Yearbooks

Programme: BDram Drama

Kindly take note of the disclaimer regarding qualifications and degree names.
Code Faculty
01130117 Faculty of Humanities
Credits Duration
Duration of study: 3 years Total credits: 486
Contact:
Mr BJH Snyman
[email protected]
+27 (0)124203111

Programme information

This programme is directed towards the study of performance in relation to theatre, drama/theatre in education, performing arts management, film and television and the interface between technology and performance. The programme guides the student towards an understanding of the academic discourses and the practical skills required to interrogate, create, manage and promote multiple forms of performance.

Closing date for applications:

30 June annually

Additional requirements

Prospective students from other universities, who successfully passed the first year of study, may only register at the beginning of the second year of study.

Admission is subject to the presentation of a programme, as well as the successful completion of a preliminary examination.

         Audition:

During August the Department conducts an audition (practical and theory) in order to admit the most eligible candidates to study for this degree. The Department will communicate the date for the audition directly to the prospective students. The Department reserves the right to exclude a candidate based on the outcome of the audition.

Other programme-specific information

Note:

  • Choices within the particular third-year level modules will be made in consultation with the programme coordinators and the lecturers involved.
  • Productions: Requirements will be determined by the head of department.

        G   Simultaneous registration for modules

Promotion to next study year

Promotion to the second year of study:

Obtain 12 credits from the fundamental modules, including all ALL modules, as well as 50 credits from the core modules in the first year of study.

Promotion to the third year of study:

Obtain all first-year credits as well as 90 credits from the second year.

Any deviation from these requirements may only be done subject to the approval of the Dean, on the recommendation of the head of department.

 

 

Pass with distinction

A student must obtain an average of at least 75% in all the theoretical modules at, as well as 75% in the TNP praxis module at third-year level.

Minimum credits: 98

Fundamental modules

Core modules

  • Module content:

    The languages of drama and film
    This module introduces the languages of drama and film as well as approaches to drama and film analysis. In addition, historical and contemporary drama and film theories will be used to read various drama and film texts.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.

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  • Module content:

    Drama and film genresThis module introduces the notion of genre as part of a wider concept of narrative building and storytelling in both drama and film. Different types of genre are introduced and discussed with regard to film and drama and furthermore linked to the idea of emerging identities in contemporary storytelling. All these parts are conceptually introduced and provide an introduction to reading, interpretation and giving meaning to various discourses in film and drama narratives.

     
    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016

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  • Module content:

    *Closed – only for BDram students
    *Students have to pass all components of this module in order to be promoted to the next year level
    Basic techniques of acting will be introduced. Aspects of self, other and space will be explored and applied by means of acting exercises, theatre games, improvisation and interpretation of applicable material. The notions of storytelling/narrative/playmaking/construction and interpretation/recreation will be explored.
    The module further introduces experiential somatics for the actor and performer. Students will engage with the building blocks of body/voice integration towards the safe, interactive and heightened use of the body and voice in performance. Students will apply these building blocks in discipline-specific skills training and in performance, including acting.

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  • Module content:

    *Closed – only for BDram students
    Text analysis and performance
    The self in relation to role, character, persona, embodiment and the creation of performance metaphors will be explored through analysis of prose, poetry and drama texts in order to establish a relationship between structural and aesthetic contents of the text and the construction of meaning in performance.

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  • Module content:

    *Closed – only for BDram students
    Bodied Spaces
    This module explores the ways in which the elements of scenography engage with the body to make meaning in a theatrical performance. The course demonstrates how visual codes can be used as narrative devices and how components of the spatial field can be used to support the primacy of the body as a maker of meaning in theatrical performance.

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  • Module content:

    *Closed – only for BDram students
    Performing arts management
    In this module students will be introduced to the current state of the performing arts in South Africa. Students will explore the language and technical aspects of theatre. It includes the processes involved with creation and performance of theatre productions. Focus will be placed on the ways in which the creative vision of the director is supported and manifested, to consolidate the aesthetical quality and conceptual framing of the production. The skills and responsibilities of the technical and creative theatre practitioners will be explored and put into context.

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  • Module content:

    *Closed – only for BDram students
    Theatre and performance studies
    In this module students will explore the fundamental principles of role play and important elements are identified and described. The framing of a role play in various social, cultural and political arenas and the strategies applied forms the point of departure for this investigation. Students develop the skills to draw lines from the duality of text as well as life during the process of character development.

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Minimum credits: 120

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Historical modes of Western performance
    The module involves a study of the socio-political contexts of Western Classical and Renaissance theatre, redirecting the focus to the notion of violence in performance during the age of Enlightenment.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

     

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  • Module content:

    Realism and contemporary South African performance
    Concepts of naturalism and realism will be interrogated in relation to dramatic texts and performance values in both drama and film. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives since the „Age of Reason? will be offered. Against this background, the concept of „realism? will be interrogated in relation to performance texts and performance values in the emergence of interdisciplinary framework of performance studies. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives will be offered and discussed, so as to draw connections between realism, and contemporary South African performance.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

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Minimum credits: 160

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Reading cultural representation
    Against the framework of post-colonialism, issues of signification, representation and meaning in performance will be considered in relation to selected theoretical approaches to performance and their concern with gender in theatre and film. Representation and subjectivity and how they are revealed as gendered fictions rather than „natural?, inevitable realities will be explored through various drama and film texts. The student will explore how the body, as codified cultural product, can become a symbolic battleground for cultural supremacy in and through performance.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

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  • Module content:

    Counter discourses
    Social relations, material conditions, discursive practices, identity and representational structures will be studied in relation to Marxist Materialism, cross-cultural theatre, postmodern discourse and post-theory ideas. Key figures and ideas from relevant critical theory will guide an interrogation of popular performance and cinema as well as non-dominant cinemas and modes of performance.
     
    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

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The information published here is subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information. The General Regulations (G Regulations) apply to all faculties of the University of Pretoria. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves well with these regulations as well as with the information contained in the General Rules section. Ignorance concerning these regulations and rules will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression.

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