Playwriting (Joint Honours)

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars, group script readings and rehearsals, and practical theatre-based work. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures. Practical work, in our fully equipped drama studios, introduce you to the possibilities of lighting, sound, video, space and set when developing ideas for writing for theatre. Script readings will offer the opportunity to hear your text live, and to give and receive peer and tutor feedback during the development of your plays.

Theatre trips will offer opportunities to analyse plays in performance, and incoming shows and workshops hosted in our Drama Studios will enable you to meet a range of theatre professionals: playwrights, directors, producers and performers. Level 6 modules will explore how to set yourself up as an independent playwright, and enable you to respond to live briefs, commissions and competitions.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least four occasions in the first year as part of the mandatory modules, and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. The course makes extensive use of Blackboard as an e-learning tool, as well as software packages for playwriting, and Drama Online provides access to a vast range of published playscripts for inspiration and independent research. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful. Professional playwrights generally operate on a freelance basis, so in the final year of the course in particular, you will be introduced to entrepreneurial skills to prepare you to find and apply for playwriting competitions, commissions and other opportunities. We will introduce you to theatres, companies and festivals who regularly contract playwrights, and we will support you in setting yourself up as an independent playwright. Additionally we will explore a number of other employment options that may be of interest to you on graduating from this course.

Contact time

In a typical week (for a fulltime student) you will have around 15-16 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.

The Joint Hons in Playwriting will occupy 50% of your course work; the other 50% will be within your other subject (Drama and Performance, Screenwriting, or Creative and Professional Writing).Typically contact time for the Playwriting side of your course will be structured around:

• 5 -6 hours of integrated lecture and practical playwriting work in groups of 15 -20
• 2- 3 hours of seminars/readings in groups of 5 or 6.

Students on a part-time pathway e.g. over 6 years would expect to receive half the above contact hours.

Independent self study

As a Joint Honours (fulltime) student, 50% of your independent study time will be dedicated to self-study in playwriting; the other 50% will be directed towards your other joint subject. Your independent study time should comprise around 12.5 hours per week for Playwriting (and equal amount of time for your other Joint subject), in addition to the contact time of lectures and seminars. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading playtexts or watching recordings of live performances, attending theatre performances, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments.

Students on part-time pathway e.g. over 6 years should expect to put in half the above hours of independent study.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Duration

• 3 years full-time
• Up to 6 years part-time
• 4 years full-time including a third year abroad

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team that includes professional playwrights whose work has been produced in theatres across the country, including major London theatres; other members of the team have experience as professional directors or performers, and of running their own theatre companies.

The department is supported by theatre expertise from our technical staff who specialise in lighting, sound and set design. The majority of the teaching team are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy and/or have doctorates, and all teaching is informed by research and professional practice.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.

Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods include a range of coursework assessments such as writing playscripts, rehearsed readings, collaborative practical projects, essays, reports, portfolios, presentations and a final year independent playwriting project.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

• 1 play scene & synopsis
• 1 performance review or critique
• 1 essay
• 1 short playscript, and staging/technical notes

Year 2

• Portfolio of monologues and dialogues, plus reflective commentary
• 1 essay
• 1 collaborative performance practical
• 1 group presentation

Year 3

• Major independent playwriting project (30 - 40 minutes in performance)
• 1 rehearsed reading of original performance writing
• Competition or commission proposal

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.