MATSEC AM Theatre and Performance study plan

Build a dated timeline of European theatre movements from naturalism to postdramatic theatre, noting one representative playwright and one staging convention per movement

Identify and define the key terms of theatrical modernism (symbolism, expressionism, epic theatre, absurdism) in a personal glossary of at least 20 entries

Select three set periods (e.g. Greek, Elizabethan, Restoration) and summarise their performance conditions - venue, audience, acting style - in your own words

Locate and annotate two primary-source extracts (a manifesto, a rehearsal note, a contemporary review) that illuminate one movement

Analyse how a chosen play's structure (plot shape, use of chorus, time frame) reflects the social context of its first production

Compare two contrasting critical readings of the same play and state which evidence each reading relies on

Apply a dramaturgical vocabulary (exposition, complication, crisis, denouement, subtext) to a scene of no more than ten minutes

Draft a one-page context sheet for a play you intend to use in later weeks, covering genre, period, first performance and reception

Parse a set text into units and objectives using Stanislavskian terminology, marking beats on a working copy

Write a character biography and a 'through-line' statement for one principal role, grounded in textual evidence only

Rehearse and record a two-minute monologue applying given circumstances and inner monologue

Annotate the text for verse or prose rhythm, pauses and stress, and justify each choice with reference to meaning

Run three improvisation sessions using different stimuli (an object, a news headline, a piece of music) and log what each stimulus produced

Practise status transactions and offer/accept conventions in paired exercises, then describe what changed in the scene

Apply at least two rehearsal techniques (e.g. actioning, Viewpoints, hot-seating) to a short scene and evaluate their effect

Develop vocal and physical warm-up routines you can complete in fifteen minutes and test them before each session

Devise a five-minute ensemble piece from a single chosen stimulus, assigning roles for movement, text and sound

Produce a ground plan for that piece that shows sightlines, entrances and playing space, and justify the layout

Compile a cue sheet covering lighting, sound and any props changes, with timings

Test one design idea in practice (a lighting state, a soundscape, a costume piece) and record what it did to the scene's atmosphere

Rehearse the devised piece to performance standard, running it at least three times end to end

Refine technical cues in a paper tech, then a cue-to-cue, resolving at least three timing problems

Rehearse the two-minute monologue for an audience, adjusting for a specific performance space

Record a full run and note three precise adjustments for the final performance

Write a structured evaluation of your own performance using a framework (intention, execution, audience response, next steps)

Evaluate a live or recorded professional production, separating description from judgement and citing specific moments

Revisit your week-one timeline and connect one historical convention to a choice you made in your own work

Identify three weaknesses in your practical work and design a specific exercise for each

Perform the monologue and the devised piece in a timed mock exam under exam conditions

Consolidate notes into a single revision sheet covering all seven domains, with the highest-yield facts first

Rehearse answers to likely oral or written questions on context and dramaturgy, speaking each answer aloud once

Review the week-seven action plan and confirm which exercises you will continue after the course