Courses

An intensive study of selected works by William Shakespeare situated in their Elizabethan and Jacobean contexts. Works studied may include Venus and Adonis, the history play, Richard III; the comedy, The Merchant of Venice; the tragedies Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra; and the romances, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest.

A survey of Canadian plays, starting with the first official play written in North America (a seventeenth-century Canadian play) and progressing to twenty-first-century dramatists and their texts. Students will engage in detailed analyses of plays: their structures, historical/cultural contexts, and present-day relevance. The plays explore a variety of topics and themes, including but not limited to family life, social issues, class struggles, oppression, and marginalization. Students will also read plays about Indigenous culture and plays by Indigenous writers.

A study of eight to ten modern plays—British, American, and Canadian—representing different forms and approaches to drama in the last 100 years.

A survey of the dramatic literature of Ireland, focusing on twentieth century plays from Yeats to Beckett and Friel. After a quick review of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the course turns to the drama of Irish nationalism and follows its development into the international arena.

A survey of significant American dramatic literature. Beginning with a brief background of eighteenth and nineteenth century drama influenced by European styles, the course progresses to Eugene O’Neill, widely considered to be the dramatist to define a distinct American voice in the theatre. This course then examines the work of significant playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman, Tennessee Williams, Tony Kushner, Lorraine Hansberry and others, and includes a component on “the book musical”.

A survey of classical Japanese drama in English translation. The Noh drama of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries and the Bunraku and Kabuki drama of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. An examination of the impact of these forms on film theory in the twentieth century.

World Drama is a survey course of the dramatic literature of the past 2500 years, from classic nationalist drama to the global contemporary drama of the twenty-first century. Students will explore social and global issues such as war, class struggle, gender inequality, dysfunctional family life, and more, from past times and today, in the context of the drama of different world cultures. World Drama is a course of reading, discussion, and audience response to live performances of global drama from differing cultures and times (in English translation). The course will entail both the reading of major plays and attendance of live performances of world dramatic masterpieces that are available at theatres in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Though designed for Theatre and English students, the course is of great value to any student who wishes a broader knowledge of world culture through its varied theatrical expressions. Play choices are made to avoid overlap with other dramatic literature currently taught in both the Theatre and English departments, where advisable.

Students must participate fully as an actor or stage manager in the semester's mainstage production.

Students must participate fully as an actor or stage manager in the semester's ensemble production.