Unit rationale, description and aim
Being able to build a self-devised performance is a vital skill for a performer or director looking to work with a collaborative contemporary performing group. Devised performance allows communities to use theatre techniques to tell their stories and promote social cohesion and advocate for social change where required. By learning how to develop self-devised theatre experiences, students will have an opportunity to show a deep understanding of the human condition. This collaborative process of theatre development will provide opportunities for inclusive experiences with an emphasis on diversity and equity. This unit focuses on the process of collaborating to create a performance and students will participate in a range of performance and production roles as we make theatre together. Students will be involved in the selection of material and the development of an appropriate style for the performance. This will include research, preparation and creative development that will be integral to the performance. The main aim of the unit will be to devise a performance using a collaborative process.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Show a critical and ethical awareness of the pract...
Learning Outcome 01
Apply research and direction in the development of...
Learning Outcome 02
Contribute to the development of a performance as ...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Topics may include:
- The development and creation of a collaborative performance piece
- Script writing and development
- The relationship between director and performer
- The role of the stage manager and other technical roles
- The rehearsal process
- Workshopping an idea into a performance
- Practical and technical preparation for public presentation.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessments provide varied tasks enabling students to demonstrate achievement across unit learning outcomes while developing increasingly advanced academic performance skills. Each drama unit extends disciplinary knowledge through diverse genres, texts, theatrical periods, and practitioners.
As an advanced unit, students must demonstrate high self-motivation. Assessments develop research, analytical, and communication skills while exploring self-devised performance techniques.
Research Task: Builds on 100-level skills, requiring advanced research for potential use in subsequent self-devised performances.
Performance: Uses engaged learning strategies for collaborative group work. Students demonstrate performance skills appropriate for self-devised theatre production, participating constructively in collaborative work while developing independent dramatic creation strategies.
Evaluative Task: Students apply theatre performance and production theories to critique self-devised performances or scripts.
Together, these assessments create a comprehensive framework supporting student progression from foundational knowledge to advanced independent practice in drama studies.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Research Task The key purpose...
Assessment Task 1: Research Task
The key purpose of the Research task is for students to conduct research that will become the basis for a self-devised theatre performance and to communicate this research effectively to others.
35%
Assessment Task 2: Performance Students will act...
Assessment Task 2: Performance
Students will actively participate in a self-devised theatre performance based on their research in assessment one.
40%
Assessment Task 3: Evaluative Task The key purpo...
Assessment Task 3: Evaluative Task
The key purpose of the Evaluative task is to allow students to link relevant theories and practices to their evaluation of self-devised performance texts.
25%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit uses active learning strategies to explore methods of devising theatre for live performance. It builds on students’ foundational drama skills and knowledge through a combination of face-to-face and multi-mode teaching. Lectures, delivered in person or via online recordings, introduce key theories and model research and analytical approaches. Online materials include guided readings and discussions of primary and secondary texts. Face-to-face workshops provide opportunities for practical experimentation, collaboration, and engagement with actor training theories, play texts, and performance styles.
Aligned with ACU’s mission and the Principles of Human Flourishing, this unit encourages students to consider how theatre-making can reflect and shape our understanding of the world. It highlights the ethical responsibilities of theatre practitioners in representing human dignity and addressing moral and social issues on stage.
To succeed in this unit, students are encouraged to participate fully in all learning activities and assessments as outlined in the unit’s learning and teaching strategy.
Representative texts and references
Brown, Paul, et al. Verbatim: Staging Memory & Community. Currency Press, 2010.
Doble, Alex Rowan. “Without The Other: An Interrogation of the Ethics, Devising, and Performance of Contemporary Autobiographical Theatre”. 2015.
Govan, Emma, et al. Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. Routledge, 2007.
Heddon, Deirdre and Milling, Jane. Devising Performance: A Critical History. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
Janke, Terri. Writing up Indigenous Research: Authorship, Copyright and Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Terri Janke, 2009.
Mermikides, Alex and Smart, Jackie, eds. Devising in Process. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
O'Brien, Nick. Theatre in Practice: A Student's Handbook. Routledge, 2013.
Schechner, Richard. Performance Studies: an Introduction. Routledge, 2017.
Graham, Scott., and Steven. Hoggett. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre. 2nd ed., Taylor and Francis, 2014.
Woodson, Stephani Etheridge, and Underiner, Tamara. Theatre, Performance and Change. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.