Courses

Theatre History I instils in students the knowledge that to understand the present and prepare for the future, they must first come to terms with the past by engaging in methodical research of archival documents and artifacts from the early years of European and Asian Theatre. In training students to grasp the intimate relation between past events, present circumstances, and future possibilities, this mode of inquiry equips them to apply that past to theatre practice and to become engaged, socially responsible citizens. It also teaches students that all accounts of past events are shaped by the interpretive practices of the historian, enabling them to detect and interrogate the ideological dimension of historiography.

Theatre History II instils in students the knowledge that to understand the present and prepare for the future, they must first come to terms with the past by engaging in methodical research of archival documents and artifacts of the modern and contemporary eras. In training students to grasp the intimate relation between past events, present circumstances, and future possibilities, this mode of inquiry equips them to apply that past to theatre practice and to become engaged, socially responsible citizens. It also teaches students that all accounts of past events are shaped by the interpretive practices of the historian, enabling them to detect and interrogate the ideological dimension of historiography.

An intensive study of selected works by William Shakespeare situated in their Elizabethan and Jacobean contexts. Works studied may include the sonnets, the history plays, Henry IV(Parts 1 and 2) or Henry V; the comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It; the problem play, Measure for Measure; the tragedies, King Lear and Macbeth, and the romance Cymbeline.

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.