Drama and Theatre Studies

2BA PS Student Handbook

2020-2021

This handbook contains an overview of your modules for Second Year in Drama and

Theatre Studies.

For information on the following general Drama and Theatre Studies policies and

guidelines, please refer to the undergraduate student handbook which contains the

following information:

1. About Drama at NUI Galway

2. Staff Contacts and office hours

3. Communications

4. Feedback and evaluation

5. Modules and Structure: GY118

6. Modules and Structure: GY115

7. Credits and Workload

8. Conduct in class

9. Punctuality and Attendance

10. Extensions, Repeats and Deferrals

11. Student support services.

12. Student code of conduct.

13. Extra-curricular activity

14. Studying Abroad

15. Internships

16. Theatre outings

17. Use of Blackboard

18. Research Resources

19. Plagiarism

20. Marking Criteria for written work

21. Marking criteria for performances

22. Writing an Academic Essay

23. Common Errors in Grammar, Style, Punctuation.

24. MLA style

Who to contact

Head of Second Year is Ian Walsh (ian.walsh@nuigalway.ie)

Important Date: 28 September 12:00 – 2BA PS Introduction, O’Donoghue Theatre

Semester 1

All students must choose ONE of the following modules.

DT2105 Modern Drama,

DT2107 Stagecraft 2,

DT2106 Irish Theatre

Semester 2

All students must choose ONE of the following modules.

DT2104 Contemporary Theatre

DT204 Playwriting

DT2109 Production Practicum

TIMETABLE SEMESTER 1 & 2

Class Semester Online material goes live

Group A Practical

Group B practical

DT2104: Contemporary Drama

1 Friday 12 Wednesday 12-1 Studio 1

Wednesday 12-1 Studio 2/3/CR1)

DT2106: Irish Theatre

1 Tuesday 12 Monday 12-1 (Studio 2/3/CR1)

Monday 2-3 (Studio 2/3/CR1)

DT2107: Stagecraft 2

1 Friday 12 Monday 2-3 (ODC Theatre)

Monday 12-1 (ODC Theatre)

DT204: Playwriting

2 Wednesday 12

Tuesday 2-3 ODT

Tuesday 12-1 ODT

DT2105: Modern Drama

2 Friday 12 Monday 2-3 (Studio 2/3/CR1)

Monday 12-1 (Studio 2/3/CR1)

DT2109: Production Practicum 2

2 Monday 12-1 Studio 1; Tuesday 12-1 BOI theatre

Monday 2-3 Studio 1; Tuesday 2-3 BOI theatre

SEMESTER 1

MODULES

DT2104: Contemporary Theatre Instructors: Ciara L. Murphy and Finian O’Gorman

Email: ciara.murphy@nuigalway.ie, finian.ogorman@nuigalway.ie Times: Friday 12-1 (Online Lecture Materials uploaded & Instructor Consultation), Wed 12-

1 (In-person Session)

Location: Online Sessions: Blackboard. In-person: O’Donoghue Centre.

Description: This module analyses seminal plays and productions from contemporary theatre and performance in the Anglophone tradition – which in this class will be

considered to begin in the post-WW2 period. It will introduce students to some of the major playwrights and theatre-makers who have shaped new theatrical paradigms, particularly those involving postmodern and postdramatic aesthetics. Plays will be analysed in conjunction with core processes of staging and production, considering their programming and reception in wider cultural and industry contexts. Dominant themes and issues stemming from this selection of works will be identified and interrogated, such as representations of gender and sexuality, the relationship between people and place,

globalization, hidden histories, the staging of violence, and the body in performance.

Assessment: Short Case Study Exercise: 15% (250 words)

Short Critical Reflection Exercise: 15% (250 words) End-of-Semester Performance: 20% (5-8 mins approx)

End-of-Semester Essay: 50% (1250 words)

Short Case Study Exercise (15%)

Each student will be assigned a case study from the texts assigned below which they will have to complete a short presentation on. These short (250 word or equivalent) presentations will take place on the relevant weeks (2-9) and can be inventively presented

as a short PowerPoint, a Twitter Thread, or a series of images etc.

Short Critical Reflection Exercise (15%) Each student will complete a short (250 word) critical reflection in which you reflect critically upon the process of engaging with practical work in this module. You can draw on secondary material and must address what theatrical or performance themes, histories, and conventions their practice engages with and reflect on how their performance will respond to these themes, histories and conventions.

Performance (20%): Students will be assigned groups and will engage in a final performance derived from one of the modules key case studies. The performance should be informed by the key historical, social and political issues that informed the culture the

play was written and produced in. The groups will present their work in Weeks 11 and 12 during the practical sessions.

Final Essay (50%): Students will write a 1250 word essay which examines and analyses the module’s key learning outcomes. These essay questions will be provided for students in Week 6.

Core Texts: Weekly Readings will be posted on Blackboard

Plays: All texts are available through Drama Online except: Hamletmachine in Wadsworth Anthology of Drama (4th edition) – Several copies in the Library

4.48 Psychosis in Sarah Kane: Complete Plays (London: Metheun 2001)

Goddodin - performance materials will be provided by course instructor.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, a successful student will:

Produce knowledge of the dominant processes involved in the contemporary practice of making theatre and performance.

Possess knowledge of the dominant style(s) and tone(s) of contemporary playwriting in English.

Work as a company member, creatively collaborating in the decision-making processes and development of performances.

Produce a scene performance in a theatre space.

Research the key historical, social and political issues informing the culture the play was written and produced in, and apply that theoretical knowledge in writing and in practice.

Module Outline

Week 1 Lecture: Introduction and Key Terms (CM)

Workshop: A landscape beyond death’: New adventures in Time and Space

Week 2

Online Lecture: End of Master Narratives: Samuel Beckett’s Play and Not I

(FOG)

Workshop: The Actor as Text-bearer

Reading: All available on http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/playwrights/s

amuel-beckett-iid-134071

Additional Reading: ‘Beckett’s Actor’ by William B. Worthen in Modern Drama. [Available on Blackboard]

Week 3

Online Lecture: Pastiche and Politics: Heiner Muller’s Hamletmachine (CM)

Workshop: Staging the Open Text 1: Image States

Reading: Hamletmachine by Heiner Muller (available on Blackboard).

Additional Reading: Bahun-Radunovic, Sanja. ‘History in Postmodern Theater: Heiner Müller, Caryl Churchill, and Suzan-Lori Parks’ [Available on Blackboard]

Week 4

Online Lecture: Caryl Churchill Cloud Nine: from feminism to postcolonialism

(FOG)

Workshop: Post-Brechtian Theatre Practice: Gestus revisited

Reading: Cloud Nine:

http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/plays/cloud-nine-iid-14838

Additional Reading: Elaine Aston, ‘On Collaboration: “Not Ordinary, Not Safe,”’ in The Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill, ed. Elaine Aston, available

via library website: http://literature.proquest.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/searchFulltext.do?id=R04647328&divLevel=0&trailId=1502DA5C6AA&area=criticism&forward=critref_ft&browse=true

Week 5

Online Lecture: The Fragmented Subject: Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (CM)

Workshop: Staging the Open Text 2: Immanent Theatricality

Reading: 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane (available in library)

Additional Reading:‘“Victim. Perpetrator. Bystander”: Melancholic Witnessing of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis’ by Alicia Tycer. [Available on Blackboard].

Week 6

Online Lecture: Responding to Technology: Simon Stephens Pornography (FOG)

Workshop: Theatre for a Mediatized Society

Reading: Play available via Drama Online https://www-dramaonlinelibrary-com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/playtext-detail?docid=do-9781408167588&tocid=do-9781408167588-div-00000003&actid=do-9781408167588-div-10000007

Additional Reading: TBC

Week 7 – 25 February

Online Lecture:‘ The Ghost and the Host’: Site-Responsive Theatre – Goddodin

(CM)

Workshop: Site Responsive Theatre Workshop

View: A documentary on Brith Gof’s Goddodin. Available online:

https://vimeo.com/80218855

Reading: Fiona Wilkie’s ‘Mapping the Terrain: a Survey of Site-Specific Performance in Britain’ [Available on Blackboard]

Week 8 – 3 March

Online Lecture: Representing the Real, Enron by Lucy Prebble (FOG)

Workshop: Staging the Real.

Read: https://www-dramaonlinelibrary-com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/playtext-detail?docid=do-9781408182772&tocid=do-9781408182772-div-

00000005&actid=do-9781408182772-div-00000010

Additional Reading: TBC

Week 9

Online Lecture: Digital Theatre, the Abbey Theatre’s Dear Ireland programme.

(CM)

Workshop Preparation for performance

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/user/AbbeyTheatre

Additional Reading: TBC

Week 10

Online Lecture: Essay Preparation and Course Review (FOG)

Workshop: Rehearsal for Final Performance Presentations

Week 11

Online Lecture: End of Semester Performance Preparations (CM)

Workshop: Rehearsal Final Performance Presentations

Week 12

Online Lecture: End of Semester Performance Preparations (FOG)

Workshop: Final Performance Presentations

Further Readings Auslander, Philip. “Postmodernism in Performance.” The Cambridge Companion to

Postmodernism, edited by Steven Connor, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 97-115.

Balme, Christopher. The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies. Cambridge Univ. Press,

2008.

Bennett, Susan. Theatre Audiences. A Theory of Production and Reception. Routledge, 1990.

Bishop, Claire. Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship. Verso Books,

2012.

Dolan, Jill. The Feminist Spectator as Critic. The University of Michigan Press, 1988.

---. Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater. University of Michigan Press, 2005.

Ferdman, Bertie. “Off the Grid: New York City Landmark Performance.” PAJ: A Journal

of Performance and Art, vol. 37, no. 2, May 2015, pp. 13–29. CrossRef,

doi:10.1162/PAJJ_a_00256.

Fischer-Lichte, Erika, et al. The Routledge Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies. English Language edition, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.

---. The Transformative Power of Performance: A New Aesthetics. Routledge, 2008.

Harvie, Jen. Staging the UK. Manchester University Press, 2005.

---. Fair Play: Art, Performance and Neoliberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Haughton, Miriam. Staging Trauma: Bodies in Shadow. Palgrave, 2018.

hooks, bell. Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. South End Press, 2000.

Jackson, Shannon. Professing Performance: Theatre in the Academy from Philology to Performativity. Cambridge University Press, 2004

Kershaw, Baz. Politics of Performance: Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. Routledge,

2015.

Lehmann, Hans-Thies. Postdramatic Theatre. Routledge, 2006.

Lyotard, Jean François. “The Postmodern Condition.” Modernity: After Modernity,

Practical Classes

Times: Mondays (Group B: 12.00pm - 1.00pm) & (Group A: 2.00pm -

3.00pm)

Venue: O’Donoghue Theatre

Online Tutorials: Available in advance on Blackboard each Friday at 12.00pm

Instructors available online from 12.30pm on Friday’s

Course Instructors: Marianne Kennedy Mike O’Halloran

Contact: Marianne.nichinneide@nuigalway.ie

Michael.ohalloran@nuigalway.ie

Course Description: Stagecraft 2 will build on the previous learning of Stagecraft 1 and focus more

specifically on Lighting, Sound, Set, Costume and Video from a design and technical

point of view. A huge requirement of any element of Stagecraft is the ability to think

on your feet. This module will allow students to develop their problem solving skills

in line with best practice in terms of industry standards and analyse the processes of

design through theoretical frameworks. The student will develop a set of skills in

specific areas of Stagecraft allowing them to take on entry level backstage roles in a

theatrical production.

Learner outcomes: On successful completion of this module students will:

• Have an informed knowledge of the physical skills and processes used by a

theatrical design team

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the elements and design theories of

stagecraft disciplines - set, lighting, costume, video and sound by submitting

academic and practical written and project work.

• Be able to analyse the stagecraft elements of a production from script to live

performance in terms of vision, execution and logistics.

30%: 3 short worksheet assignments each 10%

• Assignment 1: Costume Design

• Assignment 2: Sound Design

Assessment

DT2107 Introduction to Stagecraft 2

• Assignment 3: Lighting Design

20%: Set Design

50%: End of semester essay and designers portfolio

Please note: you will need to be logged into your NUI Galway Library account to

access content from Digital Theatre + each week. Please inform you lecturer

immediately if you have any issues accessing online content.

Week 1 - September 28th

Course introductions and Stage Management Equipment

Practical Session: Course Introduction and assessment explanation

Online Session: Course Introduction and assessment explanation Stage Management

Systems Overview - Comms, Cue Lights & Infra Red Cameras

Digital Theatre + Video Link

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Week 2 - October 5th

Costume Design & Construction

Online Session: What is a costume design? Students will look at costume design as

both a creative and research practice and Costume Design as storytelling.

Practical Session: Rendering the Costume Design – Beginning the process from

Research to page to stage. Look at Maeterlink’s play of Blue Bird in terms of

costume and examine the differences between it and the adaptation of it by Boris

Yukhananov for the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Moscow

Clancy, Deirdre. Designing costume for stage and screen. Pavilion Books, 2014.

From the Greeks to Lady Gaga – a brief illustrated history (pp12-42)

Blackboard Reading Link (to replace above text)

Watch the first 20 minutes of Blue Bird(journey) on Digital theatre plus and write 100

words on how the costume design influences the aesthetic of the show and the

movement on stage.

Digital Theatre + Video Link

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Week 3 - October 12th

Costume Design & Sound Design

Online Session: Rendering the Costume Design, the process, the construction, the

character requirements. Case Studies

.

Practical Session: Students will take the script of Midsummer Nights Dream and in

groups agree a costume design and details for a chosen character based on an agreed

directorial and design vision. The students will begin Figure Drawing and work up to

a costume rendering.

Clancy, Deirdre. Designing costume for stage and screen. Pavilion Books, 2014. The

Design Process (pp46-79)

Watch Act one of Much Ado about Nothing

Digital Theatre + Video Link

Digital Theatre + Reading Link

Rowe, Clare P., and Peter Beudert. Drawing & rendering for theatre: a practical

course for scenic, costume, and lighting designers. Taylor & Francis, 2007. Chapter 6

Figure Drawing

Week 4 - October 19th

Sound Design (Systems)

Online Session: Sound System Components Overview

Here students will have the chance to examine a theatrical audio system and develop

an understanding of how it functions and different elements can be used in the design

process.

Practical Session: Practical Sound Workshop

The class will create a collaborative soundscape by collecting audio files and live

mixing them together in the theatre space. Details will be given in week 3.

Please read Chapter 2 from Coleman, Peter. A Beginner’s Guide to Stage Sound.

Entertainment Technology Press - 2004, Blackboard Link

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——————

Week 5 - October 26th

Bank Holiday No Practical Classes this week

Please read Chapters 1, 2 & 6 from Reid, Francis. The Stage Lighting Handbook

Sixth Edition Routledge for week 5, Blackboard Link

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——————

Week 6 - November 2nd

Lighting Design and Fixture Selection

Online Session: Lighting Design Theory

Creating Moods and Atmosphere with colour and angles.

Covering the range of lighting angles/positions commonly found in theatres students

will look at the methods of creating different moods by positioning lighting fixtures

around an object or performer. .

Digital Theatre + Video Link (Natasha Chivers on Lighting Design)

Practical Session: Lighting Instruments and their source of power

A look inside the most common lighting fixtures and the components that make them

up.

Followed by a rigging practical.

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Week 7 - November 9th

Lighting Design

Online Session: Plotting and Set up

Here students will see how a lighting plan is created for the O’Donoghue Theatre

using its template drawings and list of the available equipment.

Digital Theatre + Video Link (Victoria Brennan on Lighting Programming)

Practical Session: Group Practical Sessions

Here students (in groups) will be asked to come up with a simple three point lighting

design using the lighting plan that was set up in online tutorial. They will then have

the chance to see this realised in the theatre space. Students will be given all the

relevant information to prepare for this in week 6.

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Week 8 - November 16th

Set Design and Drafting

Online Session: Set design concepts covering the various types of design styles. Here

students will look at specific examples of the Set Designer’s impact on the production

and the ways in which a theatrical set can serve the performers and the text.

Please read Chapter 1, 2 & 4 from Winslow, Colin. The Handbook of Set Design. The

Crowood Press - 2006 for week 8, Blackboard Link

Practical Session: Set Design Drafting

Here students will have the chance to create a theatrical set drawing in both plan and

elevation format.

Week 9 - November 23rd

Model Box Creation

Online Session: Set Modelling

Here students will look at model boxes which have been created by some of the best

designers working in Ireland today.

Please Read Chapter 2 and Chapter 8 from - Orton, Keith. Model Making for the

Stage A Practical Guide. The Crowood Press - 2004 for week 9, Blackboard Link

Practical Session: Set Modelling

Here students will gain hands on experience with making simple scale models.

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Week 10 - November 30th

Video Design - The new tool of stagecraft

Online Session: Video design and integration

In this class students will learn about the role of the video designer & how their work

can impact on and support the creation of a theatrical setting.

Digital Theatre + Video Link

Practical Session: Video Projection

Here students will see what goes into creating a basic video mapping using both

projectors and TV screens set up for the stage and how projection and lighting must

work very closely to achieve the desired results.

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Week 11 - December 7th

Designers portfolio

Online Session: Here students will have the chance to explore the process of creating

a designers portfolio for a specific production. This will include drawings, plans,

swatches/samples, inspirational images and references to studied texts.

Practical Session: A practical look at some designers portfolios and the various

forms they will take on a professional production as decided by their given discipline.

These classes will greatly assist with the completion of the final assignment.

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Week 12 - December 14th

The collaborative process

Online Session: A look at the collaborative design process between disciplines of

stagecraft.

Practical Session: Open Forum

An open discussion around all aspects of Stagecraft.

DT2106 Irish Theatre

Facilitator: Dr Finian O’Gorman

E: finian.ogorman@nuigalway.ie

Times:

Online [Office Hour]: Tuesdays 12-1

In-person [Workshop]: Mondays 12-1 (Group A) & 2-3 (Group B)

Course Description

This module provides an introduction to modern Irish drama, starting with the

foundation of the Irish Literary Theatre in 1897, and running to the present. Each

week, students will read and discuss key Irish plays in their cultural and theatrical

contexts, aiming to form a deeper appreciation of the contours and preoccupations of

the Irish dramatic tradition. Students will also participate in skills-based workshops

that will explore a variety of topics related to the plays.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

Identify the major developments in playwrighting and dramaturgy in

Irish drama in the modern era.

Critically analyze the selected plays and performances according to

appropriate theoretical frameworks.

Source, evaluate and utilize an extensive range of relevant and

appropriate primary and secondary sources, including previously

unexplored archival material.

Required texts

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Faber and Faber, 1956. [Drama Online]

Friel, Brian. Brian Friel: Plays One. Faber and Faber, 1996. [Drama Online]

Harrington, John P. Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama. New York : W. W.

Norton & Company, 2009. [Hardiman Library]

Manning, Mary. “Youth’s the Season?” Plays of Changing Ireland. Edited by Curtis

Canfield, New York: Macmillan, 1936. [Blackboard]

Morash, Christopher. A History of Irish Theatre 1601-2000. Cambridge University

Press, 2002. [Hardiman Library]

Yeats, William Butler. Yeats’s Poetry, Drama, and Prose: Authoritiative Texts,

Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. [Blackboard]

Assessment

Searching the Archive task: 15% (250 words)

Short Critical Reflection Exercise: 15% (500 words)

End-of-Semester Performance: 20% (5-8 mins approx)

End-of-Semester Essay: 50% (1250 words)

Schedule

Week 1

Mon 28 Sep: [In-person] Introduction, course overview

Tue 29 Sep: Podcast on W.B. Yeats & Lady Gregory: Cathleen ni Houlihan. [Online

office hour 12-1].

Week 2

Mon 5 Oct: [In-person] Performing Irish Legend and Verse

Tue 6 Oct: Podcast on Lady Gregory: The Rising of the Moon & Spreading the News.

[Online Office Hour 12-1].

Week 3

Mon 12 Oct: [In-person] Performing Irish comedy

Tue 13 Oct: Podcast on John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World.

[Online Office hour 12-1].

Week 4

Mon 19 Oct: [In-person] Physicalising Synge

Tue 20 Oct: Podcast on Sean O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock. [Online Office hour

12-1].

Week 5

Mon 26 Oct: [In-person] Performing Melodrama in O’Casey

Tue 27 Oct: Podcast on Mary Manning, Youth’s the Season…?. [Online Office Hour

12-1].

Week 6

Mon 2 Nov: [In-person] Performing the Archive 1.

Tue 3 Nov: Podcast on Maura Laverty, Tolka Row. [Online Office Hour 12-1].

Week 7

Mon 9 Nov: [In-person] Performing the Archive 2.

Tue 10 Nov: Podcast on Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot. [Online Office Hour 12-

1].

Week 8

Mon 16 Nov: [In-person] Performing Beckett.

Tue 17 Nov: Podcast on Brian Friel, Philadelphia Here I Come! [Online Office Hour

12-1].

Week 9

Mon 23 Nov: [In-person] Performing the monologue.

Tue 24 Nov: Podcast on “Identifying Trends in Modern Irish Drama”. [Online Office

Hours 12-1]

Week 10

Mon 30 Nov: [In-person] End-of-Semester Performance Prep.

Tue 1 Dec: Podcast on End-of-Semester Performance Prep. [Online Office Hour 12-

1].

Week 11

Mon 7 Dec: [In-person] End-of-Semester Performance Prep.

Tue 8 Dec: Podcast on End-of-Semester Essay Prep. [Online Office Hour 12-1].

Week 12

Mon 14 Dec: [In-person] End-of-Semester Performances.

Tue 15 Dec: [Online Office Hour 12-1]

Further Reading

Fitz-Simon, Christopher. "Buffoonery and Easy Sentiment": Popular Irish Plays in

the Decade Prior to the Opening of the Abbey Theatre. Dublin: Carysfort

Press, 2011.

Grene, Nicholas. The Politics of Irish Drama : Plays in Context from Boucicault to

Friel. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Grene, Nicholas, and Chris Morash. The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre.

Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Hickey, Des, and Gus Smith. A Paler Shade of Green. London : Frewin, 1972.

Kearney , Eileen, and Charlotte Headrick . Irish Women Dramatists: 1908-2001.

Syracuse University Press, 2014.

Levitas, Ben. The Theatre of Nation : Irish Drama and Cultural Nationalism, 1890-

1916. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2002.

Murphy, Paul. Hegemony and Fantasy in Irish Drama, 1899-1949 . Palgrave

Macmillan, 2008.

Murray, Christopher. Twentieth-Century Irish Drama : Mirror up to Nation.

Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, 2000.

Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama.

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Roche, Anthony. Contemporary Irish Drama. Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave

Macmillan, 2009.

Trotter , Mary. Ireland's National Theaters: Political Performance and the Origins of

the Irish Dramatic Movement . Syracuse University Press , 2001.

---. Modern Irish Theatre. Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2008.

Welch, Robert. The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999 : Form and Pressure. Oxford : Oxford

University Press, 1999.

Wills, Clair. That Neutral Island: a Cultural History of Ireland during the Second

World War. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,

2007

Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama.

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

SEMESTER 2

MODULES

DT2105 MODERN DRAMA Practical Class: GROUP A Monday 12-1pm Venue: Studio 2/3/CR1

OR GROUP B Monday 2-3pm Venue: Studio 2/3/CR1 Friday at 12: weekly lecture video will be released on Blackboard at this time for students to watch in their own time.

Instructors: Zsuzsanna Balazs (ZSB) Melinda Szuts (MS)

In this course, we will examine a selection of the major texts and thinkers from the field of modern dramatic literature. We will situate the development of this body of work in cultural, social and historical currents of the early-mid 20th century in the context of the U.S, and Europe primarily. In order to trace these cultural, historical and social dynamics, we will explore the relationship between the terms modern, modernity, modernism and modern drama. Students will engage in regular in-class performance exercises which include experimenting with acting exercises from major theorists of the time (Meyerhold, Brecht, Pirandello) as well as staging short scenes from texts read in class throughout the semester. There will be a final performance that offers the oportunity to explore in independent group work processes and approaches covered on the course. This course targets the development of analytical reading and writing skills: close-reading, critical thinking, and argumentation. Students will also learn to put their close-readings of primary texts in conversation with secondary historical and critical sources. LEARNING OUTCOMES:

LO1 Identify the particular conventions of a range of modern theatrical styles

LO2 Critically assess varying dramatic forms and functions

LO3 Situate experimental movements and seminal plays within their cultural and historical context

LO4 Formulate a critical argument addressing a specific topic or issue

LO5 Give presentations to small groups

LO6 Practice modern staging techniques and exercises useful for actors, directors, designers, critics and dramaturgs.

FEATURES OF TEACHING AND LEARNING: Each week students will:

Watch video material on Blackboard (lectures) in their own time.

Read plays, theatre history and/or critical articles on a weekly basis, as

assigned in the course outline.

Participate in a discussion forum on Blackboard with all students on a weekly

basis.

Attend an hour-long, practice-based class in the ODC.

Students will also occasionally:

Watch plays online via the Library website.

Complete short written exercises

ASSESSMENT

3 x Short Assessments:

o Exercise on Expressionist Scenography (Core text: Machinal) (week

4): 10%

o Short video exercise on gestus (Core text: The Good Person of

Szechuan) (week 7): 10%

o Scene Analysis (Core text: Death of a Salesman) (week 10): 10%

Performance Assessment: Staged Scene (week 12) 30%

End of semester essay: 40% (1600 words)

CLASS SCHEDULE

Week One:

Online material: The Twentieth Century and Modernity (MS) Practical class: Embodied Responses to Modernity (MS) UNIT 1: Expressionism and Meyerhold Week Two Lecture: Expressionism and Meyerhold (MS) Practical class: Meyerhold’s Grotesque and Biomechanics (MS) Readings: J.L Styan ‘Expressionism in the Theatre’ from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre, (CUP) J.L Styan ‘Expressionism in Soviet Russia” from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre, (CUP) Joanthan Pitches, ‘Meyerhold’s Key Writings’ UNIT 1 Machinal and Expressionism Week Three: Lecture: Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal and Expressionism (BZS) Practical class: Machinal in Performance (BZS) Readings:

Sophie Treadwell, Machinal (1928) Jerry Dickey, ‘Sophie Treadwell: The Expressionist Moment’ UNIT 2 Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism and the Reaction Against Realism Week 4: Lecture: Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism (MS) Practical class: Manifestos (MS) Readings: F.T. Marinetti, “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” The Dadaist Manifesto Andre Breton, ‘The First Surrealist Manifesto’ Week Five: Lecture: Pirandello and the teatro grottesco (BZS) Practical class: Six Characters in Search of an Author in Practice (BZS) Readings: Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters Searching for an Author (1921) (Drama Online) Theatre Histories, 417-424. J.L Styan ‘Pirandello and the teatro grottesco” from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2: Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd (CUP) Preface to Six Characters Searching for an Author UNIT 3 Brecht and Epic Theatre Week Six: Lecture: Brecht and Epic Theatre (BZS) Practical class: Brecht in Practice (BZS) Readings: David Barnett, Ch. 4, 5, 6 in Brecht in Practice (Availale through Drama Online) Week Seven: Lecture: The Good Person of Szechuan and Epic Theatre (BZS) Practical class: The Good Person of Szechuan in Performance (BZS) Readings:

Bertolt Brecht, The Good Person of Szechuan (Drama Online) Theatre Histories, 450-456. UNIT 4 Stanislavski in the States: Strasberg/Adler/Meisner Week Eight: Lecture: Stanislavski in the States: Strasberg/Adler/Meisner (MS) Practical class: Performance Preparation (MS) Readings: David Krasner ‘Strasberg/Adler/Meisner: Method Acting’ in Actor Training by Alison Hodge ( avialbale on Blackboard). Class 7-12 in The Art of Acting by Stella Adler ( On Blackboard) . Also look at videos on http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/actortraining/practitioner-strasberg-adler-meisner.asp Week Nine: Lecture: Death of a Salesman and The Method (MS) Practical class: Performance Preparation (MS) Readings: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (Drama Online) ‘Tragedy and the Common Man’ by Arthur Miller ( On Blackboard) Arthur Miller’s Death of a Saleman by Peter L. Hays ‘ Background and Context’; ‘Analysis and Commentry’ (available on Drama Online) Week Ten: Lecture: Essay & Critical Reflection Preparation (BZS) Practical class: Final Group Performance Presentation (BZS and MS) Week Eleven Lecture: Course Review (BZS) Practical class: Final Group Performance Presentation (BZS and MS) Play Texts: Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman ( Drama Online) Pirandello, Luigi, Six Characters in Search of an Author ( Drama Online)

Treadwell, Sophie, Machinal - Brecht, Bertolt, The Good Person of Szechuan ( Drama Online) Core Reading There will be weekly recommended readings provided on Blackboard. These will be largely taken form the following texts: Meyerhold on Theatre, edited by Edward Braun, (Eyre Methuen,) Shomit Mitter, Systems of Rehearsal (Routledge) Alison , Hodge, Actor Training (Routledge) Peter l. Hays, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (Bloomsbury) Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Routledge Performance Practitioners J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre, (CUP) J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2: Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd (CUP) J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 1: Realism and Naturalism (CUP) Peter Szondi, A Theory of Modern Drama, (trans. Michael Hays) (Un. Of Minnesota) Brecht on Theatre, edited by John Willett (Hill and Wang) David Barnett, Brecht in Practice ( Bloomsbury) DT204: Introduction to Playwriting

Venue: The O’Donoghue Theatre (ODT)

Time: Group A Tuesday 2-3, Group B Tuesday 12-1 ODT Online Material: live on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Virtual/Online Office hours : Wednesday 2-2.30 p.m.

Tutor: Shirley-Anne Godfrey contact : s.godfrey1@nuigalway.ie

Who is this course for?

Humans. Wordy nerds. Big readers. Actors. The curious. The introverted. The

observers. The brave. The rebels. The show-offs. People with eyes and ears. You.

Requirements:

Due to Covid you will be using YOUR OWN hardbacked notebook, your pens, and

your laptop. Despite Covid we will all share the following: our imaginations, our

memories, our dreams; daft notions, nagging ideas, and itchy questions.

Bring heart, guts and kindness.

The ego is not welcome. He will sneak in, but we will do our best to keep him out.

What this course is:

An opportunity to consider how great playwrights create theatrical effects

A chance to discover what you have to say and how you might say it.

A time and space for focused writing and constructive feedback and to

develop some creative muscle and habits

What this course is not:

A join-the-dots, how-to playwriting course, offering a magic playwriting

formula. Spoiler : there is no such formula.

A waffly dreamy retreat where you wait for inspiration to strike.

Post-dramatic: it is proudly based on our wonderful logocentric, character-led,

largely structured, story-telling drama heritage!

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course you will have written your own 15-30 minute play on a

subject and in a genre of your own choice. In class each week through discussions

(based on set readings and viewings) games and practical exercises, often timed and

in the moment, you will have engaged with some of the basic elements of playwriting

: structure, character, dialogue, time and space. You will learn how to give and

receive feedback.

Course Delivery

The lecture or presentation component of this course will be posted online by the

Wednesday of the week before the workshop sessions which will take place Tuesdays

in the ODT. It is essential that you have both watched the lecture and done the

readings/exercises before the workshops to maximise our work in the current

circumstances. Students are invited to post comments or queries to a Blackboard

discussion board each week. A short (10 minute video) response will be posted

weekly to answer your questions and queries. I will be available online from 2 to 2.30

on Wednesday to respond to individual e-mails or online videoconferencing with

students.

Each week you will be writing. Either a short exercise led by me on video, which you

e-mail to me before the workshop, or in-class writing tasks. Five of these short

writing assignments will be assessed.

Course Outline

“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention” Henry V (Act One Prologue)

Week 1: Introduction: The play’s the thing…….

Online Lecture: What is a play? Unique features of the Drama?

Workshop: Discussion of Favourite plays and influences, José Rivera’s 36

Assumptions about Playwriting Blackboard.

Viewing National Theatre Playwrights Series: Process

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ33WuaOhn8&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs5vi

ILpsBf-ft-YMfBKxlFI&index=1

Reading for week 2: Lally the Scut

Viewing for week 2: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFSoMNJepCA&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs5vi

ILpsBf-ft-YMfBKxlFI&index=5&t=57s

Week 2: Finding your voice and a genre that matches it

Online Lecture: Ways in. What do you want to say?

Workshop: Scenes from Lally the Scut

Reading for week 3: Scenes from A Doll’s House and extracts from Stephen

Jeffreys

Viewing for week 3: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Narratives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHS3tQDpTao&t=4s

Week 3 Structure and Plot

Online Lecture: Acts/Scenes/Moments, Story v. Plot

Workshop: Tell me a story - turning story into plot, A Doll’s House

Reading for week 4: “Harriet Walter’s Six Keys to character” in Other

People's Shoes Thoughts on Acting. Nick Hern Books, 2014. Pp. 166-269

Scenes from A Doll’s House

Viewing: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Scenes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h03hyWV8l7Q

Week 4 Characters/Archetypes/Functions of characters

Online Lecture: Creating character, and making them act

Workshop: Obstacles revealing character A Doll’s House

Reading for week 5: Selected Scenes from The Beauty Queen of Leenane and August

Osage County

Viewing: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Character

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGRyP3p-YPI&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs5viILpsBf-

ft-YMfBKxlFI&index=7

Week 5 Elephants in the Room

Online Lecture: Dramatic Action and Tension

Workshop: Clashing objectives in The Beauty Queen of Leenane and August Osage

Reading for week 6: Dancing at Lughnasa and By the Bog of Cats and extracts from

Stephen Jeffreys

Week 6 Dialogue/Language/Poetry

Online Lecture:

Workshop: language on stage Dancing at Lughnasa and By the Bog of Cats

Reading for week 7: Hatcher Ch 3 Blackboard

Viewing for week 7: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Dialogue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xx7bfcE9U0&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs5viILpsBf-ft-

YMfBKxlFI&index=5

Week 7 Time and Space

Online Lecture: The when and where of your play.

Workshop: Scenes: Dancing at Lughnasa, The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Reading for week 8: Scenes from Crocodile Fever and Jane Eyre and

Tori Haring Smith Dramaturging Non-realism creating a new vocabulary

Blackboard

Viewing for week 8: https://www-digitaltheatreplus-

com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/education/collections/digital-theatre/talking-

about-plays-bronte-an-interview-with-polly-teale

Week 8 Theatricality: the Visual/ Symbolism/Beyond the “real”

Online Lecture: Shared Experience

Workshop: Theatricality in Polly Teale’s Jane Eyre and Meghan Tyler’s

Crocodile Fever

Reading for week 9: Stephen Jeffreys extract Fifteen Dos and Don’ts of

Playwriting on Blackboard

Week 9 Practical Stuff and Next Steps

Online Lecture: stage directions/layout/editing/cutting/useful redrafting

Workshop: Helpdesk and Insights on New Playwriting Opportunities

Viewing: National Theatre Playwrights Series: Top Tips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS60yAqump0

“Gently to hear, kindly to judge, (y)our play”. Henry V Act One Prologue

Week 10: Play readings and feedback

Week 11 Play readings and feedback.

Week 12 Play readings and feedback. Course evaluations.

Final Play submissions due dates: TBC

Assessment for 5 ECTS

5 x Writing Exercises (50% - 5 x 10%)

Final play submission: 15-30 minute script (50%)

Reading List

Plays, selected Scenes from:

Carr, Marina By the Bog of Cats, Hecuba Drama Online

Friel Brian Dancing at Lughnasa Drama Online

Mc Donagh, Martin The Beauty Queen of Leenane Drama Online

Ibsen, Henrik A Doll’s House Extracts provided

Letts, Tracy August Osage County Extracts on Blackboard

Spallen, Abbie Lally the Scut Drama Online

Teale, Polly Jane Eyre, Brontë Extracts on Blackboard

Tyler, Meghan Crocodile Fever Extracts on Blackboard

Reading/Viewing

Grace, Fraser and Clare Bayley. Playwriting (Writers’ and Artists’ Companions)

Bloomsbury Publishing. Extracts on Blackboard.

Hatcher, Jeffrey The Art and Craft of Playwriting Extracts on Blackboard

Jeffreys, Stephen Playwriting: Structure, Character, How and What to Write Extracts

on Blackboard

Stephenson, Heidi and Natasha Langridge. Rage and Reason : Women Playwrights on

Playwriting. Drama Online.

Walter, Harriet. Other People's Shoes Thoughts on Acting. Nick Hern Books,

2014.(available online from library website)

Online Resources Writing Tips from the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition Website as well as

recordings of workshops with top playwrights:

https://www.writeaplay.co.uk/writing-resources

(Exit, pursued by a bear)

The Winter’s Tale (Act III, Scene 3)