Melodrama: Theatre and Film

Module title	Melodrama: Theatre and Film
Module code	DRA2103
Academic year	2022/3
Credits	30
Module staff	Professor Kate Newey (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks		11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	25

Module description

In this module you will explore melodrama as a genre of live and screen performance. You will consider melodrama as a performance mode of extreme feeling, emerging from the political and social revolutions in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century, and trace the ways in which melodrama endures into the twenty-first century in early silent cinema, the ‘woman’s film’, and television. You will consider the political and social meanings of melodrama, and the ways in which it represents sex, class, and race in performance. You will work with your tutor and peers to develop an independent research project drawing on the University’s Special Collections and the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. This module is suitable for students studying Drama, English, and Film.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to develop your understanding of:

the theatrical and screen genres of melodrama and the melodramatic from the end of the eighteenth century to the present day
UK and American theatre and film history in the context of social and political history of the period
the ways in which melodrama and the melodramatic represent sex, class, and race
research methods for archival and historical research from relevant original sources
melodrama performance through practical exercises

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

1. Demonstrate your understanding of the techniques of representation in stage and film melodrama from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present day.
2. Demonstrate your understanding of the social and ideological contexts of melodrama in theatre and film

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

3. Demonstrate your ability to use a range of library and IT skills in detailed independent research in theatre and film history
4. Contribute to collaborative group research
5. Develop confidence in the ability to analyse, critique and manipulate complex material in theatre and film history

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

6. Develop skills in collaboration, communication and analytic abilities through seminar discussions and small group work.
7. Develop personal research skills using personal initiative; set personal objectives that are linked to a sense of challenge and extending boundaries appropriate to the level of study.

Syllabus plan

The module will be taught weekly through a 3-hour seminar, which will include practical exploration of texts through performance research, library trips, and small group tutorials. The module will involve a 3-hour, timetabled screening slot in addition to the seminar time.

Module reading/viewing may include these indicative works:

Thomas Holcroft, The Tale of Mystery

Elizabeth Inchbald (trans. of Kotzebue), Lovers’ Vows

Richard Brinsley Peake, The Climbing Boy

John Walker, The Factory Lad

Denvil, Mrs, Ada, the Betrayed; or, The Murder at the Old Smithy,

Denvil, Mrs, Susan Hopley; or, the Servant Girl’s Dream, (London: Purkess’s Pictorial Penny Plays, nd).

John Baldwin Buckstone, Ellen Wareham; or, The Wife of Two Husbands

T. A. Palmer, East Lynne (from the novel by Ellen Wood).

Colin H. Hazlewood, Lady Audley’s Secret, (from the novel by Mary Braddon)

D. W. Griffiths (dir.), Birth of a Nation

D. W. Griffiths (dir.), Orphans of the Storm

D. W. Griffiths (dir.), Way Down East

Douglas Sirk (dir.), Written on the Wind

Irving Rapper, (dir.), Now, Voyager

Todd Haynes (dir.), Far From Heaven (2002)

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

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
50	250	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning & teaching activities	33	Mixed-mode seminar activities
Scheduled learning & teaching activities	17	Screenings
Guided Independent Study	200	Seminar and essay preparation: reading, Library research
Guided Independent Study	50	Research project: reading, archival research

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Seminar presentation (oral)	10 minutes	1, 2, 5-7	Verbal
Research project plan (written)	Draft Powerpoint	2-6	Verbal

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	50	3000 words	1-3, 5, 7	Written
Group Presentation	40	10-15 minutes per group member	1-6	Written
Continuous assessment and participation	10	Attendance, seminar, contribution, and contribution to the ELE discussion forum	5-7	Written

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

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed
Essay (3000 words)	Essay (3000 words)	1-3, 5, 7
Group presentation (10-15 minutes per group)	Essay (1500 words)	1-3, 5, 7
Continuous assessment and participation	Contribution to ELE discussion forum (1,000 words)	5-7

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 submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin (2000), Remediation, Understanding New Media (Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press).

Michael Booth, Theatre in the Victorian Age, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991)

J.S. Bratton et al, eds (1994), Melodrama. London: BFI Publishing.

Peter Brooks (1976), The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama and the Mode of Excess (New Haven: Yale UP).

Richard Dyer (1986), Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education.

Thomas Elsaesser ed (1990), Early Cinema: Space-Frame-Narrative. London: BFI Publishing.

Kerry Powell ed. (2004), The Cambridge Companion to Victorian and Edwardian Theatre, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Katherine Newey (2005) Women’s Theatre Writing in Victorian Britain (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).

Benjamin Poore (2011), Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre: Staging the Victorians. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Carolyn Williams, ed. (2019) The Cambridge Companion to Melodrama, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – College to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages

American Drama 1714-1915

BFI Screenonline

Box of Broadcasts

Film Scripts Online

Literature Online

Nineteenth Century Collections Online

Victorian Popular Culture

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Bill Douglas Cinema Museum

University of Exeter Special Collections

Key words search

Melodrama; popular theatre; film studies; soap opera; popular entertainment; Victorian Studies

Credit value	30
Module ECTS	15
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	11/02/2022
Last revision date	11/02/2022