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Approaches to Drama and Performance

Module description

From ancient Greece to the present day, dramatic texts have occupied a central place in the western literary tradition. Some of our most famous authors, including Shakespeare, are best known for their plays, and it was drama that inspired the first known work of literary criticism. On this module, you will encounter a diverse range of works written for performance, and will be introduced to some of the most important developments in the history of dramatic writing. The module focuses primarily on dramatic writing as a literary form; we will also consider related performance traditions such as film or oral poetry.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will provide you with an introduction to dramatic writing from a range of historical periods. Over the course of the module, you will encounter a variety of dramatic texts and/or films, and relate these works to the history and theory of drama and performance. By introducing you to a diverse selection of writers and works, the module will contribute to your knowledge and understanding of important developments in and influences upon English literature, illuminating a central aspect of the western literary tradition and providing a secure foundation for your future studies. While studying this module, you will be taught to analyse primary sources and encouraged to conduct independent research. You will be expected to participate in seminar discussion and debate, to undertake group tasks, and to present information verbally. Together with essay writing, these skills are fundamental to research and communication, and will provide you with transferrable verbal and written skills relevant to the workplace. By the end of this module, you will have become familiar with a body of dramatic writing, as well as with recent developments in film, and will be able to put that knowledge and the related skills you have acquired to practical use when pursuing future careers in (for instance) the arts, communication, creative, education, and media sectors.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of individual dramatic texts/films and performance traditions
• 2. Close read individual dramatic texts/films and relate them to wider theoretical contexts

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Analyse texts (dramatic or film) from a variety of eras and relate their concerns and their modes of expression to their generic context
• 4. Interrelate texts (dramatic or film) and discourses specific to your own discipline with the wider context of cultural and intellectual history

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Demonstrate effective communication skills and the capacity to independently complete set task(s)
• 6. Through review-writing, demonstrate appropriate research and bibliographic skills, construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and write clear and correct prose

Syllabus plan

This is an indicative syllabus. Texts and topics studied on the module may include:

• Comedy: Aristophanes, Lysistrata
• Analysing Dramatic Productions: Wildworks
• Tragedy: John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
• Adaptation: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
• Political Performance: Caryl Churchill, Mad Forest and Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog
• Analysing Film: Ava DuVernay, dir., Selma and Bong Joon-Ho, dir., Snowpiercer
• Contemporary Performance: Gus Van Sant, dir., Milk and Guillermo del Toro, dir., The Shape of Water

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Aristophanes, Lysistrata, trans. Alan H. Sommerstein (Penguin, 2003)
• Caryl Churchill, Mad Forest, in Plays: 3 (Nick Hern, 1997)
• Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog (Theatre Communications Group, 2002)
• John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, ed. Leah Marcus (Arden Early Modern Drama, 2009)
• Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, ed. E. Browne, Penguin Modern Classics (Penguin, 2014)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=8497 (the ELE site for this module includes a digitised reading list with links to the University of Exeter library’s e-book holdings and catalogue of resources)
• Bloomsbury and Faber Collection
• Box of Broadcasts
• Digital Theatre Plus
• English Drama
• JSTOR
• Project Muse

Key words search

Drama, theatre, film, performance, English, poetry, tragedy, comedy, political