Modern Drama and Performance module (EN31022)

This module introduces you to some of the most important and influential dramatic texts and modes of performance from the 20th Century. You will engage with the major dramatists of the time and their most influential work.

The module will wherever possible respond to opportunities to see drama from the period staged locally, and the focus will therefore change each year.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• explore theatre, drama, performance, and its place in modern culture, with a particular (but not exclusive) emphasis on Britain and Europe
• consider questions of what constitutes an archive of performance (text, recordings, reviews, photographs, notation, material objects such as costumes and props, and so on)
• engage with critical and theoretical approaches to drama and performance, examining the work of both critics and practitioners

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

• have a broad understanding of key artistic movements in the 20th Century
• sense the challenges involved in responding critically to drama and performance
• contextualise evidence through assimilation of relevant secondary literature

Assignments / assessment

• Close analysis essay (40%)
• Research essay (60%)

Teaching methods / timetable

• lecture/workshops
  • once a week - two hours
• seminar
  • once a week - one hour