What are the strengths and weaknesses of a ‘broad spectrum’ approach to performance?
• ‘Cultures, societies and communities use performance to define what they are, and what they are not.’ What are the implications of this statement for understanding performance in the context of globalization?
• Explain the significance of performance art and/or theatre for understanding one of the following themes:
• Identity and the body
• Time and value
• Cultural distinctiveness and/or difference
• Select any artist or movement covered in this subject, and present a detailed analysis of their work and its significance.
• Select two performances studied in different weeks of this subject that you feel complement each other aesthetically and/or thematically. Analyse the works/events in detail to explain the significance of these aesthetic and/or thematic concerns.
• Drawing on examples from public and commercial environments in Melbourne, critically evaluate the concept of the Experience Economy from a performance studies perspective.
• “Performance management’s concern with creativity and diversity demonstrates that Performance Studies is not the only paradigm interested in cultural performance.” (McKenzie, Perform or Else, p. 84).
This being the case, what can a Performance Studies approach rooted in cultural performance bring to the understanding of performance management?
• How do the tools of Performance Studies help us better understand the performances of cultural memory in Australia?
• ‘The Yes Men teach us that failure is integral to protest performance.’ Do you agree?
• ‘Is performance is a transmedia phenomenon? Justify your answer, and explain its implications for performance analysis.
• ‘Performance is a distinctively human attribute’. Do you agree?
• What is missing from the ENGL30048 syllabus? Make the case for the inclusion of an event, practice or theme not covered in the current syllabus, explaining and justifying the material to be studied.
• Are the increasingly performative qualities of social and cultural practices and events and/or their analysis in these terms good or bad news for the theatre?