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At the end of the course, the student:
• will be able to critically analyze drama from the seventeenth and early eighteenth century in the context of the most important cutural and historical developments in that period and against the background of contemporary perceptions of theatre and the stage;
• has a profound knowledge of the cultural, political and economic infrastructures of the early modern English theatre world in its variety of forms, such as courtly theatre, closet drama and the public stage.
• should have a comprehensive awareness of the generic varieties (e.g. the courtly masque, pastoral comedy, revenge tragedy, Oriental She tragedy) and development of early modern British drama during the long seventeenth century;
• can explain the function of theatrical effects and conventions in early modern plays and their later adaptations.
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The seventeenth century has often been heralded as the Golden Age of British drama, in particular because of the established reputation of playwrights such as William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe. Drama from the English Renaissance and Restoration era is, however, much richer in variety than the oeuvre of these acclaimed dramatists. During this course we will examine the diverse manifestations of drama in this period, exploring the wide range of settings (the public playhouse, the court, the countryhouse) in which plays were performed, the infrastructures that played a role in the staging and publication of drama as well as ideas about stagecraft and acting that informed dramatic production. Early modern theatre was an important tool to legitimize Royal authority, and we will investigate representations of state and monarch as well as representations of nationality, the city, class and male-female relationships in plays that cover various subgenres, such as the courtly pageant, Senecan closet drama, the history play, revenge tragedy and the comedy of manners. While we will read key texts by major playwrights such as Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and William Wycherley, we will also discuss drama by lesser known female writers, such as Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn and Susanna Centlivre. Additionally, we will pay attention to the Nachleben of Shakespeare’s drama on stage and on screen. |
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B1 course Reading Literature or comparable introductory course in literary theory
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