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WESTERN UNIVERSITY
Department of English
http://www.uwo.ca/english
THEATRE STUDIES 2201F: UNDERSTANDING PERFORMANCE
Mondays 11:30-1:30 and Wednesdays 11:30-12:30 in WSC 240
INSTRUCTOR: Dr M.J. Kidnie
Office: Old Ivey 1G28
Phone: 519-661-2111 x85830
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: TU 1:30-2:30; W 12:30-1:30
TEXTBOOKS (available at the bookstore):
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (you can use any print edition)
Ibsen, A Doll’s House (you can use any print edition)
Theatre Workshop, Oh, What a Lovely War!
Christopher B. Balme, The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies
THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
A Chamber Dream, Stratford Festival, 19 September (dir. Peter Sellars)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stratford Festival, 7 October (dir. Chris Abraham)
Oh! What a Lovely War, Palace Theatre, London, 24 October-1 November (dir. Phil Arnold)
A Doll’s House, Young Vic Theatre (dir. Carrie Cracknell, available through Digital Theatre
Plus, Weldon)
A Doll’s House, Mabou Mines (dir. Lee Breuer, available on DVD, Arts Video Library)
See below on booking tickets.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will equip students with the interpretive and theoretical tools necessary to conduct
basic performance analysis. From costumes to lighting and sound effects to textual alterations,
students will learn to analyze a production while exploring the social, political, and aesthetic
meanings of the required texts.
TEACHING PROGRAMME
SEPTEMBER
8
Introduction
10
“Blueprint Model”: Dramatic texts and stage business (Wallis and Shepherd, Chapter 1,
please also bring your copies of Dream and Doll’s House with you)
15
Performance analysis (Balme, Chapters 7-8); DV8, Enter Achilles (screened in class)
17
DV8, Enter Achilles (Balme, Chapters 9-10: he addresses Enter Achilles in Chapter 10)
19 September 2pm, Chamber Dream
22
Post-show discussion: Chamber Dream
24
Spaces and Places (Balme, Chapter 3)
29
Spectators and Audiences (Balme, Chapter 2) Set, soundscape, lighting, narrative
OCTOBER
1
Dramatic Text: Dream (mechanicals, sexuality-power-family, endings)
6
Dramatic Text: Dream
7 October 2pm, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
8
Post-show discussion: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
13
Thanksgiving holiday
15
Oh! What a Lovely War: Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop
20
Brecht and Epic Theatre (Balme, Chapters 1, 4); please bring War
22
Oh! What a Lovely War
24 October – 1 November Oh! What a Lovely War
27
Music Theatre (Balme, Chapter 9); please bring War
29
Post-show discussion: Oh! What a Lovely War
NOVEMBER
3
Dramatic Text: A Doll’s House (please read the text and watch the Young Vic version in
advance of class)
5
Dramatic Text: A Doll’s House
10
Screening Mabou Mines, A Doll’s House
12
Screening Mabou Mines, A Doll’s House
17
Post-show discussion: Mabou Mines, A Doll’s House
19
Spaces (again), Naturalist and Otherwise (Wallis and Shepherd, Chapter 5)
24
A Doll’s House
26
A Doll’s House
December
1
Review for Exam
3
Review for Exam
ASSIGNMENTS
Reading the Text/Interpreting the Production – journal – staggered submission dates – 30%
Performance Analysis – 1000 words – 15 October – 15%
Final Essay – 2000 words – 3 December – 20%
Exam – 2 hours – Christmas exam period – 35%
DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
Reading the Text/Interpreting the Production
We’re seeing a Chamber Dream at the Stratford Festival on 19 September (2pm), directed by
Peter Sellars. This assignment asks you to journal your responses, both to the text of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, and to the Sellars’s Dream.
You will be assigned two characters from the play. Before you attend the production, read A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, tracking your two characters, in particular. Document your
characters’ “objective” in each of his or her scenes (bullet-point is fine). This language is
Stanislavsky’s. A character’s “objective” might be glossed as the goal he or she wants to achieve
– an actor might ask of her character at any point in a scene, “What do I want?” Note that a
character’s goals might change even within a single scene. Once you’ve finished reading the
play, write down your opinion of the play’s “super-objective” (usually a company arrives at this
through rehearsal – I just want your preliminary sense of it). The “super-objective” describes
“the overall goal of the play” (Balme, 23). Christopher Balme offers a helpful short description
of Stanislavsky’s method in The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies (22-4); in place of
“objective”, he uses the phrase “perspective of the role”.
Then write a paragraph describing your interpretation of both of your characters’ development
over the course of the play. Read Section 2.5 (“Character articulation) from Mick Wallis and
Simon Shepherd, Studying Plays, especially 2.5.3 and 2.5.4, in advance of writing this paragraph
(I’ve given you this section as a handout). This paragraph should take the “short answer” format
– it’s not an essay, but you should write complete and grammatical sentences, and give thought
in advance to how you want to shape your response. No bullet points, please.
Finally, find out something about Peter Sellars. Who is he, what kind of work does he do, what’s
his reputation internationally? Write a few sentences about Sellars and your initial expectations
of this production. If you want to read reviews of the show – unusually, this production was
reviewed in the New York Times – visit the full-review webpage hosted by Stratford:
http://stratfordfestivalreviews.com/. Please note that they’re mounting two Dreams this year –
Sellars’s version is called the Chamber Dream.
Please prepare this material in advance of our theatre trip. Email me what you have before
heading out to Stratford on the 19th (I won’t grade it, but I’d like to know it’s done, at least in a
full draft version).
Immediately after you see the show, write down your responses to it. This section is a straight
journal – write down everything you can remember about the lighting, costuming, set,
soundscape, gesture, textual shaping. Also jot notes about anything that struck you as interesting,
innovative, weird, boring, unexpected ... write down everything. Include these notes in your
journal.
Over the weekend, read Chapters 7-8 in Balme’s Introduction, especially the last five pages on
postdramatic theatre and “Goal of Analysis”. Then look back over your notes, and write a
paragraph or two about this production. This again takes the “short answer” format (grammatical
sentences, well-structured argument). You might find it helpful at this stage of the project to
draw on the reviews and theatre programme, especially as a way to jog your memory and
compare notes with another viewer – remember, though, that a reviewer is just another spectator.
If you disagree with his or her opinion, don’t assume you’re wrong, and don’t be shy about
chasing down your own response to this show. Analyze, in particular, the “story” you think this
creative team is telling (this may be a different “story” from the one you think Shakespeare is
telling). What is this production, as opposed to the play, about? Focus specifically on your
assigned two characters and address how, if at all, the Chamber Dream differs from the “story”
you constructed in the first two weeks of class about A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is also
your opportunity to revise and finalize the early sections of your journal. Email your journal to
me before class on 22 September for grading – please note that you can’t use grace days for this
stage of the assignment.
We’ll discuss the production in class on 22 September. After class, go back to your journal and
add to it any additional thoughts that have occurred to you from group discussion. Don’t revise
anything in the parts of your journal that are already submitted. Include your further or second
thoughts at the bottom of your journal under the heading “Coda”. Resend the entire, final project
to me on 25 September. This project is worth 30% of your final grade, and you’re welcome to
use grace days if you want
DEADLINES:
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19 September before 12 noon (pre-show preparatory work)
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22 September before 11:30am (revised journal, including post-show analysis)
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25 September (post-class thoughts). For this third submission only, I will accept anything
in my in-box before 8:30am on 26 September without penalty; after that, it’s late.
Performance Analysis: journal + 1000-word essay, due 15 October, 15% of final grade
We’re seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream, also at Stratford, this time in the Festival Theatre,
directed by Chris Abraham. This assignment takes its inspiration from Wallis and Shepherd’s
comment that “the way the actor acts significantly affects the way the character is positioned
before the audience” (Studying Plays, 24). There’s a lot going on in this production, but it is
much more immediately accessible to spectators than the Sellars version.
Before going to the theatre, re-read the Pavis Questionnaire (Balme, 140-41) and Wallis and
Shepherd, Section 2.5.2 (“Registers of performance”); you may find it useful to re-read the
whole of Balme, Chapters 7 and 8. While in the theatre and immediately after, make brief notes
on the production (let your reading of the questionnaire guide your note-taking). We’ll discuss
and analyze the show’s production choices in class the following day.
For your written assignment, analyze the registers of performance used by the actors in the mainhouse Dream, with particular reference to two or more scenes or moments. You’re welcome to
draw on your notes on the production more generally, as relevant. How does the actors’
manipulation of register shape theatrical interpretation? You might, for example, think about
how this production engages with ideas of metatheatricality, ad-libbing, comedy, and/or
rehearsal. You may also wish to (but you’re not required to) analyze how such moments
transform, play with, or undercut ideas already present in Shakespeare’s dialogue.
I would recommend taking a small notepad and pen into the theatre with you, so you can jot
down striking details as they occur: you might otherwise have trouble remembering how exactly
a scene or moment was played. You should also keep the theatre programme that you’ll be given
when you enter, as it will tell you who played which parts, who directed the show and wrote the
music for it, and perhaps also provide some insight into what the company was trying to achieve.
The following Wednesday, please submit your notes on the production (you can tidy them up, if
you like, loosely following the categories in the Pavis questionnaire, but an essay isn’t required),
along with your 1000-word essay offering an interpretation of this production’s treatment of
performance registers. This essay should follow the MLA stylesheet, and include a Works Cited
list (production details, programme, and possibly your edition of the play).
Final Essay: 2000 words, due 3 December, 20% of final grade
Analyze the politics of performance with detailed reference to production choices found in
EITHER Oh! What a Lovely War at the Palace Theatre, London, OR A Doll’s House as
performed by Mabou Mines (available on DVD).
BOOKING THEATRE TICKETS
Chamber Dream, 19 September, 2pm, Masonic Hall, 15 Church Street, Stratford
I’ve pre-booked tickets for this show. Tickets are $25 plus tax. There is no handling fee on any
ticket. I haven’t booked a bus in the hopes that we can car-pool – we’ll sort this out the first day
of classes. You need to leave for Stratford by 12 noon. The show is just under two hours (no
intermission).
You have to book your own ticket; to do so, you need a credit card (or a friend with a credit
card). Talk to me if this is a problem, and I’ll see what I can do. To book your tickets follow the
steps below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Call Stratford’s Groups and Schools box office at 1.800.567.1600
Choose the Groups and Schools option when prompted
Quote promotion code 56568 to the call centre agent.
You can choose to have your tickets emailed right to your inbox by selecting their
“Deliver by Email” delivery option.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 7 October, 2pm, Festival Theatre, Stratford
I've pre-booked 80 tickets – they’re all A+ seating on the ground floor for the somewhat
remarkable price of $25 plus tax (these tickets are usually over $100). There is also bus
transportation. The bus will cost $15 return plus tax. There is no handling fee on any ticket. The
grand total for ticket and transportation, with tax, is $45.20.
Again, you have to book your own ticket with a credit card:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Call Stratford’s Groups and Schools box office at 1.800.567.1600
Choose the Groups and Schools option when prompted
Quote promotion code 56154 to the call centre agent.
Please advise the agent if you are booking the bus from Western University.
You can choose to have your tickets emailed right to your inbox by selecting their
“Deliver by Email” delivery option
The bus leaves from the lane between Old Ivey (the new Arts and Humanities Building) and
Somerville House, at the south end of University College at 12 noon – it will arrive at Western
and start boarding at 11:45am. We can't wait for latecomers, even if you've booked a ticket, so
please be on time. We leave from the Festival Theatre at 5pm, and everyone gets dropped off
again at Old Ivey, I expect by 6:15.
I’ve opened this trip to every section of Shakespeare on main campus and at the affiliates. Please
book early (or at least before they sell out). I’ve checked the Stratford website, and it looks like
it’ll be a full house.
Oh! What a Lovely War, Palace Theatre, London, 24 October-1 November
Please book your own ticket to this show:
http://www.palacetheatre.ca/london-community-players/season-playbill/
Submission of assignments:
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These may be handed in at class, given to me in person, sent to me (at the Department) by
post or courier, or may be submitted to the essay box outside the Department of English
office, where they will be date/time-stamped.
Do not put assignments under my office door
Essays submitted before 8:30 a.m. in the essay box are stamped with the previous day’s
date, and I accept those datings. (This means you can get a Friday date, up to 8:30 a.m.
Monday.)
Assignments posted to me will be counted as submitted on the postmark date; so, obtain
and carefully keep proof of posting (ie., priority post receipt, recorded delivery receipt,
etc).
The Department will not accept assignments by fax or e-mail.
Because of the prevalence of viruses, etc., on the internet, I will not open attachments to
e-mails whose authenticity has not been independently verified.
Be sure to keep a copy of all assignments submitted.
Plagiarism (Senate statement): “Students must write their essays and assignments in their own
words. Whenever students take an idea, or a passage of text from another author, they must
acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper
referencing such as footnotes or citations. Plagiarism is a major academic offense (see Scholastic
Offense Policy in the Western Academic Calendar). Plagiarism checking: The University of
Western Ontario uses software for plagiarism checking. Students may be required to submit their
work in electronic form for plagiarism checking.”
Please also consult the statement on plagiarism on the INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS
sheet located on the English Department home page.
Grace days.
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You are each given six “grace days” in a full-year course which you can use all at once,
or allocate them between your various term assignments (first essay, second essay, or
whatever).
These “grace days” are intended to accommodate the accidents that commonly happen
(got writer’s block, had computer problems [especially viruses!], printer or typewriter
ribbon/cartridge wore out, couldn’t get books, ran out of toner, dog ate notes, kid sister
drew all over essay, cat threw up on notes, overslept, etc. etc.).
Grace days are not transferable, nor do they have any value if unused.
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Grace days include only “academic days” – that means that Saturdays and Sundays are
free. A wise course is to save your grace days until you really need them, particularly in
second term when you will probably be under a lot more pressure than in first term.
When your Grace Days are gone, they’re gone, and you’re faced with a late assignment
(see next section).
Students requiring further extensions based on medical or compassionate grounds must
apply to the Academic Counselling office of their home Faculty. Please see page 5 for
academic accommodation details.
Late assignments. If you submit a paper after the due date (plus whatever grace days you have
remaining) but within two weeks of it, the paper will be counted as late and the following
procedures will apply:
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The paper will not be read until all the assignments handed in on time have been read and
returned (all papers are read in order of receipt).
The paper will be read and a grade given, but NO COMMENTS OR CORRECTIONS
will be made on it.
The grade will be reduced by a penalty of two marks (2%) for each calendar day that it is
late. Note that when a paper is late, every day counts (including weekends); however the
arrangements for date-stamping essays in the Department of English essay box are
accepted for late essays.
PAPERS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED IF SUBMITTED MORE THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER
THE DUE DATE UNLESS PRIOR ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE.
Laptops
I do not permit the use of laptops in the classrooms (lecture and tutorial). Students may taperecord lectures if they have difficulty taking notes by hand. (Phone use in class is also prohibited.
Please turn off your phones before class begins.)
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to MentalHealth@Western:
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain
help.