Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Module Identifier
DR30620
Module Title
SHAKESPEARE IN PERFORMANCE
Academic Year
2009/2010
Co-ordinator
Dr Alison Forsyth
Semester
Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Pre-Requisite
Successful completion of Part 1 Drama.
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture Lecture 1 x 1 hour per week
Seminars / Tutorials Seminar 1 x 1 hour per week (Students will be informed of their group allocation)
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 2,500 word Essay  30%
Semester Assessment Class contribution  10%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   60%

Learning Outcomes

Typically, upon completion of this module students should be able:

- To demonstrate a critical and analytical awareness of the theatricality of specific Shakespeare plays.
- To reflect analytically and critically on the assumptions which documented production choices embody.
- To show an understanding of the implications various critical approaches may generate for production choices.



Brief description

This module will focus on a selection of Shakespeare plays with a particular emphasis upon the staging of those plays throughout history. The production history of the selected plays will provide insights into how performance, context and staging techniques can alter or discover new meanings from the play-texts

Aims

This module examines a number of Shakespearean play texts to explore ways in which:
- their creation and mediation was determined by original staging circumstances
- later generations restaged them in ways to create new meanings
- they might be staged creatively today




Content

Texts to be studied (but not in this order) are:

Twelfth Night
Titus Andronicus
Antony and Cleopatra
A Midsummers Night's Dream
Hamlet
Pericles
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Henry V

There will be a compulsory theatre visit to Stratford to see Twelfth Night (first semester) and students will be expected to attend an arranged performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona at Aberystwyth Arts Centre (first semester). Further theatre visits/performances will be announced - but all students will be expected to attend third year Band Productions of Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra directed by David Rabey and Pericles directed by Richard Cheshire). Details (dates, cost of tickets, times and venues) of all productions will be announced in due course.






Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication Communication skills will be developed in seminar sessions
Improving own Learning and Performance Students will receive feedback on written assignments
Information Technology IT and information handling skills will be demonstrated through students individual research (library and web) and through written work (word processing).
Personal Development and Career planning Students will have the opportunity to explore specific areas which reflect and strengthen their individual career needs
Research skills Students will demonstrate the results of individual research in the form of essays, examinations and oral contribution.
Subject Specific Skills Students are encouraged to develop the use of critical and analytical vocabulary in their written and oral response to issues concerning Shakespeare's plays as text and in performance. Production history of selected Shakespeare plays will also be considered in some depth so that students will acquire an understanding of how context, directorial choices, acting styles, casting and other aspects of production alter or bring out new meanings in the plays. Upon completion students should be able : to respond analytically to a range of theatrical texts and modes of live performance, to articulate an awareness of relationships between texts, performances and cultural contexts, to demonstrate an understanding of key concepts and methodologies within Shakespeare studies.

Reading List

Recommended Text
Alexander and Wells Shakespeare and Race (Routledge) Primo search Bate, and Jackson, (2001) The Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage (OUP) Primo search Bogdanov, (2003) Shakespeare: The Director's Cut (Capercaillie) Primo search Bristol, Big Time Shakespeare (Routledge) Primo search Dessen, (1989) Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP) Primo search Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage: 1574 - 1642 (CUP) Primo search Holderness, (1989) The Taming of The Shrew (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP) Primo search Holmes, (2004) Merely Players? (Routledge) Primo search Leggatt, (1991) King Lear (There is a very good series of these Shakespeare in Performance books from MUP and they are frequently updated. Most plays are covered) (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP)) Primo search Mangan, (1996) A Preface to Shakespeare's Comedies (Longman) Primo search Mangan, (1996) A Preface to Shakespeare's Tragedies (Longman) Primo search Parsons & Mason, (1995) Shakespeare in Performance Primo search Scott, Shakespeare and the Modern Dramatist (Macmillan) Primo search Shakespeare, William Hamlet Skakespeare in performance edition n.e. Arden Shakespeare Primo search Shakespeare, William King Lear Skakespeare in performance edition n.e. Arden Shakespeare Primo search Shakespeare, William Merchant of Venice Skakespeare in performance edition n.e. Arden Shakespeare Primo search Shakespeare, William Titus Andronicus Skakespeare in performance edition n.e. Arden Shakespeare Primo search Shakespeare, William, The tempest / Skakespeare in performance Cambridge University Press, Primo search Thomson, (1992) Shakespeare`s Theatre (Routledge) Primo search Wells, Shakepeare in the Theatre (Oxford) Primo search Wells, & Stanton, (2002) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (Cambridge) Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6