Monash University Handbook 2011 Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Notes

Synopsis

This unit will explore the processes of rethinking theatre history in a number of ways: the challenges to received critical thinking and methodology, and to canonical assumptions; the implications for theatre history of parallel texts reflecting 'translations' into new media; the responses of analytical and critical approaches in Drama and Theatre Studies to the influence of thinking in other disciplines; the reframing of canonical texts in the light of contemporary theoretical and cultural perspectives, and its implications for historicised interpretation.
It will examine a range of plays in relation to traditional scholarly interpretations and to specific recent re-readings.

Objectives

Students completing 'Rethinking Theatre History' should have acquired:

1. A working awareness of contemporary theoretical perspectives.
2. The capacity to apply specific theoretical approaches to a diverse range of theatrical texts.
3. An ongoing sensitivity, openness and scepticism to shifts in the climate of disciplinary debate.
4. A developed sense of the continuing volatility and contingency of intellectual debate in the field.
5. A sophisticated understanding of the issues underlying those debates at a level appropriate to graduate study.
6. Enhanced confidence in articulating informed arguments and interpretations, in both oral and written form.

Assessment

An exegetical essay (3000 words): 30%
An oral class presentation (equivalent 2000 words): 20%
A long essay (4000 words): 50%

Chief examiner(s)

Maryrose Casey

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 2 hour seminar) per week

Co-requisites

ATS4421