ECU Web Unit Outline
 
FACULTY OF EDUCATION & ARTS
SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS AND ARTS
Full Unit Outline - Enrolment Approved Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Disclaimer
This unit outline may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.
 
UNIT TITLE Interpreting Australian Drama Texts
UNIT CODE PER2202
CREDIT POINTS 15
FULL YEAR UNIT No
MODE OF DELIVERY On-campus
MODE OF DELIVERY DETAILS seminar
DESCRIPTION

This unit studies canonical dramatic texts from key Australian eras, principally indigenous, modernist and postcolonial. The workshopping and deconstruction of texts will focus on play structure, character, language, theatrical genre and critical cultural context, towards the generation of dramaturgical and educational resources.
 
LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of this unit the student will be able to:

  1. discuss a variety of historically significant playwrights from and indigenous, modernist and contemporary traditions;
  2. analyse the significance of their work within the Australian theatre canon;
  3. interpret a historical play text for its contemporary socio-political relevance;
  4. research dramaturgical material for a director, cast and/or teacher; and
  5. perform small, key scenes from the repertoire of Australian classic texts.
 
UNIT CONTENT
  1. Indigenous, Colonial, Modernist and contemporary playwrights and play texts.
  2. Key themes and influences on national writers.
  3. Representations of the shifts in Australian identity.
  4. Australian drama on the world stage.
  5. Postcolonial and Modernist theory.
  6. The rise of dramaturgy in Australia Theatre and education resources.
 
TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESSES

Tutorials

Seminars
 
GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES

The following graduate attributes will be developed in this unit:

 

  • Ability to communicate
  • Critical appraisal skills
  • Ability to generate ideas
  • Cross-cultural and international outlook
 
ASSESSMENT
Grading Schema 1
 
Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.
 

Item

On-Campus Assessment

Value

  

Tutorial Presentation

Class Exercises

20%

Creative Work

Performance Project

20%

Presentation

Seminar

20%

Assignment

Dramaturgical Resources

40%

 
SIGNIFICANT REFERENCES
Australia plays: new Australian drama. (1989). London: Nick Hern.
Bedson, J., & Croft, J. (Eds.). (1993). The Campbell Howard annotated index of Australian plays 1920-1955. Armidale, N.S.W.: Centre for Australian Language and Literature Studies, University of New England.
Brisbane, K. (Ed.). (2000). Plays of the 60s. Sydney: Currency Press.
Brisbane, K. (Ed.). (2001). Plays of the 70s. Sydney: Currency Press.
Brisbane, K., & Parsons. P. (1991). On stage. [Videorecording] Australia: Australia Council.
Bush theatre plays (1996). London: Faber and Faber.
Fotheringham, R. (Ed.). (2006). Australian plays for the colonial stage: 1834-1899. St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press.
Gilbert, H. (1998). Sightlines: Race, gender, and nation in contemporary Australian theatre. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Milne, G., (2004). Theatre Australia (un)limited: Australian theatre since the 1950s. Amsterdam: New York, NY: Rodopi.
Pfisterer, S. (1999). Tremendous worlds: Australian women's drama 1890-1960. Sydney: Currency Press.
Plays from black Australia: Jack Davis, Eva Johnson, Richard Walley, Bob Maza. (1989). Sydney: Currency Press.
Tait, P., & Schafer, E. (Eds.). (1997). Australian women's drama: Texts and feminisms. Sydney: Currency Press.
Webby, E. (1993). Modern Australian plays. Sydney: Sydney University Press in association with Oxford University Press.
 
 
 
Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)
For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes, Graduate Attributes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Student Equity, Diversity and Disability Service website:
http://intranet.ecu.edu.au/student/support/student-equity
 
 


Academic Misconduct


Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students’ work.

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.


The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.
ECU Web Unit Outline