THEA 461/561 History of Theatre and Drama: Beginnings-1600

Daily Schedule and Assignments—Fall 2004

Read the Living Theatre: A History (4th ed.; Wilson/Goldfarb), world-wide web, and playscript (including introductions and commentaries) assignments before the assigned class periods so you can relate lecture materials and so you can participate in discussions. Lectures will expand on materials from the texts and introduce additional materials. Pay close attention to illustrations in the texts and on the web. All the scripts except those marked with an asterisk (*) are in the texts ordered for the class.

W/G=Wilson and Goldfarb, Living Theatre: A History; required/recommended web sites will be added.

DATE 

TOPIC/VIDEO

ASSIGNMENTS

Sept  1

Introduction

Subscribe to Spelvin

         3

Origins, Elements, Perspectives

W/G vii-viii, 1-21, Glossary, Pronunciation Guide, Bibliography, Index

 

 

 

         6

No class—Labor Day

 

         8

Hellenic society and festivals

W/G 22-32

       10

Hellenic theatre; Video: "Staging Classical Tragedy"

W/G 46-53

 

 

 

       13

Greek tragedy; Aeschylus

W/G 32-33, 36; Agamemnon

       15

 Hellenic theatre, cont.; Aristotle’s Poetics

 W/G 37-41

       17

 Sophocles

W/G 34, 41-44; Oedipus Rex

 

 

 

       20

Cont.; possible videos: Oedipus Rex

 

       22

Euripides

W/G 35; The Bacchae

       24

 Satyr plays, Old Comedy, Aristophanes

 W/G 44-46; Lysistrata

 

 

 

       27

Hellenistic theatre, New Comedy, Menander

W/G 53-60

       29

Roman theatre, comedy; Plautus, Terence

W/G 62-72; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Wedding

Oct    1  

Review and/or catch-up

 

 

 

 

         4

EXAM #1 (bring own paper—bluebooks preferred; character lists for the plays will be provided; no open books)

 

         6

Roman society, festivals, drama, theatre

W/G 76-79

         8

 Video: "Staging Classical Comedy"

 

 

 

 

       11

No class—Native American Day

 

       13

Roman tragedy, Seneca, Horace

 W/G 72-75; Thyestes*

       15

Popular entertainments

W/G 79-84

 

 

 

       18

Medieval society, liturgical drama

 W/G 118-29

       20

No class—Julius Caesar matinee

 

       22

Medieval theatre; Video: "The York Cycle in the Fifteenth Century"

 W/G 129-41

 

 

 

       25

Medieval vernacular drama, cycle plays and production

W/G 129-41; The Second Shepherd’s Play

       27

Miracles, moralities, secular theatre

W/G 141-46; Everyman

       29

Video: "The Tradition of the Performing Arts in Japan"; poss. "Sanskrit Drama"

W/G 86-116

 

 

 

Nov   1

Italian Renaissance society and drama; Machiavelli

W/G 148-59; Mandragola

         3

Italian Renaissance theatre; Video: "The Renaissance Stage"

W/G 164-75; POST WWW REVIEW

         5

Italian Renaissance theatre (cont.); Commedia dell’arte

W/G 159-64; TERM PAPER/REPORT TOPIC SELECTION (handed in)

 

 

 

         8

Commedia dell’arte (cont.); Neoclassicism

W/G 175-83; commedia scenario tba*

       10

EXAM #2

 

       12

Elizabethan drama; Marlowe

W/G 184-92; Doctor Faustus

 

 

 

       15

Elizabethan theatre; Video: "Shakespeare and His Theatre: The Globe"

W/G 197-215

       17

Elizabethan theatre

 W/G 197-215

       19

Elizabethan society and drama

 

 

 

 

       22

Shakespeare

 W/G 192-97; A Midsummer Night’s Dream*

       24

Shakespeare

Henry IV, Part I*

       26

No class—Thanksgiving recess

 

 

 

 

       29

Shakespeare

Hamlet*

Dec   1

Hamlet continued

PRELIMINARY BIBL and TERM PAPER FOCUS

         3

Spanish Golden Age society and theatre

W/G 226-35, 238-46

 

 

 

         6

Lope Felix de Vega Carpio

W/G 232-36; Fuente Ovejuna

         8

 Pedro Calderon de la Barca

 W/G 236-38; Life is a Dream

       10

Review/catch-up

TERM PAPER

 

 

 

       16

Thursday, 3:00-5:00 PM; EXAM #3