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Dramatic Theory in Practice Michaelmas 2012 Dr Chloe Preedy Overview: The theoretical discussion of drama and theatre practice has a long and illustrious history, reaching back to Aristotle’s Poetics. This history of thinking and writing about drama has centrally shaped our contemporary understanding of performance, theatre and the cultural significance of dramatic practice. Concentrating predominantly on the relationship between theoretical writings about the theatre and the practical realisation of such concepts by dramatists and directors, this seminar series will explore some of the most significant developments in the history of dramatic theory. By submitting this relationship between theory and practice to critical scrutiny, we will assess the implications of historical developments in theory for our modern scholarly practice as students of drama. The six seminars are ordered chronologically, and chart the some of the most significant developments in the history of dramatic theory from ancient Greece to the present day. Theoretical works studied range from Aristotle’s Poetics to Artaud’s The Theatre and Its Double, discussed in relation to contemporary plays from Aristophanes’s Frogs to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. There will be some opportunity to consider the writings of Stanislavski, Brecht and Brook from a practical performative angle if desired, but actual performance will not be a compulsory part of the course. The required and suggested reading for each class is outlined below. The primary texts listed are in each instance required reading, and copies of these should be brought to seminars where possible. For the theoretical prose works, extracts will be circulated in advance of each class as indicated in brackets. Copies of the play‐texts should be available through your college libraries, and will also be placed on reserve in the English Faculty Library wherever possible; although the translations will of course vary, any edition is acceptable for the purposes of our discussions. In the list of secondary and background reading, any item marked * is also required reading; selected readings from the other works listed in this section will complement the required reading for each seminar. Aristotle and Greek Theatre: The Birth of Dramatic Theory? This class will examine the philosophical foundations of dramatic theory and criticism. It will focus on Aristotle’s Poetics, generally regarded as the founding text of literary criticism, and regularly cited by subsequent scholars despite its much‐debated connection to the dramatic practice of ancient Greece. The Poetics will be studied alongside two major works of ancient Greek comedy and tragedy, Aristophanes’s Frogs and Aeschylus’s Oresteia; reference will also be made to Plato’s Republic and Nietzsche’s much later theorisation of Greek drama in his Birth of Tragedy. Primary Texts: Aeschylus, Agamemnon, from the Oresteia Aristophanes, Frogs Aristotle, The Poetics, trans. Stephen Halliwell (2006) [extracts to be provided] Plato, The Republic, trans. H. D. P. Lee (Penguin Classics, 2006) [extracts to be provided] Secondary and Background Reading: * Friedrich Nietzsche, Birth of Tragedy, trans. Walter Kaufmann (1974) [extracts to be provided] A.M. Bowie, Aristophanes: Myth, Ritual and Comedy (1993) Paul Cartledge, Aristophanes and his Theatre of the Absurd (1990) P.E. Easterling, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (1997) Albert Henrichs, ‘Nietzsche on Greek tragedy and the tragic’ in A Companion to Greek Tragedy, ed. J. Gregory (2005), pp. 444‐458 John Jones, On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy (1962) Melanie Klein, ‘Some Reflections on the The Oresteia’ (1963), repr. in Envy, Gratitude and Other Works 1946‐1963 (1975) Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, tr R.J.Hollingdale (1973) Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss on Plato's Symposium, ed. Seth Benardete (2001) Charles Segal, Interpreting Greek Tragedy: Myth, Poetry, Text (1986) A.H. Sommerstein, Aeschylean Tragedy (1996) J.P. Vernant and P. Vidal‐Naquet, Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece, trans. J Lloyd (1981) Beyond Shakespeare: Theorising Early English Theatre In Shakespeare’s England, the status of drama was a matter of much debate. Authors such as Sir Philip Sidney compared the native tradition unfavourably with the classical theories outlined in Aristotle’s Poetics, while contemporary dramatists defended the qualities of their art. This class will consider how classical philosophical theories about the theatre and dramatic practice came to be challenged and reshaped during perhaps the single most influential period in the history of English dramatic writing; given the prominence Shakespeare has subsequently enjoyed as a touchstone for nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century schools of critical thought, the theories of drama expressed by his contemporaries remain deeply significant for our own scholarly practice. Primary Texts: Sir Philip Sidney, Apology for Poetry [extracts to be provided] John Dryden, An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668) [extracts to be provided] John Dryden, All for Love (1678) Thomas Heywood, An Apology for Actors (1612) [extracts to be provided] Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed With Kindness Secondary and Background Reading: Joel B. Altman, The Tudor play of mind: rhetorical inquiry and the development of Elizabethan drama (1978) Robert D. Hume, Dryden's criticism (1970) Pauline Kiernan, Shakespeare's theory of drama (1996) Michele Marrapodi , ed., Shakespeare and Renaissance literary theories : Anglo‐Italian transactions (2011) Kathleen E. McLuskie, Dekker and Heywood: professional dramatists (1994) Edward Pechter, Dryden's classical theory of literature (1975) Margaret Pollock Sherwood, Dryden's dramatic theory and practice (1966) Richard Rowland, Thomas Heywood's theatre, 1599‐1639: locations, translations, and conflict (2010) Stanislavski and Nineteenth‐Century Naturalism In this class we will discuss one of the most influential figures in the history of modern drama: Konstantin Stanislavski. Although Stanislavski was an actor and theatre director rather than a literary theorist, his work with the Moscow Art Theatre and the advice outlined in his published books had a profound impact on the subsequent performance history of modern drama: in particular, the influential American school of method acting developed out of a limited application of his ideas by former students. This class will consider the context in which Stanislavski himself developed and applied ideas about performance and acting technique by exploring his writings alongside the plays of the Moscow Art Theatre’s most famous writer, Anton Chekhov: works which Stanislavski acted in and directed. Primary Texts: Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov, The Seagull Konstantin Stanislavski, An Actor Prepares [extracts to be provided] Konstantin Stanislavski, My Life in Art [extracts to be provided] Emilie Zola, Naturalism (1881) [extract to be provided] Secondary and Background Reading: Jean Benedetti, Stanislavski and the actor (1998) Robert Leach, Stanislavsky and Meyerhold (2003) Jane Milling and Graham Ley, Modern theories of performance: from Stanislavski to Boal (2000) George Steiner, The Death of Tragedy (1961) Konstantin Stanislavski, An Actor’s Work on a Role Oliver Taplin, ‘Greek Tragedy, Chekhov and Being Remembered’, Arion, 13.3 (2006), pp. 51‐65 Peta Tait, Performing emotions: gender, bodies, spaces, in Chekhov's drama and Stanislavski's theatre (2002) Rose Whyman, The Stanislavsky system of acting: legacy and influence in modern performance (2008) Timothy J. Wiles, The theater event: modern theories of performance (1980) Nick Worrall, The Moscow Art Theatre (1996) Brecht’s Manifesto: A Political Theatre A reaction against the naturalism of the nineteenth century arrived in the twentieth century with the German director and playwright Bertolt Brecht. Like Stanislavski, Brecht has long been an influential figure in the history of modern drama, and his ideas continue to resonate strongly for many contemporary writers. In this class we will be considering Brecht’s emphasis on the theatre as a political medium, an idea shaped by his lifelong commitment to Marxism, and the techniques he introduced to establish the political efficacy of performed drama. In particular, we will be considering the relationship between Brecht’s theories and the works he wrote and produced, and the significance of his enduring influence for modern critical practice. Primary Texts: Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht, A Short Organum for the Theatre (1948) [extracts to be provided] Bertolt Brecht, ‘The Modern Theatre is the Epic Theatre: Notes to the Opera Rise and Fall of the Town of Mahagonny’ [extract to be provided] Secondary and Background Reading: Augusto Boal, Theater of the oppressed Laura Bradley, Brecht and political theatre: The mother on stage (2006) Culture and Agitation: Theatre Documents (1972) David C. Durst, Weimar modernism: philosophy, politics, and culture in Germany, 1918‐1933 (2004) Terry Eagleton and Drew Milne, ed., Marxist literary theory: a reader (1996) Ronald Gray, Brecht the Dramatist (1976) C. D. Innes, Erwin Piscator's political theatre; the development of modern German drama (1972) Fredric Jameson, The ideologies of theory: essays 1971‐1986 (1988) Pia Kleber and Colin Visser, eds., Re‐interpreting Brecht: his influence on contemporary drama and film (1990) Loren Kruger, Post‐imperial Brecht: politics and performance, east and south (2004) Eugene Lunn, Marxism and modernism: an historical study of Lukács, Brecht, Benjamin, and Adorno (1982) Meyerhold on Theatre, ed. Edward Braun (1969) Raymond Williams, Drama from Ibsen to Brecht (1973) Theatrical Rites and Religion: Artaud, Grotowski, and Peter Brook In the mid‐twentieth century playwrights, directors and theorists began to call for a newly expressive theatre. Drawing on the idea that theatrical performance could be traced back to the religious rites of ancient Greece, these writers began to argue for a ritualised theatrical experience. This class explores from a theoretical and critical perspective the process whereby such ideas led to the development of physical theatre, studying the writings of the influential theatre director Antonin Artaud alongside the work of physical theatre practitioners such as Jerzy Grotowski and Peter Brook. In particular, we will consider the relationship between techniques of performance and the concept of a sacred, purgative theatrical experience which emerges in these writings. Primary Texts: Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and its Double [extracts to be provided] Antonion Artaud, Jet of Blood (1925) [extract to be provided] Peter Brook, The Empty Space (1968) [extracts to be provided] Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre [extracts to be provided] Secondary and Background Reading: *Jacques Derrida, ‘The Theatre of Cruelty’, in Writing and Difference, trans. Alan Bass (1978) [extract to be provided] *Jacques Derrida, ‘La Parole Souffle’, in Writing and Difference, trans. Alan Bass (1978) [extract to be provided] *Lee Jamieson, Antonin Artaud: From Theory to Practice (2007) [extracts to be provided] Eric Bentley, ed., The theory of the modern stage: from Artaud to Zola, an introduction to modern theatre and drama (2008) Edward Braun, The director and the stage: from naturalism to Grotowski (1982) Peter Brook, The shifting point: forty years of theatrical exploration, 1946‐1987 (1987) Dominique D. Fisher, Staging of language and language(s) of the stage: Mallarmé's poëme critique and Artaud's poetry‐minus‐text (1994) Jane Goodall, Artaud and the Gnostic Drama (1994) Ronald Hayman, Artaud and after (1977) Albert Hunt and Geoffrey Reeves, Peter Brook (1995) Christopher Innes, Avant‐Garde Theatre 1892‐1992 (1993) Gene A. Plunka, ed., Antonin Artaud and the modern theater (1994) James Roose‐Evans, Experimental theatre: from Stanislavsky to Peter Brook (1989) Susan Sontag, Against interpretation (1994) James Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta, Jerzy Grotowski (2007) The Semiotics of Modern Drama: Reading Beckett with Derrida Jacques Derrida famously professed his inability to deconstruct the works of Samuel Beckett, those writings that ‘make the limits of our language tremble’. Yet critics have often subsequently argued that Derrida’s theoretical writings owe a strong debt to Beckett’s prose and dramatic work. This class will explore the ways in which Beckett experimented with language and signs in his plays, and consider the relationship between Beckett’s dramatic practice and Derrida’s philosophical theories. Primary Texts: Samuel Beckett, Endgame Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett, Not I Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology [extracts to be provided] Jacques Derrida, ‘”This Strange Institution Called Literature”: An Interview with Jacques Derrida’, in Acts of Literature, ed. Derek Attridge (1992) [extract to be provided] Secondary and Background Reading: Theodor W. Adorno, Negative Dialectics (1966) Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory (1970) Derek Attridge, ed., Acts of Literature (1992) Alain Badiou, Beckett: l'increvable désir (1995) Stanley Cavell, Must we mean what we say?: A book of essays (1976) Steven Connor, Samuel Beckett: repetition, theory and text (1988) Jacques Derrida, Dissemination, trans. Barbara Johnson (1981) Jacques Derrida, Paper Machine, trans. Rachel Bowlby (2005) Sarah Gendron, Repetition, difference, and knowledge in the work of Samuel Beckett, Jacques Derrida, and Gilles Deleuze (2008) Andrew Gibson, Beckett and Badiou: the pathos of intermittency (2006) Julia Kristeva, Desire in language: a semiotic approach to literature and art, ed. Leon S. Roudiez. (1980) Drew Milne, ‘The Beautiful Soul: from Hegel to Beckett’, Diacritics 32 (2002), 63‐82 Nicholas Royle, After Derrida (1995) Asja Szfraniec, Beckett, Derrida, and the event of literature (2007) Anthony Uhlmann, Samuel Beckett and the philosophical image (2009)