2013-2014 Drama Course Descriptions
Course Title: Shakespeare (performance focus)
Course Code: DRE221Y5Y
Instructor: Holger Syme
Course Description: We will study eleven of Shakespeare’s plays, from all phases of his career as a professional playwright and from all the major genres he worked in: comedy, history, tragedy, and “romance.” The course will contextualize these plays historically and culturally, exploring early modern notions of, for instance, governance, religion, and gender and sexuality. We will pay particular attention to Shakespeare’s works as plays written for and within a specific set of theatrical conventions. The ways in which these texts have been received and transmitted over time (in print, on stage, on the screen) will also be a major theme of our discussions. This section of the course features a weekly two-hour tutorial focused on performance practice; it is designed for Theatre and Drama Studies specialists.
Students in this section MUST enroll in Tutorial 0101 (Wed 2-4)
Required Reading: Titus Andronicus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, King Lear, The Tempest.
Text: Preferably a recent edition of the collected works (Norton, Riverside, Longman) or recent single-text editions (Oxford, New Cambridge, Arden, New Folger); you MUST use an annotated text. References in lecture will be to the Norton Shakespeare, 2nd edition.
First Three Texts: Titus Andronicus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice.
Method of Instruction: Lecture, performance-focused tutorial
Method of Evaluation: Tutorial participation and performance (30%), regular announced quizzes (15%), close reading exercise (15%), 2 5-7 page essays (40%)
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Course Title: Playwriting
Course Code: DRE362H5S
Instructor: Bruce Barton
Course Description: This course is intended to introduce students to a broad range of issues and methods related to the process of playwriting. Through a series of historical/theoretical readings and a variety of practical exercises, students will be encouraged to explore the unique properties of the theatrical environment, with a particular focus on the advanced technologies available in the CCT performance space. Topics for investigation will include general issues (such as structure, language, characterization, metaphor and symbolism, etc.) as well as issues specific to the theatrical context (such as theatrical time and space, movement, engagement with an audience, relationship to other theatrical elements, etc.), and others unique to the CCT space (advanced technologies including projection, video, internet, etc.). Students will also be introduced to physically based and collective strategies of theatrical devising as expanded forms of playmaking. Students will be encouraged to seek out the most productive methods of composing (physically, structurally, intellectually, and imaginatively) for their own practice. The benefit of community—amongst writers, and between writers and other theatre practitioners— will be emphasized through a ‘workshop’ class structure and course assignment design.
Note: Enrolment in the 2011 section of this course requires the submission of a creative writing portfolio by October 15, 2012. Contact the instructor for details (bruce.barton@utoronto.ca).
Required Reading: Selected readings will be posted to Blackboard (copyright permitting) or placed On Reserve at the UTM library.
First Three Texts/Authors to be Studied:
• Ayckbourn, Alan. The Crafty Art of Playmaking . Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.
• Spenser, Stuart. The Playwright’s Guidebook . Faber and Faber, 2002.
• Wright, Michael. Playwriting in Process: Thinking and Writing Theatrically . 2nd ed. Newburyport, MA: Focus Pub./R. Pullins Co., 2009.
Method of Instruction: Lecture, discussion, and practical in-class exercises.
Method of Evaluation: Participation and in-class exercises; on-line dramaturgy; weekly out-of-class exercises; final project and class presentation.
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Course Title: Senior Seminar: Theatrical Devising
Course Code: DRE420H5S
Instructor: Bruce Barton
Course Description: This course involves the theoretical and practical exploration of theatrical devising as a mode of performance generation and production. We will consider its historical, conceptual, and theoretical roots in a broad range of collaborative performance generation, as well as a selection of contemporary practices and practitioners from Canada and internationally. Students will also have the opportunity to explore practical techniques of training, material generation, and performance through the creation of individual and group projects.
Required Reading: Weekly readings will be posted to Blackboard (copyright permitting) or placed On Reserve at the UTM library.
First Three Texts/Authors to be Studied:
• Barton, Bruce. “Devising the Creative Body.” In Collective Creation, Collaboration and Devising. Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English Volume 15. Series General Editor: Ric Knowles. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2008. vii – xxvii.
• Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson, and Katie Normington. Making a Performance: Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices. London and New York: Routledge, 2007.
• Oddey, Alison. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. London and New York: Routledge, 1994.
Method of Instruction: Lecture, structured discussion, group work, workshop exercises.
Method of Evaluation: Participation, online postings, presentations, group work, research documents (essays OR researched and documented performance generation)
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