DTS2450

Contemporary drama

P Fitzpatrick

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject students should have a critical knowledge of a range of contemporary dramatic texts and performance aesthetics. They should have an understanding of the relationships of dramatic texts to other processes of performance, such as acting, directing and spectating, and they should understand the ways in which meanings are generated and circulated both in theatre events and in the interpretation of dramatic texts in live performance.

Synopsis This subject approaches drama (and theatre) as a constellation of processes making up a performance event. To that end we will investigate not only a range of contemporary playtexts but also other performance processes, such as theatre audiences and theories of directing and acting. We will cover a range of theatre aesthetics, realism, absurdism, postmodernism and so on, and discuss ideas about popular culture, feminisms, gender, bodies and interculturalism. Tutorials/workshops will focus on the processes of making, analysing and theorising theatrical performance. We will also endeavour to attend and critique some current theatre performances in Melbourne.

Assessment: Tutorial/workshop participation and presentation: 20%
* Short essay (1500 words) or short devised performance: 30%
* Long essay (3000 words): 50%

Prescribed texts

Beckett S Waiting for Godot Faber, 1956
Bond E Saved in Plays one Methuen, 1977
Churchill C Cloud Nine in Plays One Methuen, 1985
Fo D Mistero Buffo Methuen1988
Genet J The Maids Faber, 1989
Handke P Offending the audience Methuen, 1971
Mudrooroo The Mudrooroo/Muller Project NSWUP, 1993
Muller H Hamletmachine Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies
Pinter H The Homecoming Methuen, 1965
Rame F Woman Alone Methuen, 1991
Wertenbaker T The Love Of The Nightingale Faber, 1989
Williams T A Streetcar Named Desire Penguin, 1959

Recommended texts

Artaud A The theatre and its double Calder, 1970
Aston E and Savona G Theatre as sign-system Routledge, 1991
Bennett S Theatre audiences Routledge, 1990
Boal A Theatre of the oppressed Pluto, 1979
Case S Feminism and theatre Macmillan, 1988