| Unit name | Early Modern Theatre Practice |
|---|---|
| Unit code | THTR20013 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Eleanor Rycroft |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
THTR10002 Production for Design and Performance |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Theatre |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Students will encounter a range of performance texts and contexts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in a unit which emphasises modes of staging and early modern performative practices. The students will develop understanding of indoors and outdoors performances: commercial amphitheatres such as The Globe, private playhouses such as The Blackfriars, as well as aristocratic forms of theatre such as dining hall drama, pageants, royal entries and court masques. In the second half of the unit they will focus on texts and performance skills, including early modern rehearsal and acting techniques; uses of space in the early modern drama; and the production of gender, race, and class on the stage. By the end of the unit, students will have a thorough understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of early modern theatre, as well as a detailed knowledge of early modern practices of playing including verse-speaking, stagecraft, costume, make-up, music, and clowning.
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1) demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of early modern playing contexts and how these inform playwrighting of the period
2) demonstrate understanding of the key theoretical and theatrical concerns in both current and contemporaneous criticism of the early modern drama as appropriate to level I.
3) apply a range of critical approaches to reading and interpreting early modern playtexts, and explore their practical implications on-stage
4) demonstrate knowledge of a range of early modern performative techniques and understanding of their practical application
5) demonstrate the ability to analyse and evaluate early modern performance both in terms of their own practice and the practice of others
6) conceptualise and perform a collaborative group project based on an early modern playtext, and develop their skills in acting and/or dramaturgy and/or directing
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including seminars, practical workshop activities and self-directed exercises.
Group performance presentation (100%)
John Barton (1984), Playing Shakespeare, London: Methuen
Cicely Berry (2001), Text in Action, London: Random House
Dympna Callaghan (2000), Shakespeare Without Women, London: Routledge
Simon Palfrey and Tiffany Stern (2007), Shakespeare in Parts, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Tanya Pollard (2003), Shakespeare’s Theatre: A Sourcebook, Oxford: Blackwell
Martin White (1998), Renaissance Drama in Action, London: Routledge
