Download Unit title: Playtexts in Context Credit points: 10 Unit code: CEM513

Unit title:
Playtexts in Context
Credit points:
10
Unit code:
CEM513
FHEQ level:
5
School:
Unit designation:
Traditional
Programme group:
Business, Law and
Communications
English and Publishing
Unit delivery model:
CD
Max & Min Student
no.:
N/A
TOTAL STUDENT WORKLOAD
Students are required to attend and participate in all the formal scheduled sessions for the
unit. Students are also expected to manage their directed learning and independent study
in support of the unit.
PRE-REQUISITES AND CO-REQUISITES: None
UNIT DESCRIPTION
In this unit, students will learn about the history of drama as a cultural and literary form.
Each week, they will read a play text from a different historical period, learn about its
cultural, social and historical context, and explore in discussion some of the ways in which
that context is echoed and reflected in the writing. The unit’s clear focus on historical
context will emphasise that ‘no text is innocent’ and point towards some of the ways in
which drama interacts with the wider cultural structures surrounding it.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of the unit, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
K1 Identify a range of dramatic genres and theatrical styles appropriate to different
periods of literary history
Cognitive Skills
C1 Analyse playtexts with reference to the cultural and historical contexts in which they
were written, considering the ways in which theatre can reflect, subvert or support the
cultural power structures surrounding it.
C2 Interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical positions – particularly positions from
New Historicism and Cultural Materialism – to the study of written drama.
Practical and Professional Skills
P1 Engage in drafting and redrafting texts to achieve clarity of expression and an
appropriate register for theoretical essays.
P2 Locate, synthesise, evaluate and organise information, opinion and evidence to produce
arguments that address issues and problems within the study of written drama, and present
these coherently both verbally and in writing.
Transferable and Key Skills
T1 Communicate ideas and interpretations clearly in a range of written formats, and
demonstrate skills of time-management, self-management and reflective evaluation.
AREAS OF STUDY
Introduction to cultural materialism and new historicism; Elizabethan and Jacobean drama;
Restoration drama; Naturalism; the Theatre of the Absurd
LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY
Weekly lectures will introduce students to the broad social and theatrical developments of
a given period of dramatic history (Elizabethan, Restoration, Naturalism and the Theatre of
the Absurd). Lectures may include screenings where relevant. Students will study each
period for two to three weeks, reading a relevant playtext every week. Seminars will be
given over to a discussion of that playtext and the ways in which it reflects the context for
which it was written. They will provide opportunities for clarification, reflection,
elaboration, and interdependent learning. Students will also be encouraged to use webbased resources for further discussion.
ASSESSMENT STRATEGY
For the essay, students will identify appropriate sources for historical research and examine
the theatrical, social and historical context of a dramatic work. The exercise will encourage
them to reflect upon the ways in which that context is reflected in the writing.
Questions will be designed so that students have to take broader historical issues into
consideration.
ASSESSMENT
AE1
weighting:
assessment type:
length/duration:
100%
Essay
2500 words
AGGREGATION OF MARKS
N/A
RE-ASSESSMENT ARRANGEMENTS
Where re-assessment is necessary (in the case of failure or deferral), students will be set a
new essay.
Unit Author:
Seamus Finnegan
Unit history:
Unit Approved/Year Implemented/Code
2014
CEM513