Summer 2008

E f321 • Shakespeare: Selected Plays

Course Description

This course seeks an understanding of Shakespearean drama through practice and performance. A theater director once said that the rehearsal room is like a playground in which everything is possible and nothing is wrong. Our class will foster this sense of freedom to discover and recover texts all too often lost to the page, through a combination of four approaches: 1/ an appreciation of original stage practices, 2/ an historical conception of plays as products of their society, 3/ close textual reading based on an understanding of Shakespeare's prosody and, 4/ new interpretations fostered through class performance. Ultimately, this course encourages the student to appreciate past drama in the present tense and to conceive Shakespearean texts as modern plays with exciting histories.

Format: Introductions followed by class discussion, film clips, and scene workshops.

Grading Policy

Weekly blog (min. 200 words) 20% final grade
Comparative film study (1500 words) 20% final grade
Performance and analysis (1500 words) 20% final grade
(Final Paper (3,000 words) 30% final grade
Class participation 10% final grade

Texts

Bevington, The Necessary Shakespeare

Plays to be read [in order]: Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, King Lear, The Winter's Tale.

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