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DTS4820

Twentieth-century Australian drama

P Fitzpatrick

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have developed a broad major knowledge of major texts and patterns of innovation in Australian theatre, and their relation to developments in the wider culture. They should also have acquired a level of understanding of theatre processes and methodologies appropriate as a basis for future research.

Synopsis The subject deals with a wide range of the work of Australian playwrights of the last one hundred years. While the seminar program will focus on critical approaches to the prescribed plays, it will be concerned as well with a number of issues beyond the individual texts: the patterns of preoccupations which the plays reflect and the ideologies and conventions to which they are related; the theatrical models, both local and international, to which the plays may refer; the empowering and disabling influences of a consciousness of tradition, and the cultural assumptions on which they are based; and the ways in which the playwrights have shaped or adapted images of Australian identity.

Assessment Long essay/research project (5000 words): 50%
* Short essay (2000 words): 25%
* Seminar paper (2000 words): 25%

Prescribed texts

Bailey B On Our selection Currency

Beynon R The Shifting Heart Angus and Robertson

Buzo A Norm and Ahmed Currency

Crawford J Rocket Range (distributed by the centre)

Cusack D Morning Sacrifice Currency

Darrell G The Sunny South Currency

Davis J Kullark, The Dreamers Currency

De Groen A The Rivers of China Currency

Esson L Dead Timber, The Drovers (distributed by the centre)

Hewett D The Man from Mukinupin Currency

Hewett D The Chapel Perilous Currency

Hibberd J A Stretch of the Imagination Currency

Lawler R Summer of the Seventeenth Doll Currency

Nowra L Inside the Island Currency

Rayson H Hotel Sorrento Currency

Roland B The Touch of Silk Currency

Romeril J The Floating World Currency

Sewell S Dreams in an Empty City Currency

Seymour A The One Day of the Year Penguin

White P The Ham Funeral Currency

White P The Season at Sarsaparilla Currency

Williamson D Don's Party Currency

Williamson D The Removalists Currency

Williamson D Dead White Males Currency


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Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168
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Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996