BA Drama / Course details

This module examines a range of theatre and performance practices that developed between the mid-to-late nineteenth century and the mid-to-late twentieth century. This period was foundational for many of the norms, practices and assumptions still apparent today – both in theatres and in the wider world. In considering various conceptions of modernity and the modern, the module examines some of the ways in which these concepts have been promoted and/or critiqued through theatre and performance. For example, how have evolving technologies shaped theatre and everyday life?; how have urban and natural environments been dramatized or utilized in performance?; in what ways and to what extent have modern theatre practices embraced a progressive diversification in the voices heard and stories told? How was theatre shaped by – and how did it contribute to – global radical movements such as feminism, anti-colonialism and workers’ rights?

The scope of the module is designed to emphasise and foreground intercultural encounters and transnational circulation within theatre/performance, in order to explore key aesthetic and political questions relating to the modern world’s distinctly unequal global power dynamics. Using a diverse array of source materials -- including plays, performance scores, manifestos and audio-visual resources -- the course enables students to broaden and deepen their understanding of modern theatre history, and to hone their skills in detailed, rigorous theatrical analysis. 

Pre-requisites:  Any L1 core theatre (DRAM) study course unit: 

                           DRAM10001 Theatre & Performance 1     

                           or

                           DRAM10002 Theatre & Performance 2

• To provide students with an opportunity to examine a broad coverage of Western theatre and performance practice from the nineteenth century to the early 21st century, through the analysis of a range of research materials, including dramatic texts, manifestos, critical commentaries, performances and visual resources.
   
• To build on and develop students' competencies in independent study, research and critical thinking in the context of a specified coverage of key practitioners and critics in the field of theatre and performance.

• Demonstrate knowledge of a range of materials relating to key theatre/performance practitioners from the 19^th century to the early 21^st century.
• Demonstrate familiarity and critical engagement with key theatre and performance practitioners and critics relevant to the era studied.
• Demonstrate a robust understanding of key conceptual, historiographical and theoretical approaches to the study of modern and contemporary theatre and performance.

• Cross-reference and compare different historical contexts and their relation to the formation and development of theatre and performance practice.
• Develop arguments and analyses coherently through a range of assessment tasks.
• Apply relevant theoretical frameworks critically to particular case studies.

• Demonstrate comprehension and analysis of course materials, and a good ability to apply source materials through written assessment
• Use a range of analytical methods to engage with historical and contemporary sources on theatre, performance and its reception
• Develop written analysis and presentation skills 

• Demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively with others about intellectually demanding concepts, topics, materials
• Demonstrate an ability to draw with accuracy, focus, detail and precision on complex materials in independent and group work
• Demonstrate an ability to effectively present – through discussion and in writing – complex topics, drawing convincingly on oral, written and visual media as appropriate to the topic

Fuchs, Elinor. The Death of Character: Perspectives on Theater after Modernism. Indiana University Press, 1996.

Gale, Maggie B. and John Deeney eds.The Routledge Drama Anthology and Sourcebook: from modernism to contemporary performance. Routledge, 2010.

Goldberg, RoseLee. Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present. Thames and Hudson, 2011.

Harding, James, ed. Not the Other Avant-Garde: The Transnational Foundations of Avant-Garde Performance. University of Michigan Press, 2006.

McIvor, Charlotte and Jason King, eds. Interculturalism and Performance Now: New Directions? Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.

Powell, Kerry, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Theatre. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Styan, J. L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice: 1 (Realism and Naturalism), 2 (Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd) and 3 (Expressionism and Epic Theatre). Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Uno, Roberta and Lucy Mae San Pablo Burns, eds. The Color of Theater: Race, Ethnicity, and Contemporary Performance. Bloomsbury, 2002.