Stage And Screen: Performance And Film Interrelated

Timetable

1. Classes: Fridays, 9:45 am – 1 pm
2. The classes begin on 10 March
3. Office hours: Fridays, 8:30–9:30 am
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 and critically assess materials related to them.

Assessment

Students are assessed on the base of their:

1. attendance (30% of the grade)
2. active participation in work sessions and discussions (15% of the grade)
3. group performative works and/or their film versions (40% of the grade)
4. 1.000-words essays written in pairs (15% of the grade).

Grades

1. 90–100% = 5 / A
2. 85–89% = 4,5 / B
3. 75–84% = 4 / C
4. 70–74% = 3,5 / D
5. 60–69% = 3 / E
6. 0–59% = 2 / F

Assessment criteria

1. meeting deadlines
2. level of preparation for work sessions and discussions
3. quality of performative work and its filmed version, including distribution of workload within the group and collaboration with others
4. quality of essays written in pairs (approach to the subject matter, language precision, editorial high-standard).

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

1. Genuine interest in theatre, film and their intersections
2. English language competence: at least B2 level (upper intermediate).

Syllabus

Classes # 1 & 2: Introduction

Presentation of the course programme, its aims, methodology, outcomes, and assessment criteria.

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

The problematics’ overview with audiovisual examples.

Lecture and discussion

Classes # 5 & 6: Acting work session

Practical acting work session focused on awareness, body expressiveness and group collaboration.

Workshop

Classes # 7 & 8, 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.

• The drama analysis
• Acting out selected scenes from the play
• Filming the scenes and editing them
• The film comparative analysis with the play
• The drama and the film interpretation focused on contemporary medicalization of life and the art of dying.

Work sessions and seminars: practice-as-research approach

Classes # 17 & 18, 19 & 20, 21 & 22, 23 & 24, 25 & 26: 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 analysis
• Acting out selected scenes from the play
• Filming the scenes and editing them
• The film comparative analysis with the play
• The drama and the film interpretation focused on the destructive impact of war on individual human lives.

Work sessions and seminars: practice-as-research approach

Classes # 27 & 28, 29 & 30: Students’ presentations & Conclusion

Presentation of student’s scenes and their filmed versions. Discussion on the students’ essays. Final discussion. Summary and feedback.

Reading list

Texts

1. Dahab, Elizabeth. “Of Broken Promises and Mended Lives: The War-Ravaged World of Wajdi Mouawad.” In: Dahab, Elizabeth. Voices of Exile in Contemporary Canadian Francophone Literature, Lexington Books, 2011, pp. 135–139, 143–153.
2. Edson, Margaret. W;t. Faber and Faber, 1999.
3. Mouawad, Wajdi. Scorched. Translated by Linda Gaboriau. Playwrights Canada Press, 2009.
4. Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. “Margaret Edson’s ‘Wit’ and the Art of Analogy.” Style, vol. 40, no. 4, 2006, pp. 346–356.
5. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. “Cultivating the Art of Dying: Margaret Edson’s ‘W;t’ Between Page and Screen.” Przestrzenie Teorii, vol. 36, 2021, pp. 175–195.
6. Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. “On Scorched.” Ziółkowski, Grzegorz. Texts From the Heart. Poznań, 2021, pp. 59–63.

Films and video

1. Incendies (2010), dir. Denis Villeneuve.
2. Video documentation of W;t by Margaret Edson, presented by the University of Vermont Medical Center, September 12, 2015 (2015), dir. Richard H. Hibbert.
3. Wit (2001), dir. Mike Nichols + Film script.