Liberal Arts and Drama

This module offers a study of drama, theatre and Performance ‘texts’ in different manifestations and different theatrical traditions. Students will learn to offer informed interpretations of drama presented and mediated in different ways. Whilst acquiring analytical skills and the vocabulary to articulate their analysis students will recognise the ways in which ideological constructs influence the making and reception of texts and an awareness of the ways in which fluidity of context can influence text and subtext.

In this module we return to the underworld that we last visited with Aeneas. It is still Virgil that acts as our guide, but this time accompanied with Dante The Pilgrim. Before reading the Inferno together we will explore the model of the medieval cosmos that shaped Dante’s imagination. This means looking the Ptolemaic model and in particular at the idea of emanation that explained how the spheres moved truth through the universe. We will read Christian, Islamic and Judaic sources from the period. The bulk of the module will be the journey through the Inferno, looking at various incidents and their significance. We will employ Dorothy L Sayers’ reading of the Inferno as our companion commentary, gaining religious and sociological insight from her work. Having emerged from the Inferno with our guides, we will look at a recent controversy surrounding the question of plagiarism on the part of Dante with regard to earlier Islamic sources.

Our first core module in the Liberal Arts degree takes us to the world of Antiquity. We will read together one of the key texts of the last 2500 years in the western tradition – Plato’s Republic – looking at its analysis of the problem of injustice and its proposals for creating a just city. We will visit Plato’s cave and think about the significance of this as a model for critical education across many different cultural, political and social arenas. The suggestion that the soul and the city should find themselves in each other will also be part of our discussions. We will also read Virgil’s Aeneid together. Here we will reflect on exile, journeys, love affairs, and tears, as well as the representation of the underworld, which will prepare us for returning there with Dante in a later module. The module begins by trying to do justice to the existential experience of beginning your degree, something we will return in three (or six) years' time.

This module looks at the first principle of harmony in ancient and medieval liberal arts as it was seen to condition and structure the ethical and metaphysical properties of the universe. We will think about this idea of harmony, explored in various ways across modules in year one, in relation to music, astronomy, maths, rhetoric and philosophy and the accompanying ideas of civilisation and barbarism. We will see why music was deemed so dangerous in Plato’s Republic and Laws, how it is related to maths in the teachings of Pythagoras and the influence of these ideas on Plato’s Timeaus. This will form part of an introduction to the Quadrivium and Trivium subjects of Liberal Arts upon which we can begin to think about the nature of a modern liberal arts education.

This module focuses on the skills of the performance analysis, and the roles of audience, scholar and critic. Students are introduced to different modes of performance analysis. These modes include but are not confined to writing by the journalist critic, by the rapporteur of an event, academic paper, or extended article for a specific audience or publication. Students will then be asked to compile a series of critical responses on selected performances seen over the course of the module. Students are expected to compare, contrast and contextualise the performances. The responses form a single essay submission.

The module will be presented as a series of lectures introducing performance practitioners, concepts and their contexts, exploring how the history of ideas informed – and was informed by – social and cultural developments across cultures and art forms.

It will encourage the students to study its historical, cultural, social and political contexts through case study of key practitioners. It will actively question performance in all its manifestations and encourage students to build on their personal experience. By studying performance as ‘living history’ and placing the study firmly within these specific contexts, the students will be able to reference and manipulate the information to inform their own future creative work.

This module introduces students to the idea of ‘humanism’ in the Liberal Arts tradition with particular reference to the ideas, themes and practices (Christian, Islamic and Judaic) central to the period of Western history called the Renaissance. We will explore the revival of classical learning in the studia humanitatis, some of the key features and figures of artistic, literary and political life as well as the darker and stranger side of the Renaissance as it colluded with or promoted slavery, sexual exploitation and warfare. Most importantly the module will illustrate ways in which the Renaissance holds an ‘educational’ import both within itself and in terms of a legacy. Where appropriate, tutors will relate the material to both ancient and more modern issues and ideas. The module aims to increase student knowledge and understanding of the Renaissance but also to draw out its fundamental import for the notion of education in its widest sense.

This module invites students to consider the contexts in which theatre is made today and has been made in the past.

A number of texts will be explored in different contexts exploring different historical moments. The issue of the ephemerality of performance will be considered as textual and contextual materials and evidence are analysed. The key focus will be uncovering and understanding the complexity of the relationship between texts and contexts.

The module will introduce debates in theatre historiography and offer methodologies for investigating theatre and its histories. A range of texts from different moments in theatre history and will be explored with the emphasis on performance in Britain. This module will encompass a breadth of theatre history whilst allowing for detailed case study work.

This year long module will run alongside the Devising Production Project and Text Production Project and give students a grounding in devising and performance skills appropriate to those modules and live performance generally. The module will focus attention on the components to be utilised in creating and refining live performance. It will introduce students to the skills of physical, vocal and spatial improvisation as method of generating performance and as a tool for exploring written text. Students will examine the relationship between play and discipline as a key component in creativity. Though the module will complement the production projects it will also stand as an independent strand leading to its own performance assessment outcome.

This module offers a study of drama, theatre and Performance ‘texts’ in different manifestations and different theatrical traditions. Students will learn to offer informed interpretations of drama presented and mediated in different ways. Whilst acquiring analytical skills and the vocabulary to articulate their analysis students will recognise the ways in which ideological constructs influence the making and reception of texts and an awareness of the ways in which fluidity of context can influence text and subtext.

In this module we return to the underworld that we last visited with Aeneas. It is still Virgil that acts as our guide, but this time accompanied with Dante The Pilgrim. Before reading the Inferno together we will explore the model of the medieval cosmos that shaped Dante’s imagination. This means looking the Ptolemaic model and in particular at the idea of emanation that explained how the spheres moved truth through the universe. We will read Christian, Islamic and Judaic sources from the period. The bulk of the module will be the journey through the Inferno, looking at various incidents and their significance. We will employ Dorothy L Sayers’ reading of the Inferno as our companion commentary, gaining religious and sociological insight from her work. Having emerged from the Inferno with our guides, we will look at a recent controversy surrounding the question of plagiarism on the part of Dante with regard to earlier Islamic sources.

Our first core module in the Liberal Arts degree takes us to the world of Antiquity. We will read together one of the key texts of the last 2500 years in the western tradition – Plato’s Republic – looking at its analysis of the problem of injustice and its proposals for creating a just city. We will visit Plato’s cave and think about the significance of this as a model for critical education across many different cultural, political and social arenas. The suggestion that the soul and the city should find themselves in each other will also be part of our discussions. We will also read Virgil’s Aeneid together. Here we will reflect on exile, journeys, love affairs, and tears, as well as the representation of the underworld, which will prepare us for returning there with Dante in a later module. The module begins by trying to do justice to the existential experience of beginning your degree, something we will return in three (or six) years' time.

This module looks at the first principle of harmony in ancient and medieval liberal arts as it was seen to condition and structure the ethical and metaphysical properties of the universe. We will think about this idea of harmony, explored in various ways across modules in year one, in relation to music, astronomy, maths, rhetoric and philosophy and the accompanying ideas of civilisation and barbarism. We will see why music was deemed so dangerous in Plato’s Republic and Laws, how it is related to maths in the teachings of Pythagoras and the influence of these ideas on Plato’s Timeaus. This will form part of an introduction to the Quadrivium and Trivium subjects of Liberal Arts upon which we can begin to think about the nature of a modern liberal arts education.

This module focuses on the skills of the performance analysis, and the roles of audience, scholar and critic. Students are introduced to different modes of performance analysis. These modes include but are not confined to writing by the journalist critic, by the rapporteur of an event, academic paper, or extended article for a specific audience or publication. Students will then be asked to compile a series of critical responses on selected performances seen over the course of the module. Students are expected to compare, contrast and contextualise the performances. The responses form a single essay submission.

The module will be presented as a series of lectures introducing performance practitioners, concepts and their contexts, exploring how the history of ideas informed – and was informed by – social and cultural developments across cultures and art forms.

It will encourage the students to study its historical, cultural, social and political contexts through case study of key practitioners. It will actively question performance in all its manifestations and encourage students to build on their personal experience. By studying performance as ‘living history’ and placing the study firmly within these specific contexts, the students will be able to reference and manipulate the information to inform their own future creative work.

This module introduces students to the idea of ‘humanism’ in the Liberal Arts tradition with particular reference to the ideas, themes and practices (Christian, Islamic and Judaic) central to the period of Western history called the Renaissance. We will explore the revival of classical learning in the studia humanitatis, some of the key features and figures of artistic, literary and political life as well as the darker and stranger side of the Renaissance as it colluded with or promoted slavery, sexual exploitation and warfare. Most importantly the module will illustrate ways in which the Renaissance holds an ‘educational’ import both within itself and in terms of a legacy. Where appropriate, tutors will relate the material to both ancient and more modern issues and ideas. The module aims to increase student knowledge and understanding of the Renaissance but also to draw out its fundamental import for the notion of education in its widest sense.

This module invites students to consider the contexts in which theatre is made today and has been made in the past.

A number of texts will be explored in different contexts exploring different historical moments. The issue of the ephemerality of performance will be considered as textual and contextual materials and evidence are analysed. The key focus will be uncovering and understanding the complexity of the relationship between texts and contexts.

The module will introduce debates in theatre historiography and offer methodologies for investigating theatre and its histories. A range of texts from different moments in theatre history and will be explored with the emphasis on performance in Britain. This module will encompass a breadth of theatre history whilst allowing for detailed case study work.

This year long module will run alongside the Devising Production Project and Text Production Project and give students a grounding in devising and performance skills appropriate to those modules and live performance generally. The module will focus attention on the components to be utilised in creating and refining live performance. It will introduce students to the skills of physical, vocal and spatial improvisation as method of generating performance and as a tool for exploring written text. Students will examine the relationship between play and discipline as a key component in creativity. Though the module will complement the production projects it will also stand as an independent strand leading to its own performance assessment outcome.

When we think about inequality in the world at large, and in modern western society in particular, it is often the case that the idea of nature, or natural social relations, acts as a foundation for social and political thinking. In this module we will explore how the concept of nature has shaped many of the most important and significant perspectives on freedom in modernity, and at the competing visions of natural ‘man’ and natural justice that form the major cultural and political conversations. We will try to understand various explanations of the origin of social inequality, using the methodology of problem and solution in assessing their diagnoses of injustice and prescriptions for justice. 

Nature, truth, and freedom often sound as if they are separate and need to be studied in discreet academic disciplines. But Liberal Arts has always treated them as three aspects of the one understanding of the universe and of life within it. In this module we go back to the beginning of liberal arts to explore the way that the nature of the cosmos was conceived and modelled according to conceptions of truth and freedom, or first principles. This enables us then to study the history of physics and the study of nature, and to follow its development from Aristotle to Newton. We will look at the medieval cosmos from different religious perspectives, and at the revolutions that emerged from several natural scientists. From this work we will be able to see how the modern age came to define itself scientifically, politically and philosophically, a theme we will pick up again in the next mandatory module in year 2.

This module introduces students to a number of different critical and reflective methodologies in viewing and analysing and for creating texts and performance work. The module develops students’ ability to discuss, analyse and structure content, both in terms of being viewers and critics as well as being makers of performance. It seeks to develop students’ reflective and analytical approach in order that they can engage with performance making as a process of investigation, reflection and exploration. It introduces students to the dramaturgical questions involved in developing a concept and proposal for performance.

The module introduces students to a range of approaches and maps the development from classical dramaturgy and narrative structures to the ‘new’ dramaturgies and compositional approaches found in contemporary cross-disciplinary performance practices.

This module covers the main processes involved in designing a research project in the field of performing arts. Students will be introduced to key theories and approaches to independent research and a range of possible projects including written and performance research. Students will be supported in the formulation of research questions and the positioning of their research in terms of relevant contexts. The aim is to develop a project proposal that has an appropriate scope, focus and methodological approach. The ethical implications and risk assessment requirements (where appropriate) for project work will be considered.

This module is designed to prepare students for independent study work at Level 6 and to develop an awareness of requirements for designing and delivering projects in a range of professional contexts. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to pitch ideas for feedback as they develop their work in preparation for a proposal presentation assessment.

This module explores specific aspects of drama, theatre and performance thematically. Drawing inspiration from the Palgrave Macmillan Theatre & (2009-2019 ongoing) series as a starting point. Themes featured in the series are wide-ranging and include such subjects as Theatre & Violence, Theatre & Feminism, Theatre & Inter-culturalism, Theatre & Sexuality, Theatre & Museums, Theatre & Race, Theatre & Prisons, Theatre & Empire, Theatre & the Digital, Theatre & Environment, for example. The module is designed for staff specialist research and practice to be delivered in a focussed delivery.

The module invites students to engage with a range of topics connected to staff research specialisms and practice research interests.

• European Culture and the Holocaust (Shoah) - 15 Credits
• Power of the Teacher - 15 Credits
• Art as Education - 15 Credits
• Liberal Artists in the World - 15 Credits
• Contradictions of Enlightenment - 15 Credits
• Minds, Souls and Bodies - 15 Credits
• The Black Atlantic - 15 Credits
• Learning from the East - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 1 - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 2 - 15 Credits
• Music and Philosophy - 15 Credits
• Independent Study - 15 Credits
• Education & Nature: learning in the Anthropocene - 15 Credits
• Volunteering - 15 Credits
• Artist(s) Specialism - 15 Credits

When we think about inequality in the world at large, and in modern western society in particular, it is often the case that the idea of nature, or natural social relations, acts as a foundation for social and political thinking. In this module we will explore how the concept of nature has shaped many of the most important and significant perspectives on freedom in modernity, and at the competing visions of natural ‘man’ and natural justice that form the major cultural and political conversations. We will try to understand various explanations of the origin of social inequality, using the methodology of problem and solution in assessing their diagnoses of injustice and prescriptions for justice. 

Nature, truth, and freedom often sound as if they are separate and need to be studied in discreet academic disciplines. But Liberal Arts has always treated them as three aspects of the one understanding of the universe and of life within it. In this module we go back to the beginning of liberal arts to explore the way that the nature of the cosmos was conceived and modelled according to conceptions of truth and freedom, or first principles. This enables us then to study the history of physics and the study of nature, and to follow its development from Aristotle to Newton. We will look at the medieval cosmos from different religious perspectives, and at the revolutions that emerged from several natural scientists. From this work we will be able to see how the modern age came to define itself scientifically, politically and philosophically, a theme we will pick up again in the next mandatory module in year 2.

This module introduces students to a number of different critical and reflective methodologies in viewing and analysing and for creating texts and performance work. The module develops students’ ability to discuss, analyse and structure content, both in terms of being viewers and critics as well as being makers of performance. It seeks to develop students’ reflective and analytical approach in order that they can engage with performance making as a process of investigation, reflection and exploration. It introduces students to the dramaturgical questions involved in developing a concept and proposal for performance.

The module introduces students to a range of approaches and maps the development from classical dramaturgy and narrative structures to the ‘new’ dramaturgies and compositional approaches found in contemporary cross-disciplinary performance practices.

This module covers the main processes involved in designing a research project in the field of performing arts. Students will be introduced to key theories and approaches to independent research and a range of possible projects including written and performance research. Students will be supported in the formulation of research questions and the positioning of their research in terms of relevant contexts. The aim is to develop a project proposal that has an appropriate scope, focus and methodological approach. The ethical implications and risk assessment requirements (where appropriate) for project work will be considered.

This module is designed to prepare students for independent study work at Level 6 and to develop an awareness of requirements for designing and delivering projects in a range of professional contexts. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to pitch ideas for feedback as they develop their work in preparation for a proposal presentation assessment.

This module explores specific aspects of drama, theatre and performance thematically. Drawing inspiration from the Palgrave Macmillan Theatre & (2009-2019 ongoing) series as a starting point. Themes featured in the series are wide-ranging and include such subjects as Theatre & Violence, Theatre & Feminism, Theatre & Inter-culturalism, Theatre & Sexuality, Theatre & Museums, Theatre & Race, Theatre & Prisons, Theatre & Empire, Theatre & the Digital, Theatre & Environment, for example. The module is designed for staff specialist research and practice to be delivered in a focussed delivery.

The module invites students to engage with a range of topics connected to staff research specialisms and practice research interests.

• European Culture and the Holocaust (Shoah) - 15 Credits
• Power of the Teacher - 15 Credits
• Art as Education - 15 Credits
• Liberal Artists in the World - 15 Credits
• Contradictions of Enlightenment - 15 Credits
• Minds, Souls and Bodies - 15 Credits
• The Black Atlantic - 15 Credits
• Learning from the East - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 1 - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 2 - 15 Credits
• Music and Philosophy - 15 Credits
• Independent Study - 15 Credits
• Education & Nature: learning in the Anthropocene - 15 Credits
• Volunteering - 15 Credits
• Artist(s) Specialism - 15 Credits

We live in a time when the very idea of what it is to be a human being is questioned at its most fundamental level. The Western tradition seems to have placed the human being at the top of the hierarchy of life and judged everything else as either the same (and therefore worthy) or different (and therefore unworthy). This module looks at recent developments in the question of identity and at its impact on the idea of the modern rational human being. We then critique this idea of human being through the lenses of relativity in science, including the question of ‘time’ and of ‘the atom, and then through the cultural perspectives of race, feminism, animal studies, art, and by way of an introduction to the idea of posthumanism. In each case we will read some of the primary texts together as the beginning our work. The key here is to explore the relation between nature and truth and its impact on our idea of freedom.

As we have seen Liberal Arts began in the time of slavery in Ancient Greece, and many of its most fundamental ideas and concepts were shaped by these social relations. Truth, freedom and nature were all forged in the shadow of this injustice. In this module we explore different philosophical perspectives on the power relations that are embodied in ideas of mastery and slavery. This takes us to Hegel’s famous description of lordship and bondage and its relation to life and death. This dialectical, or perhaps educative relation is then explored in a number of different arenas, including some that are fundamental to liberal arts. The challenge here is to see what ways some of these fundamental liberal arts conceptions might be reworked, even revolutionised, by a changed understanding of the logic of mastery, and by a logic of education in which freedom is to learn.

• Human Nature - 15 Credits
• Philosophy of the Teacher - 15 Credits
• Life and Death - 15 Credits
• Education, Ecologies and Ethics - 15 Credits
• Independent Study - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 1 - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 2 - 15 Credits
• Sustainability and Social Justice - 15 Credits
• Disenchantment: modern life and modern living - 15 Credits
• Company Production Project - 60 Credits
• Performance Now - 15 Credits
• Performance Now Advanced - 15 Credits

Students will need to choose one of these modules: 

Dissertation

This module enables Single Honours or Named pathway students to produce a dissertation solely in Liberal Arts. The subject accepts a very wide definition of what can count as relevant to Liberal Arts. Projects can be a deeper analysis of any aspect of content already covered on the course or a new area building on the skills of theory and critique which is of interest to the student. The dissertation will be a piece of independent research undertaken by the student resulting in an 8,000 – 10,000 word project.

Extended Independent Study Drama 

This module is intended to provide students with the opportunity to plan and implement an individual piece of research/practice research.  Students will be required to submit a formative research proposal for consideration before moving to supervised learning.  The outcomes of this individual research project will be a either a written document of 8,000 – 10,000 words, or a 4,000-5,000 word written document combined with a practice research outcome, or a practice research output (e.g. performance; series of workshops; play-text; performative presentation) with a negotiated artistic statement.  By arrangement the student may also undertake work-based learning. The module is supported by a series of lectures covering theoretical and practice research methodologies in drama, theatre and performance. Performance skills alone are insufficient to pass this module.

We live in a time when the very idea of what it is to be a human being is questioned at its most fundamental level. The Western tradition seems to have placed the human being at the top of the hierarchy of life and judged everything else as either the same (and therefore worthy) or different (and therefore unworthy). This module looks at recent developments in the question of identity and at its impact on the idea of the modern rational human being. We then critique this idea of human being through the lenses of relativity in science, including the question of ‘time’ and of ‘the atom, and then through the cultural perspectives of race, feminism, animal studies, art, and by way of an introduction to the idea of posthumanism. In each case we will read some of the primary texts together as the beginning our work. The key here is to explore the relation between nature and truth and its impact on our idea of freedom.

As we have seen Liberal Arts began in the time of slavery in Ancient Greece, and many of its most fundamental ideas and concepts were shaped by these social relations. Truth, freedom and nature were all forged in the shadow of this injustice. In this module we explore different philosophical perspectives on the power relations that are embodied in ideas of mastery and slavery. This takes us to Hegel’s famous description of lordship and bondage and its relation to life and death. This dialectical, or perhaps educative relation is then explored in a number of different arenas, including some that are fundamental to liberal arts. The challenge here is to see what ways some of these fundamental liberal arts conceptions might be reworked, even revolutionised, by a changed understanding of the logic of mastery, and by a logic of education in which freedom is to learn.

• Human Nature - 15 Credits
• Philosophy of the Teacher - 15 Credits
• Life and Death - 15 Credits
• Education, Ecologies and Ethics - 15 Credits
• Independent Study - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 1 - 15 Credits
• Core Texts 2 - 15 Credits
• Sustainability and Social Justice - 15 Credits
• Disenchantment: modern life and modern living - 15 Credits
• Company Production Project - 60 Credits
• Performance Now - 15 Credits
• Performance Now Advanced - 15 Credits

Students will need to choose one of these modules: 

Dissertation

This module enables Single Honours or Named pathway students to produce a dissertation solely in Liberal Arts. The subject accepts a very wide definition of what can count as relevant to Liberal Arts. Projects can be a deeper analysis of any aspect of content already covered on the course or a new area building on the skills of theory and critique which is of interest to the student. The dissertation will be a piece of independent research undertaken by the student resulting in an 8,000 – 10,000 word project.

Extended Independent Study Drama 

This module is intended to provide students with the opportunity to plan and implement an individual piece of research/practice research.  Students will be required to submit a formative research proposal for consideration before moving to supervised learning.  The outcomes of this individual research project will be a either a written document of 8,000 – 10,000 words, or a 4,000-5,000 word written document combined with a practice research outcome, or a practice research output (e.g. performance; series of workshops; play-text; performative presentation) with a negotiated artistic statement.  By arrangement the student may also undertake work-based learning. The module is supported by a series of lectures covering theoretical and practice research methodologies in drama, theatre and performance. Performance skills alone are insufficient to pass this module.