Performance Practice

The Programme

This is a one-year full-time or two or three-year part-time modular programme leading to the award of MA in Performance Practice. The programme will be of interest to those concerned with the exploration of all elements of performance as a cultural activity. We expect to recruit from those individuals willing to challenge both themselves and the boundaries of performance practice as currently recognised.

Programme Structure

Full-time study patterns will be negotiated on an individual basis. In the first year of study, all part-time candidates follow a common core curriculum which seeks to contextualise and start an engagement with the general field of inquiry. Performance Analysis acts as an introduction to, and overview of, the general theoretical landscape within which 'performance' - as a cultural activity - can be seen to be operating at this point in time. As the programme progresses, candidates are then given the chance to start exploring some of these issues in the form best suited to the study of the subject. In other words, they are asked to produce, in modules titled Performance Practice I and Performance Practice II, theoretically driven and informed pieces of performance. This allows candidates to begin to explore the pragmatics, as well as the ideals, of performing within a developmental framework. These efforts in informed investigation will lead the student into areas of further study. These areas, after negotiation with the tutors involved, revolve around the student's preferred method of exploration. This can result in a dissertation of 6,000, 12,000, or 18,000 words (Dissertation), or a practical performance project (Practical Research Project) of equivalent gradation. For example, a student may produce a 6,000 word dissertation and a documented performance equivalent to the remaining credits needed for the MA award. This gives candidates an opportunity to negotiate the most effective means of approaching their area of interest, with a view to producing an intensive study, in one form or another, of that field of specialism.

Assessment

Delivery is by tutorial and seminar. There are three core double modules, each worth 30 credits, which cover areas of research strategy, performance analysis, documentation and management, and require candidates to engage with performance making. Remaining credits can be undertaken via documented performance making or dissertation. The means of documenting performance is negotiable but might comprise the written word, notation, design portfolio or CD-ROM. All live performance will be subject to viva voce examination. The Postgraduate Certificate requires 60 credits, the Postgraduate Diploma 120 credits and the MA 180 credits. Assessment normally follows a pass/fail pattern although distinction may be awarded for outstanding work.

For further information contact:

David Pattie, MA Performance Practice Programme Leader
e-mail: d.pattie@chester.ac.uk
tel: 01244 515732

Gaynor Lovett, Postgraduate Officer
Postgraduate Admissions
University of Chester
Parkgate Road
Chester
CH1 4BJ

E mail: g.lovett@chester.ac.uk
Tel: 01244 511511