ENGLISH 109
Drama on Stage and Screen
Please note: this is archived course information from 2016 for ENGLISH 109.
Description
Introduces the conventions and techniques of drama both on stage and on screen, using texts drawn from the cinema as well as the theatre. The selection of texts will represent a variety of dramatic forms from a range of periods and styles: Ancient Greece, Renaissance England, Modernist Europe, contemporary Britain, twentieth century America or present-day Australia and New Zealand. Some theatre texts are paired with screen productions of the same drama.
The course emphasises performance in drama, comparing the different approaches on stage and screen. Broader issues addressed include: translation; adaptation; gender and representation; self-reflexivity and metatheatricality. Stage productions from the Drama programme will coincide with the teaching of some of the plays. This course can be credited to a major or minor in Drama or English or Media, Film and Television.
Availability 2016
Semester 2
Lecturer(s)
Coordinator(s) Dr Emma Willis
Reading/Texts
Plays:
Anne Washburn, Mr Burns: A Post Electric Play
Tenessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Andrea Dunbar, the Arbor (excerpts provided online)
Robin Soans, A State Affair
William Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Samuel Beckett, short plays provided online
Albert Belz, Awhi Tapu
Frances Ya-Chu CowhigThe World of Extreme Happiness
Films:
Adaptation, dir. Spike Jonze
The Red Shoesdir. Pressburger and Powell
A Streetcar Named Desiredir. Elia Kazan
The Arbor, dir. Cleo Barnard
A Midsummer Night’s Dream(various)
Awhi Tapu, dir. Tammy Davis
The Orator, dir. Tusi Tamasese
Assessment
Coursework plus exam
4 short reading responses (c. 2 paragraphs each)
1 in-lecture test (50 mins close reading of selected excerpt)
one 1,500 word essay
2 hour exam, with 3 questions: 50% pre-announced question using 2 or more texts to address a thematic topic plus two 25% answers on individual texts
Points
ENGLISH 109: 15 points
