Lecturer in charge: Dr Victor Chang [Room 55 – New Arts Block]

Playtexts use both poetry and prose, but as a performing art drama is sharply distinct. Just as much as musical notation, a playtext is in a special language that demands specific skills of interpretation. This course provides an introduction to reading, seeing, and writing about drama: there is history (of theatres, of acting, of production) to learn, and some theory to absorb, but we will then turn to complete plays and put those lessons into practice.

Instruction: 2 lectures and 1 tutorial per week

Evaluation: 2 essays 30%

Tutorial presentation 10%

Final 2-hour exam (2 answers) 60%

Prescribed Texts:

Miller, Arthur. A Streetcar Named Desire (Penguin pb)
Rhone, Trevor. Old Story Time (Heinemann pb)
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth ( Cambridge Univ. Press pb)
Sophocles, E.F. Watling ed. The Theban Plays (Penguin Classics pb)
Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King's Horseman (Norton pb)