British American
Drama Academy

Classes

All students take

Dramatic Criticism                              

Each week students attend productions performed by a variety of companies and in a wide selection of venues. In class they discuss what they have seen, evaluate performances, explore the choices made by directors and companies and consider the themes and ideas underpinning particular productions.

Core classes (students choose 3 out of 4)

Brecht: Theatre and Society    

An examination of the dynamic relationship between Brecht's plays as written texts and his practices as a theatre director, examining how his concepts were materialised through theatre performance. Students also study - in translation - 20th century playwrights who were influenced by Brecht's example or who had a comparable impact on how theatre developed in the last century, such as Pirandello, Durrenmatt, Fo, Frisch, Caryl Churchill, Simone Benmussa, Ionesco and Heiner Muller.

At the Court: Modern British Playwrights

This class highlights the revolution in British theatre in the 20th century, by focusing on the history and current practice of one theatre: The Royal Court in London. Students study such playwrights as George Bernard Shaw, Harley Granville Barker, John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Edward Bond, David Hare, Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill and are encouraged to consider a range of general cultural, social and political topics provoked by these writers, such as gender, sexuality race and class.

The Abbey and After: Modern Irish Playwrights

In the 20^th and 21^st century Irish Theatre, both as literature and in performance, has played a crucial role in shaping Ireland's national consciousness and global identity.  Students study Yeats, Synge, O'Casey, Beckett, Friel, McGuiness and the next generation of Irish writers, and are encouraged to consider the range of general cultural, social and political topics provoked - such as violence, religion, emigration and, above all, colonialism.

Theories of Theatre

This class analises the key theories that inform the history of theatre in the past century, including Symbolism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Artaud's ‘Theatre of Cruelty', Epic Theatre, Absurdism, the work of Stanislavski and Pirandello, of Grotowski and Peter Brook.  Each topic will be firmly anchored to one particular play-text read by students in translation.  Students will also look at feminist and queer theatre, as well as post-modern theatre practices. 

Elective Classes ( students choose 1 out of 3)

Directing

This module is designed to extend a student's understanding of the craft required to direct for the stage. Topics to be covered include script analysis, interpretation, production research and preparation together with collaborative working within an ensemble. In the final weeks of the semester, each student is given the opportunity to direct professional actors in scenes.

Playwriting

This module is designed to introduce essential playwriting skills and to stimulate imagination and understanding of the processes involved.  Students explore extracts from 20th century stage plays (and other art forms), learn to critique each other's developing scripts, and benefit from one-to-one guidance from a professional playwright. The module ends with a series of rehearsed readings of the students' plays in front of an invited audience.

Set and Costume Design

This module offers students a chance to work with a professional designer, to improve both their practical skills and also their understanding of the unique relationship between designers, directors, playwrights and actors. Students' work will incorporate model box, prop and costume design.  In the final part of the semester they will work in class with a professional director to understand the requirements of modern theatre designers. At the end of the semester students mount a small exhibition of their own course work in a professional art space.

Other elements of the course

Study Visit Abroad

To complement their studies in London, students spend one week in a European city exploring its particular theatre culture, participating in lectures and workshops and watching current professional productions.

Masterclasses

During the course of the semester there will be a minimum of four master-classes in which distinguished theatre practitioners - set and costume designers, directors, critics and scholars - discuss their work. Each master-class will give students a first hand account of how particular practitioners interact with the process of staging plays. Recent master-classes have been given by Alan Rickman, William Gaskill, Neil Labute and Stanley Wells.

Field Trips

During the course of the semester there will be half-day field trips to London theatre locations such as the National Theatre backstage, the theatre collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Shakespeare's Globe.