Module Identifier DR30620  
Module Title SHAKESPEARE IN PERFORMANCE  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator Dr Alison Forsyth  
Semester Semester 2  
Pre-Requisite Successful completion of Part 1 Drama.  
Course delivery Lecture   20 x 1 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 x 1 Hours  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours 60%
Semester Assessment Class contribution  10%
Semester Assessment Essay 2,500 words30%

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:
a) their creation and mediation was determined by original staging circumstances
b) later generations restaged them in ways to create new meanings
c) they might be staged creatively today

Content

During the study for this module students will encounter differing approaches to the interpretation and performances of selected texts.   

Indicitive lecture schedule (Play texts will alter year by year)

Shakespeare: Society and Performance
Titus Andronicus
Othello
Macbeth
The Taming of The Shrew
Henry V
Richard III
Twelfth Night
Anthony and Cleopatra
The Merchant of Venice
Directing Shakespeare

Module Skills

Research skills Students will demonstrate the results of individual research in the form of essays, examinations and oral contribution.  
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  
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 Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Alexander and Wells Shakespeare and Race (Routledge)
Bate, and Jackson, (2001) The Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage (OUP)
Bogdanov, (2003) Shakespeare: The Director's Cut (Capercaillie)
Bristol, Big Time Shakespeare (Routledge)
Dawson, Anthony B. Hamlet edition n.e. . Manchester U.P. 0719046254
Dessen, (1989) Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP)
Dessen, Alan C. Titus Andronicus edition n.e. . Manchester U.P. 0719027446
Gurr, The Shakespearean Stage: 1574 - 1642 (CUP)
Holderness, (1989) The Taming of The Shrew (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP)
Holmes, (2004) Merely Players? (Routledge)
Leggatt, (1991) King Lear (Shakespeare in Performance: MUP))
Leggatt, Alexander King Lear Manchester U.P. 0719027489
Loehlin, James N. Henry V edition n.e. . Manchester U.P. 0719059445
Mangan, (1996) A Preface to Shakespeare's Comedies (Longman)
Mangan, (1996) A Preface to Shakespeare's Tragedies (Longman)
Parsons & Mason, (1995) Shakespeare in Performance
Scott, Shakespeare and the Modern Dramatist (Macmillan)
Shakespeare, William Hamlet edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436672
Shakespeare, William King Lear edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436583
Shakespeare, William Merchant of Venice edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436818
Shakespeare, William Othello edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436451
Shakespeare, William Titus Andronicus edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436052
Shakespeare, William Twelfth Night edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436990
Shakespeare, William, The tempest / Cambridge University Press, 0521783755
Thomson, (1992) Shakespeare`s Theatre (Routledge)
Wells, Shakepeare in the Theatre (Oxford)
Wells, & Stanton, (2002) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage (Cambridge)
** Supplementary Text
Mangan, Michael Preface to Shakespeare's Comedies,1594-1603 Longman 0582095905
Mangan, Michael Preface to Shakespeare's Tragedies Longman 0582355036
Shakespeare, William Taming of the Shrew edition n.e. . Arden Shakespeare 1903436931
Thomson, Peter, Shakespeare's Theatre / Routledge, 0415073111
Oxford Illustrated History of Shakespeare on Stage Oxf.U.P. 0192802135
Shakespeare in Performance edition n.e. . Salamander Bks. 1840651954

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6