Undergraduate > University of Pretoria

Undergraduate programme
Click here for the Drama Department's selection criteria for 2014 (scroll down for English please). Please
note: the required APS is 30, not 26. The 2014 criteria are the same as for 2015.
BA (DRAMA)
The BA degree is an extremely exciting programme! This course is ideal for you if you wish to have a
profession in the theatre, film or related media. As such the course will guide the student to an artistic,
creative as well as an analytical and practical approach to theatre and directly related fields, such as film,
television, radio, theatre/drama­in­education and theatre for development.
During July and August of each year the Department conducts an audition in order to ascertain whether
prospective students have the ability to follow the programme successfully. The Department will
communicate the date for the audition directly to the students. The Department has the right to exclude a
student based on the outcome of the audition. The closing date for applications is 30 June annually.
Some courses, such as Drama and Film Studies (DFK), Speech/Voice and Movement Theory (SBT) and
Theatre Theory (TNT) are open to candidates that do not wish to study BA Drama but are interested in the
field of drama and its application to other fields of study.
At the end of the BA (Drama) degree, you should be able to:
• create a physicalised/visualised, kineticised and auditory role for stage, film and radio, drawing on
diverse approaches to role;
• describe, demonstrate and evaluate the effective auditory, kinetic and visual dimensions and
demands of theatre;
• describe and evaluate various systems of the transcodification of the written text to performance text;
• document the history of drama, theatre and film through the ages, with specific reference to Western
and African theatre, drama and film;
• demonstrate an introductory understanding and application of various theories of meaning
generation and evaluation for theatrical and filmic performance and production;
• develop criteria for the creation and evaluation of theatrical, radio and film performances;
• construct and present an effective oral interpretation programme;
• construct and present an effective radio presentation;
• create proficient designs for the auditory; kinetic and visual dimensions of the theatre;
• develop and present an effective methodology for the teaching of drama and movement;
• construct and present effective theatrical productions, a movement programme, as well as
drama/theatre­in­education and theatre for development programmes.
Brief course overview:
DFK 110 – The Languages of Drama and Film
Includes Aristotelian drama theory, analysing narrative structures, Campbell’s notion of the Hero’s Journey,
and a variety of film and drama theories as applied in readings of films and plays
DFK 120 – Drama­ and Film Genre
Includes modes of performances, codes, contexts, conventions of drama and film forms and genres
DFK 210 – Performing Violence in the Enlightenment
Includes investigations of the socio­political contexts of theatre over a period of time, from the Greeks to the
Middle Ages and beyond, particularly Shakespeare
DFK 220 – Realism and the Construction of Reason
Includes a critical analysis of how ‘realism’ or ‘naturalism’ reflects certain historical perspectives, as well as
Third Cinema, nationhood and national film
DFK 310 – Reading Cultural Re­presentation
Presents critical discussions of notions of signification, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, subjectivity and
gendered fictions
DFK 320 – Counter Discourses
Stimulates investigations of identity and re­presentation within the contexts of Marxist­ materialism,
postcolonialism and postmodernism
SBP 100 – Voice and Movement: Praxis 1
Includes a look at the role of voice and movement in performance­oriented material
SBP 200 – Voice and Movement: Praxis 2
Emphasises developing physical and vocal dynamics in expression and communication during performance
SBP 300 – Voice and Movement: Praxis 3
Includes the application of heightened physicality and vocality in performance
SBT 110 – The Performer: Embodied and Envoiced
Investigates boy­voice­mind integration in performance skills
SBT120 – Text, Interpretation and Performance
SBT 210 – Expression and Embodiment
Includes an investigation and exploration of Laban’s Movement Studies
SBT 253 – Radio as Medium for Fiction
Explores the ways in which radio can be used to deliver fictions
SBT 254 – Radio as Medium for Facts
Critical evaluations of news bulletins and interviews
SBT 310 – Emotive Voice in Performance or Advanced Radio Work
SBT 320 – Anthropology and the Construction of Physical Performances
The use of the body is explored as a dynamic and aesthetic process
TNP 100 – Theatre Studies: Praxis 100
Introduces basic acting techniques
TNP 200 – Theatre Studies: Praxis 200
Comprised of enactment and embodiment, and performing realism
TNP 300 – Theatre Studies: Praxis 300
Focuses on live performance and techno performance
TNT 110 – Theatre Technology and Constructed Virtual Space
Introduces the vocabulary and technical aspects of theatre management
TNT 120 – The Actor: Text to Performance
Introduces fundamental principles and strategies of role play
TNT 210 – Theatre: Edutainment and Development or Intermediate Design
TNT 220 – Role Play and Ritual: Directing and Performance
Investigates the director’s dynamic position in the process of role play and ritual in a socio­political context
TNT 310 – Funderstanding and Intervention or Advanced Design.
TNT 320 – Performance Arts Management and Cultural Memory
Includes a critical introduction to management principles
NB: In addition to the above, you need to select courses from languages or other open courses at other
departments to the value of 24 credits. These subject choices must be made in close collaboration with the
programme organisers.
Please note:The University specifies Computer Literacy, Language Proficiency and Research Methodology
as compulsory subjects:
CIL 111 (Computer Literacy ), EAG 110 (Study), EOT 110, 120 (Language Proficiency), RES 151
(Introduction to Research Methodology)
Programme organiser: Mr Rian Terblanche
rian.terblanche@up.ac.za