Scripts for Contemporary Theatre (CWRI20010)

Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

You’re viewing the 2019 Handbook:
Or view archived Handbooks
You’re currently viewing the 2019 version of this subject

Overview

Availability
Semester 2
FeesLook up fees

This subject is an introduction to the principles and techniques of scriptwriting for the theatre. A selection of theatre scripts in various styles will be studied, in conjunction with relevant critical material, to enhance the production of an original script. Students will each view a current Melbourne theatre production and review the scriptwriting concept and techniques through blog-posts on a class forum, as well as participating in workshopping of their classmates’ scripts throughout semester. This subject is compulsory for students planning to take Writing Radical Performance in the 3rd year of their studies.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should have:



  • the ability to demonstrate a rigorous creative and critical approach to the design and writing of scripts for theatre;
  • developed a range of vocational and creative writing strategies through the development of performance texts that explore complex social and cultural contexts;
  • gained a broad understanding of the relationship between scripts for the theatre and the historical contexts that produce them;
  • developed effective communication techniques in a variety of oral, digital and written forms of scripting;
  • the ability to communicate a respect for ethical values and intellectual honesty through their writing practice and through their engagement with scholarship on the traditions and innovations of creative writing for performance; and
  • gained experience writing independently and in small groups, taking into account individual and cultural differences, to meet shared goals and to critically reflect upon their own work.

Generic skills

At the completion fo this subject, students should gain the following generic skills:

  • the ability to analyse creative and critical material to develop and enhance their intellectual training and creative practice;
  • acquired interpersonal skills of communication, collaboration and co-operation through attention to active listening, giving and receiving feedback etc. and how to reconceptualise and rewrite from feedback;
  • acquired teamwork and public speaking skills through extensive presentation of work-in-progress during workshops; and
  • demonstrated time management, independent organisation and planning.

Last updated: 14 March 2025