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DRAM30360

Academic Year 2026/2027

Theatre Technologies (DRAM30360)

Subject:
Drama Studies
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
English, Drama & Film
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Emma Bennett
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module considers theatre through its stage technologies, both old and new. Contemporary equipment such as digital/multimedia projection, VR, stage lighting, sound systems, and hydraulics will be considered in the context of much older technologies such as candles, curtains, trapdoors, thunder sheets, pyrotechnics. By looking at a series of examples - both historical and contemporary - we'll examine how these various theatrical 'devices' combine with scenography, dramaturgy, architecture, and human labour to generate illusion, atmosphere, tension, spectacle, and sensation.

This is not only a technical history of theatre, but also a theatrical history of technology. We’ll consider, for example, how the wonder of stage effects like Pepper’s Ghost in the 19th Century, or the use of holograms in the 21st, might connect to cultural anxieties about technological change, or humans being displaced by machines or avatars. Taking a materialist approach, we will focus on conditions of production, the (often hidden) labour of theatre workers, and the embodied experience of spectators.

We'll also think about how practical constraints shape artistic decisions, and how theatre helps us think through our relationships with technology - our communal excitement, fear, suspicion, desire, addiction, and attention. Theatre technologies and their effects are simultaneously material and spectral, mundane and magical: the module aims to combine these aspects, generating understanding of theatre's production processes and considering how material conditions - including budgetary constraints, staffing, and surrounding infrastructure - interplay with aesthetic histories of theatre and performance.



About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module, students will:

• Have developed a critical and creative understanding of the key theatre technologies (lighting, sound, mechanics, projection) and associated production practices (blocking, cue script, technical rehearsal).
• Be able to situate key theatre technologies in their relevant historical contexts
• Have engaged with critical questions about technological development or ‘innovation’ in aesthetic, economic, social and historical contexts.
• Be able to identify and evaluate a range of research methods, including engagement with primary and archival sources.
• Have developed their skills in academic research, writing and discussion.

Indicative Module Content:

Indicative content, subject to change:

Week 1: Intro - theatre 'without' technology?
Week 2: Light, Lighting, and Blackout
Week 3: Sound Effects, Soundscapes, Silence
Week 4: Sightlines, Masking, and Scenery
Week 5: Mechanical Effects
Week 6: Wearable Technology and Prosthetics
Week 7: Scene Changes and Backstage Labour
Week 8: Microphones and Amplification
Week 9: Digital Media, Algorithms and Choreography
Week 10: Waste
Week 11: Summary and Recap

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

11
Small Group

11
Autonomous Student Learning

88
Total

110

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Weekly lectures which - where possible - will incorporate technical demos and video clips.
Weekly seminar/workshops in small groups.

Though we don't currently have the resources to provide access to and instruction in the use of specialist equipment, the aim is to inspire students to experiment with light, sound, video, space, and scenographic design using whatever technology is available. Where possible opportunities for practical experiment will be provided in class.

The module also incorporates deep thinking and discussion around our daily experiences of technology, our assumptions/anxieties about technological 'advancement', and our hopes/dreams about what technology might make possible. The aim therefore is not only to inspire but to think, to reflect, and to challenge.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Analyse a performance (seen in-person or accessed via a documentation), discussing the ways theatre technologies shape spectatorial experience and contribute to the creation of meanings/significance. Week 8 Graded No
40
 No
Individual Project: Critical-creative writing: fictionalised eye-witness account of a theatre performance, with scholarly footnotes contextualising the technological construction of the theatrical effects. Week 14 Graded No
60
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Selected primary texts (these will be offered as videos, video clips, or extracts from play texts - you're also welcome to read the full play text if available):

Dion Boucicault, 'The Corsican Brothers' (play text)
Marie Brassard, 'Jimmy' (play text)
Cirque du Soleil, 'Paramour' (video clips)
Ella Hickson, 'Oil' (play text)
Branden Jacobs Jenkins, 'An Octoroon' (play text)
Susanne Kennedy, 'Women in Trouble' (video)
Lia Rodrigues, 'Encantado' (video clips)
Jackie Sibblies Drury, 'Fairview' (play text)
Touretteshero, 'Not I' (video extracts)
Sergei Tret’iakov, 'Roar, China!' (play text)


Selected Secondary/Critical Readings (weekly selections provided as PDFs on Brightspace):

Boyle, Michael Shane. The Arts of Logistics, Stanford University Press, 2024, pp. 165-192.

Brown, Ross. Sound Effect: The Theatre We Hear. Methuen Drama, 2020, pp. 47–62.

Dethlefs, Hans J., and Yūji Nawata. Performance Spaces and Stage Technologies: A Comparative Perspective on Theatre History. Verlag, 2022.

Essin, Christin. Working Backstage. A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor. University of Michigan Press, 2021.

McKinney, Joslin and Scott Palmer. Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2016.

Owens, Craig N. "Introduction: Staging Technology." Staging Technology: Medium, Machinery, and Modern Drama. Methuen Drama, 2021, pp. 1–34.

Palmer, Scott. ‘Theatrical atmospheres and the experience of light,’ in K. Contemporary Performance Lighting: Experience, Creativity and Meaning, edited by Katherine Graham, Scott Palmer and Kelli Zezulka, London: Methuen Drama, 2023, pp. 27–45.

Theatre Green Book: The Irish Edition: https://www.performingartsforum.ie/green-arts/the-theatre-green-book-irish-edition/

Whitehead, Gavin. "The Ghost on the Machine: The Corsican Trap and the Spirit of Industrial Capitalism." Performance Research, vol. 26, no. 1-2, 2021, pp. 145-155.



Name Role
Dr Paul Halferty Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Darren Brennan Tutor

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Tues 16:00 - 16:50
Autumn Small Group Offering 1 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Wed 13:00 - 13:50
Autumn Small Group Offering 2 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Wed 14:00 - 14:50
Autumn Small Group Offering 3 Week(s) - Autumn: All Weeks Wed 15:00 - 15:50
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