Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module explores performances of gender and power on the early modern stage, page, and street. On this drama-centred module, we will study professional theatre and 'closet drama', as well as street literature and court records. We focus on women as subjects, translators, and performers of drama. We will explore how gender and power are represented and negotiated across a range of performance spaces: theatres, law courts, marketplaces, scaffolds, taverns, country houses, and at court.

Outline Of Syllabus

We will study up to five plays from the professional stage. Indicative examples are Measure for Measure, A Woman Killed with Kindness, and Arden of Faversham. We will also look at one or more closet dramas, such as The Tragedie of Iphigenia, and a range of other texts that imagine, prompt, or record some sort of performance. These may be popular ballads, news pamphlets, printed trial accounts, masques, or court records.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

1. Knowledge of a diverse range of literary and non-literary sources.
2. Knowledge of a range of methodological approaches to studying these texts.
3. Understanding of the relationships between gender and power in early modern England
4. Awareness of the cultures and practices of performance in early modern England

Intended Skill Outcomes

1. Ability to read and interpret a variety of genres of early modern writing.
2. Skill in the identification and analysis of literary and dramaturgical devices.
3. Ability to assess the material qualities of early modern writing including illustrations.
4. Skills in developing performance-based approaches to early modern drama.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures present the module concepts and contexts and clarify and explain unfamiliar material. Students respond to these ideas and draw on their own reading in small-group seminar work and in peer-led study groups. The performance workshops offers a hands-on opportunity for students to experiment with the performance practices they have identified in their texts. The film screenings offer examples of how other directors and companies have staged and performed the module texts. The assessment workshop enables students to receive guidance on mid-semester assessments and then work on their assessments in a supportive environment.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The mid-module offers students a chance to focus on the text of the early modern sources; the essay offers an opportunity to conceptualise a wider argument which addresses the themes of the module. The structured learning tasks give students the opportunity to test ideas and receive feedback. Participation and engagement assesses students’ involvement in the course, from participation in study groups and online discussion groups to involvement in collaborative and individual performance-based activities.

General Notes

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