James N Loehlin

Instructor:  Loehlin, M            Areas:  1/D

Unique #: 83595            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Summer 2013, first session            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisite:  For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

Description: Program Dates: Independent study May 6th-June 8th; at Winedale on June 8th; on tour beginning August 13th and returning August 27th.

Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.

Costs: Students pay the usual tuition and fee costs for six hours credit. Each student also pays for expenses associated with the tour at the end of the summer ($1,200).

Selection: Students are selected after interviews with Professor Loehlin. Special consideration is given to students who have never performed, though students with previous theatre experience are also welcomed.

Applying: To apply, (1) fill out an application, available in Calhoun 302; (2) make an appointment to see Professor Loehlin by e-mailing lfisher@austin.utexas.edu or calling (512) 471-4726. Applications must be submitted by April 1, 2013.

Texts: The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Henry IV, Part I, and Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Instructor:  Loehlin, M            Areas:  1/H

Unique #: 83785            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Summer 2013, second session            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisite:  For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

Description: Program Dates: Independent study May 6th-June 8th; at Winedale on June 8th; on tour beginning August 13th and returning August 27th.

Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia

Costs: Students pay the usual tuition and fee costs for six hours credit. Each student also pays for expenses associated with the tour at the end of the summer ($1,200).

Selection: Students are selected after interviews with Professor Loehlin. Special consideration is given to students who have never performed, though students with previous theatre experience are also welcomed.

Applying: To apply, (1) fill out an application, available in Calhoun 302; (2) make an appointment to see Professor Loehlin by e-mailing lfisher@austin.utexas.edu or calling (512) 471-4726. Applications must be submitted by April 1, 2013.

Texts: The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Henry IV, Part I, and Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Instructor:  Loehlin, J            Areas:  I / D

Unique #:  35320            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Spring 2013            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

English 321P and 379M (Topic 4: Shakespeare through Performance) may not both be counted.

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing, and consent of instructor. Contact Elizabeth Fisher at lfisher@austin.utexas.edu to set up an interview with Dr. Loehlin.

Description: This course explores Shakespeare's plays through performance. We will spend every class period looking in detail at Shakespeare's texts, at the interpretive challenges they present, and at the way performance choices contribute to their meaning. We will consider the original circumstances of their performance, their subsequent history on stage and film, and the critical controversies they have occasioned. Above all we will explore them in action, through our own creative work, both in the classroom and in the theatre barn at Winedale.

The course is designed for students with an interest in Shakespeare and a willingness to perform in front of others. Previous experience with acting is not necessary. The course will cover a selection of Shakespeare’s plays (about eight in all), and will culminate in a performance of one of them at Winedale. We will also incorporate readings from other Shakespearean texts and criticism. This class will require you to spend three weekends at The University of Texas Winedale Historical Center: Fri-Sun, February 22-24, Fri-Sun, March 22-24, and Thursday-Sunday, April 25-28. It will be necessary for you to miss all other UT classes on Friday April 26; make sure this won't be a problem before you register. These sessions at Winedale are required; they are the most important part of the course. During these weekends, you will be working very long hours on the play, from early morning to late at night. You should be prepared for this commitment before you register. Meals and accommodations will be provided for these weekends at Winedale. The course concludes with public performances of the play on April 26 and 27 at 7 pm. We will also have one performance on campus Tuesday April 23 at 7 pm, for which there will be a required rehearsal the previous Sunday, April 21.  Seating at all performances is limited; tell your family and friends to make reservations early.

Requirements & Grading: Attendance and active participation are required, and are the most important parts of the course.  Performance--both reading from a text and with lines memorized--will be a daily activity. The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Attendance/participation 30%; Papers 25%; In-class performance work 25%; Final project 20%.

This course aims to provide an exciting encounter with many of the major works of Western literature, with a special focus on the drama. Conflict—between passionate individuals, competing world-views, differing ideas of the good, or whole human societies—has been at the center of the Western literary tradition since the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon that opens the Iliad, and the devastating war between Greeks and Trojans that Homer's epic depicts. While we will explore the way competing ideas and personalities are expressed in many forms, from the lyric to the novel, the drama will be at the center of our investigations. In plays from Aeschylus and Shakespeare to Chekhov and Beckett, competing perspectives, embodied in powerful rhetoric, allow us to come to a many-sided understanding of the basic problems of human life.  We will listen to those voices, and try them out ourselves, in our year-long exploration.

Texts (subject to change):

Fall:

Homer, The Iliad (trans. Lombardo)

Aeschylus, Oresteia

Euripides, Medea

Aristophanes, Lysistrata

Dante, Inferno

Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Medieval Mystery Plays

Shakespeare, King Lear

Spring:

Milton, Paradise Lost

Blake/Wordsworth/Coleridge, poems

Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard

Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Woolf, To The Lighthouse

Eliot, The Waste Land

Brecht, Mother Courage and Her Children

Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Stoppard, Arcadia

Assignments/Requirements:

Requirements will include several short papers, a final exam in the fall and a term paper in the spring, and active participation in class, including performing excerpts from the works we are studying.

Fall                                                                            Spring                                     

Paper 1                       10%                                                    Paper 1                       10%

Paper 2                       15%                                                    Paper 2                       10%

Paper 3                       15%                                                    Midterm Exam            20%

Final exam                   25%                                                   Term Paper     25%

Participation                 35%                                                    Participation   35%   

About the Professor:

James Loehlin is a Plan II alumnus with a Master's from Oxford and a Ph.D. from Stanford. He is Director of the Shakespeare at Winedale program in the English Department. He has written histories of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Henry V and Romeo and Juliet in performance, as well as Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard.  He has directed and acted in dozens of productions, and enjoys theatre, movies, fishing, and all manner of sports and games. 

Instructor:  Loehlin, M            Areas:  1 / D

Unique #: 83710            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Summer 2012, first session            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisite:  For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

Description: Program Dates: Independent study May 5th-June 8th; at Winedale on June 9th; on tour beginning August 15th and returning August 28th.

Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.

Costs: Students pay the usual tuition and fee costs for six hours credit. Each student also pays for expenses associated with the tour at the end of the summer ($1,200).

Selection: Students are selected after interviews with Professor Loehlin. Special consideration is given to students who have never performed, though students with previous theatre experience are also welcomed.

Applying: To apply, (1) fill out an application, available in Calhoun 302; (2) make an appointment to see Professor Loehlin by e-mailing shakespeare-at-winedale@mail.utexas.edu or calling (512) 471-4726. Applications must be submitted by April 1, 2012.

Texts: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale and Coriolanus.

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Instructor:  Loehlin, M            Areas:  1 / H

Unique #:  83910            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Summer 2012, second session            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

Prerequisite:  For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

Description: Program Dates: Independent study May 5th-June 8th; at Winedale on June 9th; on tour beginning August 15th and returning August 28th.

Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.

Costs: Students pay the usual tuition and fee costs for six hours credit. Each student also pays for expenses associated with the tour at the end of the summer ($1,200).

Selection: Students are selected after interviews with Professor Loehlin. Special consideration is given to students who have never performed, though students with previous theatre experience are also welcomed.

Applying: To apply, (1) fill out an application, available in Calhoun 302; (2) make an appointment to see Professor Loehlin by e-mailing shakespeare-at-winedale@mail.utexas.edu or calling (512) 471-4726. Applications must be submitted by April 1, 2012.

Texts: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale and Coriolanus.

Requirements & Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Instructor:  Loehlin, J            Areas:  I / D

Unique #:  35185            Flags:  n/a

Semester:  Spring 2012            Restrictions:  n/a

Cross-lists:  n/a            Computer Instruction:  No

English 321P and 379M (Topic 4: Shakespeare through Performance) may not both be counted.

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing, and consent of instructor.

Contact Elizabeth Fisher at lfisher@mail.utexas.edu to set up an interview with Dr. Loehlin.

Description: This course explores Shakespeare's plays through performance. We will spend every class period looking in detail at Shakespeare's texts, at the interpretive challenges they present, and at the way performance choices contribute to their meaning. We will consider the original circumstances of their performance, their subsequent history on stage and film, and the critical controversies they have occasioned. Above all we will explore them in action, through our own creative work, both in the classroom and in the theatre barn at Winedale.

The course is designed for students with an interest in Shakespeare and a willingness to perform in front of others. Previous experience with acting is not necessary. The course will cover a selection of Shakespeare’s plays (about eight in all), and will culminate in a performance of one of them at Winedale. We will also incorporate readings from other Shakespearean texts and criticism. This class will require you to spend three weekends at The University of Texas Winedale Historical Center: Fri-Sun, Feb 24-26, Fri-Sun, March 30-April 1, and Thursday-Sunday, April 26-29. It will be necessary for you to miss all other UT classes on Friday April 27; make sure this won't be a problem before you register. These sessions at Winedale are required; they are the most important part of the course. During these weekends, you will be working very long hours on the play, from early morning to late at night. You should be prepared for this commitment before you register. Meals and accommodations will be provided for these weekends at Winedale. The course concludes with public performances of the plays on April 27 and 28 at 7 pm. We will also have one performance on campus Tuesday April 24 at 7 pm, for which there will be a required rehearsal the previous Sunday, April 22.  Seating at all performances is limited; tell your family and friends to make reservations early.

Requirements and Grading: Attendance and active participation are required, and are the most important parts of the course.  Performance--both reading from a text and with lines memorized--will be a daily activity. The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Attendance/participation 30%; Papers 25%; In-class performance work 25%; Final project 20%.

Shakespeare and Performance: Renaissance to the Present

This course will engage with the growing discipline of Shakespeare performance criticism, as well as the history of Shakespeare on the stage.  We will begin by looking at current thinking on theatrical performance in Shakespeare’s own time, then explore the ways theatrical production and adaptation have continued to generate new meanings from Shakespeare’s texts up to the present. How does the text determine performance?  How do significant performances affect the meaning of a given play?  Can a Shakespeare production be in any way ‘authentic’?   In what ways has the modern theatre influenced Shakespeare, and vice-versa?  Along with theatre history and criticism, we will focus on a few important plays, probably including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, Hamlet, King Lear and The Tempest.

The course will include a fairly broad survey of Shakespeare performance history. HRC materials that may be relevant would include the early Shakespeare texts in the Pforzheimer collection, theatre history materials, and possibly materials related to modern Shakespeare adaptations (e.g. those of Stoppard and Wesker).

Requirements will include: 3 short (2-3 page) reviews of critical articles, one each on theatre history, performance criticism, and Shakespeare adaptation; participation in, and occasional leading of, seminar discussions; and a term paper of around 20 pages, with an abstract turned in two weeks prior to the due date. Participation 50%, written work 50%.

English 321P and 379M (Topic 4: Shakespeare through Performance) may not both be counted.

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing, and consent of instructor.

Contact Elizabeth Fisher at lfisher@mail.utexas.edu to set up an interview with Dr. Loehlin.

Description: This course explores Shakespeare's plays through performance. We will spend every class period looking in detail at Shakespeare's texts, at the interpretive challenges they present, and at the way performance choices contribute to their meaning. We will consider the original circumstances of their performance, their subsequent history on stage and film, and the critical controversies they have occasioned. Above all we will explore them in action, through our own creative work, both in the classroom and in the theatre barn at Winedale.

The course is designed for students with an interest in Shakespeare and a willingness to perform in front of others. Previous experience with acting is not necessary. The course will cover a selection of Shakespeare’s plays (about eight in all), and will culminate in a performance of one of them at Winedale. We will also incorporate readings from other Shakespearean texts and criticism. This class will require you to spend three weekends at The University of Texas Winedale Historical Center: Fri-Sun, Feb 25-27, Fri-Sun, April 1-3, and Thursday-Sunday, April 28-May 1. We will also plan a one-day visit on Saturday, April 23 (please note that this is the day before Easter Sunday). It will be necessary for you to miss all other UT classes on Friday April 29; make sure this won't be a problem before you register. These sessions at Winedale are required; they are the most important part of the course. During these weekends, you will be working very long hours on the play, from early morning to late at night. You should be prepared for this commitment before you register. The course concludes with public performances of the plays on April 29 and 30, at 7 pm. Seating is limited; tell your family and friends to make reservations early.

Requirements and Grading: Attendance and active participation are required, and are the most important parts of the course.  Performance--both reading from a text and with lines memorized--will be a daily activity. The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Attendance/participation 30%; Papers 25%; In-class performance work 25%; Final project 20%.

Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description: Page, Stage and Screen -- Tom Stoppard (b. Tomas Straussler, 1937) is one of the world’s most important living playwrights, as well as a distinguished screenwriter and an important public intellectual. The University of Texas is uniquely fortunate in possessing Stoppard’s archives, one of the highlights of the collections in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. This English Honors Seminar will give students the opportunity to study the development of Stoppard’s playtexts, the history of their production on British and American stages, and the evolution of Stoppard’s work for the cinema.

The course will be centered on the Stoppard works that are significantly represented in the UT archives. The HRC holdings include multiple drafts of most of Stoppard’s major plays, among them Arcadia, Jumpers, The Real Inspector Hound, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and Travesties, as well as many screenplays including Shakespeare in Love, together with many other works, including some unproduced screenplays. The collection also contains extensive material relating to the production of Stoppard’s plays, including reviews, programs, and correspondence. 

Texts: (provisional) 

Plays: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; The Real Inspector Hound; Jumpers; Travesties; The Real Thing; Arcadia; The Coast of Utopia; Rock and Roll.

Screenplays: Brazil; Empire of the Sun; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Shakespeare in Love.

Criticism: Fleming, John. Stoppard's Theater: Finding Order Amid Chaos. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.

Requirements and Grading: While the students will spend much of the course reading, studying and writing about Stoppard’s texts, they will also learn about the process of archival research using materials from the HRC collections. Assignments will include an oral presentation, brief response papers based on the readings, a preliminary paper on one of Stoppard’s plays (to be peer-reviewed, revised and resubmitted as part of the writing process), and a substantial research paper of 12-15 pages.

Attendance and participation, 25%; Response papers, 15%; Paper 1, 15%; Oral presentation, 15%; Term paper, 30%.

Course Description Program Dates: Independent study May 8th-June 5th, at Winedale on June 5th, on tour beginning on August  15th, and return August  24th. Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.

Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance

Prerequisites: For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

For more information, please download the full syllabus.

Course Description Program Dates: Independent study May 8th-June 5th, at Winedale on June 5th, on tour beginning on August  15th, and return August  24th. Shakespeare at Winedale is a course dedicated to the study of Shakespeare's plays through performance. This course offers an educational and theatrical experience of great intensity, as well as a unique opportunity for group interaction and self-exploration, to students from any discipline. The program is open to students of all majors. The first part of the course (four weeks) is an individual study, correspondence, conference course (E f678SA) preparing the student through reading of the texts, source materials, scholarship, and criticism. The second part of the course (E s678SB) is taken in residence at the 250-acre University of Texas Winedale Historical Center, near Round Top, Texas. For nine weeks, students study Shakespeare 15-18 hours a day, seven days a week, in the 1880 Theatre Barn. The summer concludes with 24 public performances of the plays studied, followed by a 9-day touring opportunity to study and perform on a variety of stages, including the Blackfriars Theatre at the American Shakespeare Center in Virginia.

Grading: Grades will be based on level of participation, contributions to the group experience, and above all, the ability to learn and teach through performance (not acting ability per se). In the independent study phase of the course, and occasionally during the summer, there will be a series of short written assignments (1-2 pages). The course will test every aspect of the student's interaction with Shakespeare, demanding close critical reading, discussion and written analysis, and rigorous, creative exploration of the text in performance.

Prerequisites: For 678SA, consent of instructor; for 678SB, English 678SA and consent of instructor.

For more information, please download the full course syllabus.

E 379M: Shakespeare Through Performance (35070)

Semester: Spring 2010   /  3:30 PM- 5:00 PM  /   PAR 105

James Loehlin  /  Office hours: Mon 3-6  /   CAL 205  /   471-4993  /  jnloehlin@mail.utexas.edu

Program Coordinator: Liz Fisher  /  CAL 302  /  471-4726  /  lfisher@mail.utexas.edu

Course Description

This course explores Shakespeare’s plays through performance.  We will spend every class period looking in detail at Shakespeare’s texts, at the interpretive challenges they present, and at the way performance choices contribute to their meaning.  We will consider the original circumstances of their performance, their subsequent history on stage, and the critical controversies they have occasioned.  Above all we will explore them in action, through our own creative work, both in the classroom and in the theatre barn at Winedale.

The course is designed for students with an interest in Shakespeare and a willingness to perform in front of others. Previous experience with acting is not necessary. The goals of the course are to acquaint students with the conventions, concerns and techniques of the Elizabethan theatre; to gain a mastery of Shakespearean language and rhetoric through close textual work; to explore a series of social, aesthetic and ethical issues through interpretive work on scenes; to compare and evaluate different approaches to the play; and finally to bring together the students’ work in public performance.

For the Spring of 2009, the course will focus on Conflict and Belief in Shakespeare.  We will read seven of the plays, and perform one of them, The Merchant of Venice, at Winedale.

This class will require you to spend three weekends at The University of Texas Winedale Historical Complex: Friday-Sunday, February 26-28, Friday-Sunday, March 26 to 28, and Thursday-Sunday, April 29 to May 2. We will also plan a one-day visit on Sunday, April 25. It will be necessary for you to miss all other UT classes on Friday, April 30; make sure this won’t be a problem before you register. These sessions at Winedale are required; they are the most important part of the course. During these weekends, you will be working very long hours on the play, from early morning to late at night. You should be prepared for this commitment before you register. The course concludes with public performances of the plays on April 30 and May 1. Seating is limited; tell your family and friends to make reservations early at www.shakespeare-winedale.org.

Texts:

The Norton Shakespeare, ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. This is a good, fairly portable edition with good notes, so I want everyone to get it, even if you already have a Complete Works. 

The Merchant of Venice, Norton Critical editions.

There will be some additional readings given as handouts in class, including Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta.

For more information, please download the full syllabus.