approach to the subject matter, distribution of workload within the group, collaboration with others, language precision, selection of iconography, graphic design)
5. quality of an individual or pair essay (approach to the subject matter, language precision, editorial high-standard).

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Genuine interest in theatre, film and their intersections.

English language competence: at least B2 level (upper intermediate).

 

Syllabus

Classes # 1 & 2: Introductory meeting & Guidelines for students’ works

Presentation of the course programme, its aims, methodology, outcomes, and assessment criteria. Guidelines for students’ works.

Classes # 3 & 4: Intersections of contemporary stage and screen

The problematics’ overview with audiovisual examples. Lecture and discussion.

Classes # 5 & 6, 7 & 8: From stage to page and screen

The problematics of transferring theatre work into film format, as exemplified by Peter Brook’s anti-war performance US (1966) and his semi-documentary Tell Me Lies (1968). Peter Brook’s creative output, the war in Vietnam, and protest self-burnings in historical and political contexts. Analysis and interpretation of the performance US and the film Tell Me Lies. Lecture and discussion. Brook’s approach to actor training as exemplified in The Tightrope (2013). Work session.

Classes # 9 & 10, 11 & 12, 13 & 14, 15 & 16: From page to stage and screen (1)

Fictional films based on theatre plays as exemplified by Mike Nichols’ television movie Wit (2001), based on Margaret Edson’s drama W;t (1993) about the process of dying from cancer. Contemporary medicalization of life, the art of dying, the author, the play. The drama and the film analysis and interpretation. Acting out selected scenes from the play and the film in groups. Filming the scenes and editing them. Presentation of the scenes and the filmed works. Work sessions and seminars: practice-as-research approach.

Classes # 17 & 18, 19 & 20, 21 & 22, 23 & 24: From page to stage and screen (2)

Fictional films based on theatre plays as exemplified by Wajdi Mouawad’s play Scorched (2003, trans. Linda Gaboriau 2009) and Denis Villeneuve’s film Incendies (2010). The drama and the film analysis and interpretation. Acting out selected scenes from the play and the film in groups. Filming the scenes and editing them. Presentation of the scenes and the filmed works. Work sessions and seminars: practice-as-research approach.

Classes # 25 & 26: Audio-visual documentation of performance art

Live performance’s second life on screen as exemplified by Regina José Galindo’s works and their video documentations. Lecture and discussion.

Classes # 27 & 28: Students’ presentations

Case studies on stage–screen relationship introduced, analysed, and interpreted by students in the form of group presentations, worked out in consultation with the lecturer. Discussion.

Classes # 29 & 30: Students’ essays

Students’ individual and pair essays on on stage–screen relationship. Discussion. Summary and feedback.

Reading list

Texts

1. Brook, Peter, and collaborators. A Collaboration. Theatre in Pieces: Politics, Poetics and Interdisciplinary Collaboration, an Anthology of Play Texts, 1966–2010, edited by Anna Furse, Methuen Drama, 2011, pp. 13–74.
2. Edson, Margaret. W;t. Faber and Faber, 1999 + Teacher’s guide.
3. Goldman, Francisco. “Regina José Galindo.” Translated by Ezra Fitz and Francisco Goldman. Bomb, no. 94, Winter 2005–06, pp. 38–44.
4. Mouawad, Wajdi. Scorched. Translated by Linda Gaboriau. Playwrights Canada Press, 2009.
5. Rodriguez, Caroline. “Performing Domination and Resistance Between Body and Space: The Transversal Activism of Regina José Galindo.” Journal of Media Practice, vol. 12, no. 3, 2011, pp. 291–303.
6. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. A Cruel Theatre of Self-Immolations: Suicide Protests by Fire and Their Resonances in Culture. Routledge, 2020, pp. 146–155.
7. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. “Cultivating the Art of Dying: Margaret Edson’s ‘W;t’ Between Page and Screen.” Przestrzenie Teorii, vol. 36, 2021, pp. 175–195.
8. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. “On Scorched.” Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. Texts From the Heart. Poznań, 2021, pp. 59–63.

Films and video documentations

1. Benefit of the Doubt (1967), dir. Peter Whitehead + film script.
2. Fragmentos audiovisuales de performances de Regina José Galindo (2017).
3. Incendies (2010), dir. Denis Villeneuve.
4. Peter Brook: The Tightrope (2012), dir. Simon Brook.
5. Video documentation of performances: ¿Quien puede borrar las huellas? (Who can erase the traces?, 2003), Presencia (Presence, 2017), and Desecho (Disposal, 2017), by Regina José Galindo.
6. Video documentation of W;t by Margaret Edson, presented by the University of Vermont Medical Center, September 12, 2015 (2015), dir. Richard H. Hibbert.
7. Wit (2001), dir. Mike Nichols + film script.
8. Tell Me Lies (1968, 2013), dir. Peter Brook + film script.