MODERN DRAMA KEY TEXTS: Christopher Innes, Modern British Drama (Cambridge: CUP, 1992) Ruth Little and

Emily McLaughlin, The Royal Court Inside Out (London: Oberon, 2007) MICHAELMAS TERM Session one ABIGAIL AND GEORGIE INTRODUCTION TO GENRES AND THEORY PRIMARY TEXTS: Kelly, Dennis Osama the Hero. ADVANCED READING: Styan, J.L. Modern drama in theory and practice. Vol 1. Realism and Naturalism. Cambridge: CUP, 1981. --- Modern drama in theory and practice. Vol 2. Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd. Cambridge: CUP, 1981. --- Modern drama in theory and practice. Vol 3. Expressionism and Epic Theatre. Cambridge: CUP, 1981. MAKE A LISTOF THE KEY FEATURES OF THE GENRES REALISM, NATURALISM, SYMBOLISM, SURREALISM, ABSURDISM, EXPRESSIONISM, EPIC. Session two - ABIGAIL 1956 and THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE This session will explore the significance of 1956 in the development of Contemporary drama, looking particularly at the work of John Osbourne. PRIMARY TEXTS Osbourne, John Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer ADVANCED READING Harrop, John. The Last Laugh: Comedy as a Political Touchstone in Britain from "The Entertainer" to "Comedians". Theatre Journal, 1980. (Available through JSTOR). Lacey, Stephen. A Contemporary Theatre: Looking back at Anger. British Realist Theatre: New Wave in Its Context, 1956-65. London: Routledge, 1995. Wellwarth, G.E. John Osborne: Angry Young Man (1964). Look Back in Anger: A casebook. Ed. John Russell Taylor. London: Macmillan, 1968. FURTHER READING Denison, Patricia, D. John Osborne: A Casebook (Casebooks on Modern Dramatists). London: Routledge, 1997. Lacey, Stephen. Reworking the Realist Tradition from within. British Realist Theatre: New Wave in Its Context, 1956-65. London: Routledge, 1995. Rebellato, Dan. 1956 and All That: Making of Modern British Drama. London: Routledge, 1999. Taylor, John Russell, Look Back in Anger (Casebook). London: Palgrave Macmillian, 1968. JOURNAL ARTICLES ON JSTOR Kroll, Morton. The Politics of Britain's Angry Young Men. The Western Political Quarterly, 1959. Weiss, Samuel A. Osborne's Angry Young Play. Educational Theatre Journal, 1960. Session three - ABIGAIL THEATRE OF THE ABSURD This session explores the genre of Theatre of the Absurd, concentrating principally on the work of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. PRIMARY TEXTS Beckett, Samuel Endgame Pinter, Harold The Caretaker ADVANCED READING Samuel Beckett: The Search for the Self Parallels and Proselytes - Harold Pinter Both in Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. London: Penguin, 1970. Knowles, Ronald. Pinter and twentieth-century drama. The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. Ed. Peter Raby. Cambridge: CUP, 2001. AVAILABLE ONLINE through UL E BOOKS, CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS

Worton, Michael. Waiting for Godot and Endgame. The Cambridge Companion to Beckett. Ed. John Pilling. Cambridge: CUP, 1994. AVAILABLE ONLINE through UL E BOOKS, FURTHER READING Pattie, David. The Complete Critical Guide to Samuel Beckett. London: Routledge, 2000. Quigley, Austin. Pinter, politics and postmodernism (1). The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. Ed. Peter Raby. Cambridge: CUP, 2001. JOURNAL ARTICLES ON JSTOR Keyssar, Helene. Theatre Games, Language Games and "Endgame". Theatre Journal, 1979. Schechner, Richard. Puzzling Pinter. The Tulane Drama Review,1966. Session four ABIGAIL th BRITISH POLITICAL THEATRE OF THE LATER 20 CENTURY This session explores political theatre of the late 1970s. PRIMARY TEXTS Churchill, Caryl Cloud Nine McGrath, John The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil ADVANCED READING Agit-prop revisited: John McGraths The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil The Strategy of Play: Caryl Churchills Cloud Nine Both in Patterson, Michael. Strategies of Political Theatre. Cambridge: CUP, 2003. Reinelt, Janelle. Caryl Churchill and the politics of style. The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Women Playwrights. Eds. Elaine Aston and Janelle Reinelt. Cambridge: CUP, 2000. AVAILABLE ONLINE through University Library, ebooks, Cambridge Companions FURTHER READING Aston, Elaine. Caryl Churchill: Writers and their Work (Northcote, 2001) Aston, Elaine and Diamond, Elin. The Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill. Cambridge: CUP, 2009. AVAILABLE ONLINE through University Library, ebooks, Cambridge Companions Itzin, Catherin. Stages in the Revolution. Political theatre in Britain since 1968. London: Methuen, 1980. McGrath, John. A Good Night Out. London: Methuen, 1981. Journal Articles on JSTOR Harding, James M. Cloud Cover: (Re) Dressing Desire and Comfortable Subversions in Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine. PMLA, 1998. Session five - ABIGAIL VIOLENCE AND ITS REPRESENTATION ON THE BRITISH STAGE This lecture will examine the place of violence in later twentieth century British drama, focussing on Bonds early plays and the development of In -Yer-Face in the 1990s. Issues to be considered are the roles of censorship in the theatre, and the impact and politics of violence. PRIMARY TEXTS Bond, Edward Saved Kane, Sarah Blasted ADVANCED READING Buse, Peter. Trauma and Testimony in Blasted. Drama + theory: critical approaches to modern British drama. Manchester: MUP, 2001. Saunders, Graham. This Disgusting Feast of Filth. Love Me or Kill Me: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes. Manchester: MUP, 2002. Spencer, Jenny S. Violence and Voyerism. Dramatic Strategies in the Plays of Edward Bond. Cambridge: CUP, 1992. FURTHER READING Frick, John W. Theatre and Violence. Alabama: University of Alabama, 1999. Malkin, Jeanette. Verbal Violence in Contemporary Drama: From Handke to Shepard. Cambridge: CUP, 1992. Journal Articles on JSTOR Urban, Ken. An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane. A Journal of Performance and Art, 2001.

Session six - ABIGAIL IN YER FACE THEATRE This lecture will look at what Aleks Sierz terms In yer face theatre, looking particularly at the th portrayal of sexuality on stage in the later 20 century. PRIMARY TEXTS Nielson, Anthony Penetrator Ravenhill, Mark Shopping and Fucking ADVANCED READING Dickensen, Sarah-Jane. Fear of the Queer Citizen: From canonisation to curriculum in the plays of Mark Ravenhill. Alternatives within the Mainstream II: Queer Theatres in post-war Britain: v. 2. Ed. Dimple Godiwala. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars, 2007. Sierz, Aleks. Still In-Yer-Face? Towards a Critique and a Summation. New Theatre Quarterly, Vol 18, Issue 01. AVAILABLE ONLINE through LITERATURE ONLINE Sierz, Aleks Cool Britannia? In-Yer-Face Writing in the British Theatre Today. New Theatre Quarterly, Vol 14, Issue 56. Cambridge: CUP, 1998. AVAILABLE ONLINE through LITERATURE ONLINE FURTHER READING Deeny, John F. Mark Ravenhill. London: Routledge, 2007. de Jongh, Nicholas. Not in Front of the Audience: Homosexuality on Stage. London: Routledge, 2007. Ravenhill, Mark. A Tear in the Fabric: the James Bulger Murder and New Theatre Writing in the Nineties. New Theatre Quarterly, 20:4. Sierz, Aleks. In Yer Face Theatre. London: Faber and Faber, 2001. Reviews of the original productions in Theatre Record Session seven - ABIGAIL VERBATIM THEATRE PRIMARY TEXTS Kelly, Dennis Taking Care of Baby Soans, Robin Talking to Terrorists ADVANCED READING Hammond, Will and Steward Dan, eds. Robin Soans. Verbatim Verbatim: Techniques in Contemporary Documentary Theatre. London: Oberon, 2008. Lane, David. Verbatim Theatre: The Rise of a Political Voice. Contemporary British Drama. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2010. FURTHER READING Bottoms, Stephen. Putting the Document into Documentary: An Unwelcome Corrective?. The Drama Review. 50:3, 2006. pp.56-68. Hare, David. Obedience, Struggle and Revolt. London: Faber and Faber, 2005. Hammond, Will and Steward Dan, eds. Verbatim Verbatim: Techniques in Contemporary Documentary Theatre. London: Oberon, 2008. Luckhurst, Mary. Verbatim Theatre, Media Relations and Ethics. A Concise Companion to British and Irish Drama. Eds. Nadine Holworth and Mary Luckhurst. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. Young, Stuart. Playing with Documentary Theatre: Aalst and Taking Care of Baby. New Theatre Quarterly. 25:1, 2009. pp.72-87. Session eight - ABIGAIL THEATRE AND EDUCATION PRIMARY TEXTS Waters, Steve Little Platoons Donnelly, John The Knowledge FURTHER READING Waters, Steve, Political Playwriting: The Art of Thinking in Public , Topoi, Volume 30, Number 2, October 2011, pp. 137-144(8) Youngs, Ian, Teachers Put School Life on Stage, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts12328251

SECTION B: Modern Drama around the Globe In section B the course turns from drama written in Britain, to consider theatre and playwrights across the globe. Ranging from post-war American theatre to Irish contemporary drama, the course will engage with forms and cultures which challenge and push the boundaries of canonical British drama. It will consider what might loosely be called postcolonial theatre in that students will examine how performance practices intersect with and develop an understanding of post-colonial theories. This section of the course is designed to encourage a wide perspective indeed, a global view of theatre and literature. Key Texts Helen Gilbert and Joanne Tomkins (1996), London: Routledge Brian Crow with Chris Banfield (1996), Cambridge University Press. Post-Colonial Drama: Theory, Practice, Politics

An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre Cambridge:

1 American Playwrights Tennessee Williams And Arthur Miller Williams and Miller are celebrated, Pulitzer prize-winning American playwrights: this session will consider postwar American Theatre. Texts Tennessee Williams (1947) Arthur Miller (1945) Secondary Reading Jane Schleuter (1998) Plays and Playwrights: 1945-1970 in Don B. Wilmeth, Christopher Bigsby (eds), The Cambridge history of American theatre (Vol III) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Further Reading Gerald Bordman, (1993) The American Theatre : a Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969 in Don B. Wilmeth and Tice L. Miller (eds) Cambridge guide to American theatre edited Cambridge University Press, Don B. Wilmeth, Christopher Bigsby (eds), The Cambridge history of American theatre (Vol III) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

A Streetcar Named Desire

Death of a Salesman

2. Theatre of the Blues August Wilson August Wilson is another Pulitzer prize-winning playwright: he depicts both comic and tragic aspect of African American experience in the Twentieth Century. Notions of race and injustice will be considered in relation to his work. Texts August Wilson (1982) August Wilson (1989) Secondary Reading Brian Crow with Chris Banfield (1996), An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. August Wilsons Theatre of the Blues

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom The Piano Lesson

UNKNOWN, (1999)

Interview with August Wilson Contemporary Literature, 40:1

Amanda M. Rudolph (2003) Images of African Traditional Religions and Christianity in Joe Turner's Come and Gone and The Piano Lesson in Journal of Black Studies 33:5 pp. 562-575 Further Reading Elisabeth J. Heard (2001), Review, 35:1, pp. 93-102 August Wilson (1997) August Wilson on Playwriting: An Interview African American 'The Ground on Which I Stand Callaloo 20:3 pp. 493-503

3 Aboriginal drama Jack Davis Jack Davis portrays the degradation of Aboriginal culture as a result of its encounter with white civilization. Authenticity, alienation and the Aboriginal aesthetic are issues to be considered in this session. Texts Jack Davis (1980) Secondary Reading Brian Crow with Chris Banfield (1996), An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 'Jack Davis and the Drama of Aboriginal History' Kelly, V., (1993) Louis Nowra in Bruce King (ed.), Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 Basingstoke: MacMillan Williams, M. (1993) Australia in Bruce King (ed.), Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 Basingstoke: MacMillan Further Reading Jack Davis & Bob Hodge (eds) Aboriginal writing today : papers from the First National Conference of Aboriginal Writers held in Perth, Western Australia in 1983 Bruce King (ed.)(1993) Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 Basingstoke: MacMilllan. 4. Nigerian Theatre of ritual vision Wole Soyinka Soyinka fuses inherited Western dramaturgical and performance models with traditions drawn from African (and in particular Yaruba Nigerian) ritual and tradition. His work provides us with the opportunity to consider hybridity of form and stylistic variety. Texts Wole Soyinka (1963) Wole Soyinka (1967) Secondary Reading Brian Crow with Chris Banfield (1996), Cambridge University Press. An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre Cambridge: The Lion and The Jewel Kongis Harvest The Dreamers

Wole Soyinka and the Nigerian theatre of Ritual Vision

Josef Gugler (1997) Wole Soyinka's Kongi's Harvest from Stage to Screen: Four Endings to Tyranny in Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des tudes Africaines, 31: 1, pp. 32-49 Peter Nazareth, (1963) Review: [untitled]: The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka in Transition, 10, pp. 47-48 Further Reading Chinua Achebe (1988) Hopes and Impediments London: Heinemann Colonialist Criticism Nugugi Wa Thiongo (1986) Heinemann Gerald Moore, (1978) The Language of African Theatre in Decolonising the Mind, London:

Wole Soyinka, London: Evans Bros

Ketu H. Katrak, (1986) Wole Soyinka and Modern Tragedy: a Study of Dramatic Theory and Practice London: Greenwood 5 Workshopping Apartheid Athol Fugard Fugards plays, developed as workshop drama, are in many respects as much metonymic images of the New South Africa, as representations of apartheid South Africa. New directions in South African theatre will be considered as well as Fugards work in this lecture. Athol Fugard (1972) Athol Fugard (1972) Secondary Reading Athol Fugard and the South African Workshop Play in An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre (see above) Dennis Walder, (1993) Introduction in Township Plays Oxford: Oxford University Press. Further Reading B. Crow, Athol Fugard in Post-colonial English Drama : Commonwealth Drama Since 1960 edited by Bruce King (see above) A. Fuchs, The New South African Theatre: Beyond Fugard in Post-colonial English drama (see above) Anne Fuchs( 2002) Playing the Market : the Market Theatre, Johannesburg Amsterdam: Rodopi. South African theatre in the melting pot: trends and developments at the turn of the millennium / interviews by Rolf Solberg ; [edited by Laurence Wright]. Institute for the Study of English in Africa. (Grahamstown : ISEA, 2003) Martin Orkin (1991) Drama and the South African State Manchester: Manchester University Press. The Island Sizwe Bansi is Dead

6.

Caribbean Theatre of Revelation Derek Walcott and Dennis Scott

Authentic expression of West Indian reality, the quest for liberation from colonial subordination and cultural independence: these are the seeds of revelation in the work of Walcott and Scott. Derek Walcott Ti-Jean and his Brothers Dennis Scott An Echo in the Bone Secondary Reading Brian Crow with Chris Banfield (1996), An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre, CUP (see above) Derek Walcott and a Caribbean Theatre of Revelation H. Gilbert (1993), Post-colonial Histories Storytelling in Bruce King (ed.) Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 Basingstoke: MacMillan H. Gilbert (1993), Body Politics in Bruce King (ed.) Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 (see above) Juneja, R (1993 ) Derek Walcott in Bruce King (ed.) Post-colonial English drama : commonwealth drama since 1960 (see above) Valrie Bada (2000) Slavery and Silence in Ina Cesaire's Memoires d'Isles and Dennis Scott's An Echo in the Bonein The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association 33: 3, pp. 86-93 Further Reading David Dabydeen and Nana Wilson-Tagoe, (1988) A Readers Guide to West Indian and Black British Literature, Hansib in conjunction with the University of Warwick Centre for Caribbean Studies and Department of Continuing Education V.S.Naipaul, (1982) The Middle Passage New Beacon Books

7. Contemporary Irish Theatre Martin McDonagh A modern day Synge or an English chancer? Martin McDonagh's plays have been courting controversy since The Beauty Queen of Leenane took the world stage by storm in 1996. Audiences have been divided roughly into two camps; those who think he's captured the black humour and zeitgeist of a postmodern rural Ireland, and those who see him as making a mockery of Ireland and the Irish by lampooning that caricature of old, the 'stage-Irish' fool. (Elizabeth O'Neill) Texts Martin McDonagh (1996) Martin McDonagh (2001) Secondary Reading Joan Fitzpatrick Dean (2002), Theatre Journal, 54:1 Michael C. O'Neill (1998) Journal, 50:2 Review of The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh in Review of The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh Theatre The Cripple of Inishmaan The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Nicholas Grene (2005) Ireland in Two Minds: Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson in The Yearbook of English Studies, 35 Further Reading

Richard Rankin Russell (ed) (2007)

Martin McDonagh : A Casebook London: Routledge The theatre of Martin McDonagh : A World of

Lilian Chambers and Eamonn Jordan (Eds) (2006) Savage Stories, Carysfort Press Fintan OToole (1999)

Introduction in Martin McDonagh, Plays, London: Methuen Drama

8 Theatre in 2011 This session will constitute a discussion following a group outing to see a piece of new writing.