Unit information: Literature in its Time 1: Shakespeare and the Traditions of the English Stage in 2014/15

Unit name	Literature in its Time 1: Shakespeare and the Traditions of the English Stage
Unit code	ENGL21007
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Professor. Tom Sperlinger
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of English
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will examine the development of sixteenth- and early seventeenth- century drama, just before and after the birth of the public playhouse. A selection of plays will be read and discussed, alongside performance records and other documentation. There will be opportunities to consider issues such as performance circumstances, the practicalities of staging, and authorship and collaboration.

Aims:

This unit aims to develop students knowledge of the theatre and performance contexts before, during, and after the period when Shakespeare was writing. A range of writers and plays, and documentary evidence relevant to them, will be introduced; and there will be opportunities to consider performance questions through practical workshops, as well as by reading a range of appropriate materials. The unit aims to facilitate students ongoing appreciation of the chronology and historical development of literature in English.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will have had an opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding of the theatre and performance contexts as they apply to Shakespeare, his immediate predecessors and successors, and his contemporaries. A range of writers and plays, and documentary evidence relevant to them, will have been introduced; there will also have been an opportunity to participate in practical workshops.

Teaching Information

The unit will normally be taught in ten three-hour seminars, which will utilise a range of teaching methods including lectures by the tutor(s), formal and informal presentations by students, small group discussion, and practical and/or performance workshops.

Assessment Information

Students will be assessed through one essay of 2,800 to 4,000 words, and one written assignment on staging of 1,800 to 2,500 words. The latter should consist of either (a) a staging history of one scene from a play or performance text of the period; or (b) an outline for a proposed staging of one scene from a play or performance text of the period, taking into account (where relevant) its performance history. The essay will be worth 60% of the unit mark; the assignment on staging will be worth 40%.

Reading and References

• Gassner, John, and Green, William, Elizabethan Drama: 8 Plays (A&C Black, 1998)

• Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespearean Stage 1574-1642 (Cambridge University Press, 1992).

• Kermode, L., Scott-Warren, J., Van Elk, M., eds., Tudor Drama before Shakespeare 1485-1590: New Directions for Research, Criticism, and Pedagogy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

• Wells, Stanley, Shakespeare and Co. (Penguin, 2007).