Unit rationale, description and aim
Australian theatre practitioners, teachers, and Arts workers should have knowledge and understanding of the history and performance practices which have shaped the country's dramatic development. Australian drama has a rich and diverse performance history which showcases the country's social, cultural, and historical preoccupations on stage. This unit will examine a diverse range of Australian plays to explore their performance history and their staging potential. Students will learn how to understand and interpret the particular social and cultural concerns that can be found in Australian plays. The unit will include close analysis of the published drama of Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander peoples. The main aim of this unit is to help students to recognise and reflect on the staging history of Australian plays from multiple perspectives.
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.
Investigate and describe the development of differ...
Learning Outcome 01
Communicate clearly in written form to analyse and...
Learning Outcome 02
Identify and apply stylistic approaches and techni...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Topics may include:
- The historical and contemporary development of Australian drama
- Performance conventions of Australian drama
- Cultural issues in Australian plays
- Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatres
- Diversity on Australian stages
- Actor training theories, play texts and the associated performance styles in Australian drama
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. This drama unit extends disciplinary knowledge through Australian drama 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 research on Australian drama for potential use in subsequent self-devised performances.
Performative Task: Uses engaged learning strategies requiring collaborative group work. Students demonstrate performance skills appropriate for self-devised theatre production while developing independent dramatic creation strategies.
Australian Play Staging Proposal + Reflective Rationale: The key purpose is to deepen students' understanding of Australian drama by engaging them in research-informed, culturally aware, and creatively original staging proposals that reflect on the social and historical contexts of the chosen play.
Together, these assessments create a comprehensive framework supporting progression from foundational knowledge to advanced independent practice in Australian 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 will be for students to demonstrate appropriate academic skills such as research into secondary source material and close readings of Australian plays. The skills honed in this task will help to show the students' knowledge of the development of a specific aspect of Australian Drama.
40%
Assessment Task 1: Performative Task The key pur...
Assessment Task 1: Performative Task
The key purpose of the Performative Task is to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of appropriate performance styles and techniques for the chosen Australian play. This knowledge will be translated into a performance piece which uses appropriate dramatic languages to explore the text.
25%
Assessment Task 3: Australian Play Staging Propos...
Assessment Task 3: Australian Play Staging Proposal + Reflective Rationale
The key purpose of this assessment task is to deepen students’ understanding of Australian drama by engaging them in research-informed, culturally aware, and creatively original staging proposals that reflect on the social and historical contexts of the chosen play.
35%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit embraces active learning strategies which will help you to interact with the theatre history and performance culture of Australia. All classes will help students to gain a deeper understanding of the issues and concerns which have had an impact on the development of Australian drama. Students will have the opportunity to engage and extend the practical skills and discipline knowledge that students have acquired during their introductory study of drama.
This unit will be taught through face-to-face classes and/or through some multi-mode teaching. Students may attend lectures face-to-face and/or by accessing online recordings in order to ensure broad and ongoing access for all students to the key concepts and principles relevant to Australian theatre. Formal lectures will present key theories and model research and analysis skills appropriate for the study of body and voice in the discipline of Australian drama. Online learning materials will include guided readings and synchronous and/or asynchronous discussions of key primary and secondary texts. Workshops will be face-to-face so that students are able to experiment with the practical aspects of this course and engage with other learners. These workshops will encourage students to engage with actor training theories, play texts and the associated performance styles.
The study of drama upholds the values and mission of ACU as demonstrated by incorporating the Principles of Human Flourishing within its curriculum. This unit is concerned with how the arts functions within Australian society as well as how plays and performances might contribute to our understanding and interpretation Australian society and culture. With its focus on analysing and performing plays, as well as its fundamental interest in critiquing theatre history, this Australian drama unit both celebrates and interprets the contributions of plays and performance to our multicultural and diverse culture. The discipline promotes a critical evaluation of the structures of Australian society and encourages students to focus on pondering the dignity of the human person and the moral and ethical conundrums brought to life on the stage including Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander voices, perspectives and writings.
To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy.