Download ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis

ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis
Fall 2010
Tu/Th 8:45 AM – 10:05 AM, Room PC 263
Prof. Eszter Szalczer; Office: PAC 357; Tel.: 442-4211; email: [email protected]
Course Description:
The course is designed to familiarize you with analytical tools, research methods and critical
approaches that help you appreciate and understand plays both as informed readers of dramatic
literature and as spectators in the theatre. We explore plays as products of particular socio-cultural
contexts and at the same time as artworks that comprise a complex world of their own. In addition,
students will learn about the processes of transposing written scripts into theatrical productions and
will learn to analyze theatrical performances as specific interpretations of play-texts. Assignments
are geared to develop critical thinking, analytical skills and a vocabulary for expressing complex
ideas in the discipline of theatre arts with a special emphasis on the written practice of analyzing
plays and performances.
Writing Intensive Course Characteristics:
Play Analysis fulfils the General Education requirement of a lower-level Writing Intensive course.
Writing Intensive courses use writing as an important tool in the discipline studied and are not
designed primarily to teach the technical aspects of writing. The focus is on written practice of
analyzing plays as well as theatre performances. The course fulfills the following criteria for the
Writing Intensive requirement:
1. A Substantial Body of Finished Work: This is generally expected to be a total of 20+ doublespaced pages in at least two, preferably more, submissions. It may be in a variety of forms—journal,
reports, essays, research papers, etc.—not all of which need to be graded.
2. Opportunity for Students to Receive Assistance in Progress: Such assistance may take several
forms, from visits to the Writing Center (HU-140) to conferences with the instructor.
3. Opportunity to Revise Some Pieces: As revision is an essential characteristic of good writing,
students should be able to revise some portion of their work.
4. Response to Student Writing: Such response may take several forms—from extended comments
from the instructor to peer evaluation in student groups. It is expected, however, that the instructor
will respond in detail to some extended work of the student.
Learning Objectives for Lower Division Writing Intensive (Basic Communication):
1. Students will demonstrate their abilities to produce coherent texts within common
college level forms
2. Students will demonstrate the ability to revise and improve such texts
Readings:
Jacobus, et al eds. The Bedford Introduction to Drama (Sixth Edition; University Bookstore and Mary
Jane Books)
David Ball, Backwards and Forwards (University Bookstore and Mary Jane Books)
Essays by Elinor Fuchs, Konstantin Stanislavsky, Uta Hagen, William Ball, Bertolt Brecht (handouts)
Requirements:
Preparation and class participation: Since class interactions provide the major forum of
learning in this course, class participation is an essential requirement. Prepare for class by reading
the assigned play and/or essay before class, take notes while reading and jot down you questions or
comments and come to class prepared to discuss the day's topic.
Exams, Papers, Assignments: For journal and paper assignments you are encouraged to
consult the instructor during the writing process and submit drafts for review before the final version.
1. Students are required to keep a journal and make an entry for each play discussed in
class. The entry should not consist of students’ class-notes, but their own informed assessment of
the plays. Each entry should comprise a two-page typewritten (double-spaced) analysis of the
particular play, discussing the following aspects:
A. Brief introductory information on the cultural background of the play
B. Information about the world of the play and how that world operates:
ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Fall 2010
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What are the given circumstances?
What inciting incident triggers the plot?
Characteristics of the plot-structure (the connections between the unfolding events and
the time and space parameters of the action).
- Who are the main characters (protagonist, antagonist, secondary characters) and how
do they affect the plot? What is their ‘agenda’ (what objectives they want to achieve,
what obstacles they need to overcome)?
- What are the most important images throughout the play and how are they related to the
central theme/s of the play?
- Determine the beginning-middle-and end (stasis-intrusion-stasis): describe how the
situation in the beginning of the play has changed by the end of the play and why
(reversals, recognitions, etc.).
- Describe the characteristics of the given style/genre.
The journals will be reviewed periodically and will be handed back to you with comments for rewrites. They will be evaluated in their entirety at the end of the semester and awarded a grade that
will reflect both content and the improvements of writing.
2. The midterm test will evaluate students' understanding of the critical, analytical and
research terms and methods we study.
3. The final essay exam is designed to evaluate how students by the end of the course
have learned to apply the analytical processes learned and practiced in class.
4. You are required to attend all productions offered or sponsored by the Theatre
Department during the semester and to prepare a written response as part of your journal.
Other requirements: For a passing grade in the class it is expected that beyond a thorough
familiarity with the covered material students achieve a satisfactory level of communicating their
knowledge orally and in writing. Students must show evidence of clear and articulate expression of
thoughts, facts, and ideas and an understanding and respect for others’ thoughts and ideas.
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Attendance Policy: Regular attendance of classes is required. You are allowed two absences for
the semester. More than two absences will result in the lowering of your final grade. Four absences
above the allotted two (a total of six) will result in a failing grade for the course. Two latenesses (10
minutes or more) equal 1 absence.
BEFORE entering the classroom please turn off your cell-phone. No text-messaging and laptop use
are allowed during class. Please take notes by hand. If there is a special reason you need to use an
electronic device for note-taking, you must obtain instructor’s permission beforehand. Unauthorized
use of electronic devices during class will be recorded as an absence.
Plagiarism or any form of Academic Dishonesty is inexcusable and will result in a failing grad.
See detailed description of what is considered plagiarism in the Bulletin or at the UAlbany Website.
Grading:
Journal
Midterm
Final
Class participation
25%
25%
25%
25%
ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Fall 2010
Schedule of classes
8/31 TU
9/2 TH
9/7 TU
Introduction - Plays and their
backgrounds
Approaches to dramatic
structure and some analytical
tools to begin with
The world of the play
Read pp. 1-5, 13-20 and Lady Gregory,
The Rising of the Moon in The Bedford
Introduction to Drama (BID)
Read Fuchs, “EF’s Visit on a Small
Planet” (handout)
Read Antigone by Sophocles and the
chapter from Aristotle’s Poetics in BID
9/14 TU
The nature of drama and
elements of dramatic structure
classical tragedy
9/16 TH
Plot, story, and climactic
structure in Antigone
Conflict and character in
Antigone
Classical comedy:
- Greek society and the world
of the play
- Character, theme, plotstructure
Comedic devices - discussion
of Lysistrata continued
Elizabethan theatre and
drama:
Episodic structure, parallel
plots vs. subplots, spoken
décor, play-within-play
Character, imagery, and
theme in A Midsummer
Night's Dream
Interpretations of Midsummer
Modern drama and modern
theatre:
Realism vs. naturalism
Read Ball, Backwards and Forwards,
pp. 9-24
Read Ball, pp. 25-36
Modern character,
psychological drama, and
subtext in Miss Julie
The world of the play and
social background –
discussion of Miss Julie
continued
Read the Preface to Miss Julie by
Strindberg in BID and Ball, pp. 68-78
9/21 TU
9/23 TH
9/28 TU
9/30 TH
10/5 TU
10/7 TH
10/12 TU
10/14 TH
10/19 TU
10/21 TH
Interpretations and
adaptations of Miss Julie
Read Lysistrata by Aristophanes in BID
Read A Midsummer Night's Dream by
Shakespeare in BID
Read Ball, pp. 39-59
Read Miss Julie and the Preface to the
play by Strindberg in BID
Read section on “The Woman Question”
in BID
Read handout-essays by Stanislavski,
Hagen and W. Ball
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ATHR 121Z/Play Analysis/Fall 2010
10/26 TU
Practice and review
10/28 TH
MIDTERM
11/2 TU
Read Six Characters in Search of an
Illusion, reality, theatricalism
Questions of character and Author by Pirandello in BID
plot
Discussion of Six Characters
continued
Anti-realism and ‘Anti-theatre’ Read The Bald Soprano by Ionesco in
BID
11/4 TH
11/9 TU
11/11 TH
American Theatre in the
twentieth-century:
Plot structure, imagery, and
subtext in Trifles
11/16 TU
Discussion of Trifles
continued
Character, conflict, imagery in
Fences
11/18 TH
11/23 TU
11/30 TU
12/2 TH
12/7 TU
Read Trifles by Susan Glaspell in BID
Read Fences by August Wilson in BID
Discussion of Fences
continued
Contemporary drama and
society
Read The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl in
BID
Discussion of Clean House
continued
Conclusion
FINAL EXAM Assignment (Essay) DUE
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