British Theatre Studies and Performance
A.Y. 2021/2022
Learning objectives
By exploring a specific topic or topics, students will build on their already acquired knowledge and appreciation of theatre, dramatic literature, and performance in different cultural, historical, and interdisciplinary contexts.
They will be able to apply an eclectic range of critical tools, which they have selected from the overview of critical tools presented at B.A. Level, to explore specific texts as well as carrying out creative work in complex situations. In teacher-led seminars, they will study a small number of plays, exploring their potential in performance, by writing critiques and carrying out work in small groups (student-led), during which scenes from the plays are acted out and tested in performance. Under the guidance of teachers, students will also research, write and perform their own work in different settings, such as a theatre, a prison or a botanical garden. In many cases, students will be supervised by specialists in the Humanities but also specialists in biology and plant sciences, or other sciences according to the project at hand.
Students will learn about theatre translation theory and acquire practical translation tools. They will put this newly acquired theory into practice by translating fragments of plays, whether individually or in small groups, sometimes with the support of specialists and theatre practitioners. Their translations will be tested by professional actors whenever possible.
Students will be encouraged to produce portfolios, on their chosen subject, so developing an ability to carry out independent research. These portfolios, made up of written texts, audio and video materials, will reflect the students' growing competence not just as drama and theatre specialists but also in the area of digital humanities.
Through their participation in seminars and workshops, students will become steadily more aware of their social and ethical responsibilities as they understand better the possible roles of theatre studies specialists, writers, theatre critics and theatre makers in creating a society with strong ethical values marked by inclusion and sustainability.
They will be able to apply an eclectic range of critical tools, which they have selected from the overview of critical tools presented at B.A. Level, to explore specific texts as well as carrying out creative work in complex situations. In teacher-led seminars, they will study a small number of plays, exploring their potential in performance, by writing critiques and carrying out work in small groups (student-led), during which scenes from the plays are acted out and tested in performance. Under the guidance of teachers, students will also research, write and perform their own work in different settings, such as a theatre, a prison or a botanical garden. In many cases, students will be supervised by specialists in the Humanities but also specialists in biology and plant sciences, or other sciences according to the project at hand.
Students will learn about theatre translation theory and acquire practical translation tools. They will put this newly acquired theory into practice by translating fragments of plays, whether individually or in small groups, sometimes with the support of specialists and theatre practitioners. Their translations will be tested by professional actors whenever possible.
Students will be encouraged to produce portfolios, on their chosen subject, so developing an ability to carry out independent research. These portfolios, made up of written texts, audio and video materials, will reflect the students' growing competence not just as drama and theatre specialists but also in the area of digital humanities.
Through their participation in seminars and workshops, students will become steadily more aware of their social and ethical responsibilities as they understand better the possible roles of theatre studies specialists, writers, theatre critics and theatre makers in creating a society with strong ethical values marked by inclusion and sustainability.
Expected learning outcomes
Equipped with a knowledge of the trends in drama and theatre through the centuries and the acquistion of a large number of critical tools, students will be capable of selecting specific periods and areas of drama and theatre in order to carry out in depth research on their chosen topics. In fact they will know how to apply their selected kit of critical tools to delve deep into complexity and produce insightful criticism and creative, innovative portfolios.
Due to their exposure to teachers from different disciplines, they will be able to communicate their research findings to specialist audiences in both the Humanities and Sciences. Their work in different settings will make them adaptable and able to take on new challenges with self confidence, whether they go on to write a doctorate dissertation or embark on a career in their chosen sector.
Due to their exposure to teachers from different disciplines, they will be able to communicate their research findings to specialist audiences in both the Humanities and Sciences. Their work in different settings will make them adaptable and able to take on new challenges with self confidence, whether they go on to write a doctorate dissertation or embark on a career in their chosen sector.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
Second semester
More specific information on the delivery modes of training activities for academic year 2021 / 22 will be provided over the coming months, based on the evolution of the public health situation.
Course syllabus
The programme title: Ever-changing Playing Spaces: from Medieval Squares to Virtual Stages (40/60 hours, 6/9 CFU)
Part A (20 hours, 3 CFU): Playing Spaces from Medieval Squares to Virtual Stages.
Part B (20 hours, 3 CFU): The Politics and Aesthetics of Eco Theatre - an urgently needed new stage
Part C (20 Hours, 3 CFU): Translating for the stage and virtual media in the Zoom era
Students from Languages and Literatures, Italian studies and Erasmus students may enroll on the course. If students require 6 CFU, they should study Parts A and B. If students require 9 CFU, they should study the entire programme. The validity of the programme expires in September 2023
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMME In Part A, we will explore various playing spaces that have been used, starting in the Middle Ages and concluding in the contemporary period. We will discuss how these spaces - village squares, theatres in the round, open air public theatres and closed private theatres, black box theatres, site specific venues - impinge on a play in performance and the ways audiences perceive it. In recent years, due to the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, there has been a huge rise in online theatre and various digital platforms, hosting theatre productions. We will examine the debate around these new virtual stages, taking examples from online Shakespeare plays, contemporary work and new writing. In Part B, we will address the politics and aesthetics of the rising phenomenon of Eco theatre, highlighting the settings of these plays, which are often natural environments, as well as the eco-friendly productions and marketing strategies. While Eco theatre is sometimes seen as a response to the current climate emergency, plays, raising environmental issues, have been around for much longer. Shakespeare's As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello and The Tempest are significant in this sense, as are more recent works by Caryl Churchill (Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and Faraway) and Rani Moorthy (Pests and Tempests). Module C is devoted to the translation of British drama for the Italian stage and for virtual media, with examples taken from the plays discussed in the first two Parts as well as plays onstage in Milan in spring 2022 and meetings with theatre practitioners (Covid permitting). This Part will deal with the basics of theatre translation studies and invite students to make their own annotated translation of a scene from one of the plays in the programme. They will also create and translate their own five-minute digital play, accompanied by a critical exegesis.
Part A (20 hours, 3 CFU): Playing Spaces from Medieval Squares to Virtual Stages.
Part B (20 hours, 3 CFU): The Politics and Aesthetics of Eco Theatre - an urgently needed new stage
Part C (20 Hours, 3 CFU): Translating for the stage and virtual media in the Zoom era
Students from Languages and Literatures, Italian studies and Erasmus students may enroll on the course. If students require 6 CFU, they should study Parts A and B. If students require 9 CFU, they should study the entire programme. The validity of the programme expires in September 2023
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMME In Part A, we will explore various playing spaces that have been used, starting in the Middle Ages and concluding in the contemporary period. We will discuss how these spaces - village squares, theatres in the round, open air public theatres and closed private theatres, black box theatres, site specific venues - impinge on a play in performance and the ways audiences perceive it. In recent years, due to the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, there has been a huge rise in online theatre and various digital platforms, hosting theatre productions. We will examine the debate around these new virtual stages, taking examples from online Shakespeare plays, contemporary work and new writing. In Part B, we will address the politics and aesthetics of the rising phenomenon of Eco theatre, highlighting the settings of these plays, which are often natural environments, as well as the eco-friendly productions and marketing strategies. While Eco theatre is sometimes seen as a response to the current climate emergency, plays, raising environmental issues, have been around for much longer. Shakespeare's As You Like It, Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello and The Tempest are significant in this sense, as are more recent works by Caryl Churchill (Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen and Faraway) and Rani Moorthy (Pests and Tempests). Module C is devoted to the translation of British drama for the Italian stage and for virtual media, with examples taken from the plays discussed in the first two Parts as well as plays onstage in Milan in spring 2022 and meetings with theatre practitioners (Covid permitting). This Part will deal with the basics of theatre translation studies and invite students to make their own annotated translation of a scene from one of the plays in the programme. They will also create and translate their own five-minute digital play, accompanied by a critical exegesis.
Prerequisites for admission
The course is taught in English, and the bibliography and teaching materials are almost entirely in English, so students need a good knowledge of the language. In order to attend the course, students should have attended one of the following courses: Storia del Teatro Inglese LT, another History of Theatre Course, the Beni Culturali course, or be Erasmus or International students. If you are interested in the course, but do not have the above mentioned qualification, you should discuss your specific case with the teacher, to evaluate the possibility of you attending the programme.
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars will alternate during the semester. Seminars consist in students reading aloud and performing scenes from the plays in the programme as well as writing a critique of a chosen play they have seen on stage. Students also watch video materials and attend theatre performances. They are invited to comment critically on the videos and write a review of a show they have seen. Students also carry out individual projects and work in small groups. Unit C requires students to prepare a multi-media portfolio on the Italian translation of one of the authors in the module.
Teaching Resources
Part A
Playing Spaces from Medieval Squares to Virtual Stages.
Critical works:
Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespeare Stage, 1574-1642, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Pearson, Mike, Site Specific, Palgrave McMillan, 2010
Rebellato, Dan (ed.), Modern British Playwriting (2000 -2009), Bloomsbury, London, 2013.
Verma, Jatinda, "The Generations of the Diaspora and Multiculturalism in Britain", New Theatre Quarterly 25 (3), 2009
Wickham, Glynn, The Medieval Theatre, 1974
Some critical essays on digital theatre will be suggested at the beginning of the course.
Part B
The Politics and Aesthetics of Eco Theatre - an urgently needed new stage
Playtexts:
Scenes from As You Like it, Othello, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream (preferably from the latest Arden Editions)
Churchill, Caryl, Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen, 1971 and Far Away, 2000,
Moorthy, Rani, Pests and Tempests (unpublished and undated).
Critical Works:
Cavecchi, Cristina, "Brave New World, The Tempest in Italian Prisons", special issue Will Forever Young Shakespeare and Contemporary Culture, Altre Modernità, 11, 2017, online.
Lavery, Carl, Performance and Ecology: What Can Theatre Do? (2018)
Ronchi, Angela, "Walking with Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet's Garden" in Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, eds., Margaret Rose, Cristina Paravano, Roberta Situlin, 2018.
Rose, M, Paravano, Cristina, "Why Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer?", Introduction, Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, ibid.
Rose, M., "Gardens in Shakespeare's Day and in the 21st Century. Do we really need them?" in Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, ibid.
Slagle, Dillon, "The Aesthetic Evolution of Eco Theater", 2013, an online essay.
Further critical works will be indicated at the beginning of the course
Part C
Translating for the stage and virtual media in the Zoom era
Playtexts:
Moorthy, Rani, Pests and Tempests (See Ariel website).
Selected scenes from the Shakespeare plays in Part B
Critical works:
Aaltonen, Sirkku, Time-Sharing on Stage. Drama Translation in Theatre and Society, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, 2000.
Upton, C.A., Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocations, St. Jerome, Manchester, 2000.
Further critical essays will be suggested at the beginning of the course.
Further reading for students who do not attend the course:
Edgar, David, How Plays Work, London, Nick Hern, 2003
Elam, Keir, The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama, London, Routledge,, 2002.
Melchiori, Giorgio, Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere, Bari, Laterza, 1994 (Introduction and the chapter, "Il mondo classico" pp. 511-556).
Playing Spaces from Medieval Squares to Virtual Stages.
Critical works:
Gurr, Andrew, The Shakespeare Stage, 1574-1642, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Pearson, Mike, Site Specific, Palgrave McMillan, 2010
Rebellato, Dan (ed.), Modern British Playwriting (2000 -2009), Bloomsbury, London, 2013.
Verma, Jatinda, "The Generations of the Diaspora and Multiculturalism in Britain", New Theatre Quarterly 25 (3), 2009
Wickham, Glynn, The Medieval Theatre, 1974
Some critical essays on digital theatre will be suggested at the beginning of the course.
Part B
The Politics and Aesthetics of Eco Theatre - an urgently needed new stage
Playtexts:
Scenes from As You Like it, Othello, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream (preferably from the latest Arden Editions)
Churchill, Caryl, Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen, 1971 and Far Away, 2000,
Moorthy, Rani, Pests and Tempests (unpublished and undated).
Critical Works:
Cavecchi, Cristina, "Brave New World, The Tempest in Italian Prisons", special issue Will Forever Young Shakespeare and Contemporary Culture, Altre Modernità, 11, 2017, online.
Lavery, Carl, Performance and Ecology: What Can Theatre Do? (2018)
Ronchi, Angela, "Walking with Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet's Garden" in Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, Cambridge Scholars, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, eds., Margaret Rose, Cristina Paravano, Roberta Situlin, 2018.
Rose, M, Paravano, Cristina, "Why Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer?", Introduction, Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, ibid.
Rose, M., "Gardens in Shakespeare's Day and in the 21st Century. Do we really need them?" in Shakespeare, our Personal Trainer, ibid.
Slagle, Dillon, "The Aesthetic Evolution of Eco Theater", 2013, an online essay.
Further critical works will be indicated at the beginning of the course
Part C
Translating for the stage and virtual media in the Zoom era
Playtexts:
Moorthy, Rani, Pests and Tempests (See Ariel website).
Selected scenes from the Shakespeare plays in Part B
Critical works:
Aaltonen, Sirkku, Time-Sharing on Stage. Drama Translation in Theatre and Society, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, 2000.
Upton, C.A., Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocations, St. Jerome, Manchester, 2000.
Further critical essays will be suggested at the beginning of the course.
Further reading for students who do not attend the course:
Edgar, David, How Plays Work, London, Nick Hern, 2003
Elam, Keir, The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama, London, Routledge,, 2002.
Melchiori, Giorgio, Shakespeare. Genesi e struttura delle opere, Bari, Laterza, 1994 (Introduction and the chapter, "Il mondo classico" pp. 511-556).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is an oral one, during which the teacher asks questions. As well as general questions on the historical, social, cultural background of the authors and plays in the programme, there are also questions on the specific playtexts. Each exam varies in length according to the number of modules the student requires. The exam is in English, but for module C, some Italian is used seeing that the module pivots on theatre translation studies and the Italian translation of some British plays. The questions aim to assess whther the candidate is able to contextualise the plays in the specific historical, social and cultural background to which they belong, as well as assessing the student's ability to critically evaluate the plays in the programme. Qustions aim to evaluate the student's ability to deploy critical terms and to engage with the critical works in the programme. She or he should also be able to give a personal opinion on authors and works in the programme. If she or he has produced a portfolio (module C) or written a review about a performance they attended, these will be discussed and contribute to the final assessment. The various questions and disuccion are all part of the evaluation. The final mark (30 e lode maximum and 18 minimum, a pass) may be accepted or rejected by the student. If a student rejects the mark, her or his exam will be registered as ' ritirato'.
Incoming international and Erasmus students are asked to contact the teacher as soon as possible. Disabled students students and those with learning difficulties should discuss the exam with the teachers, together with the appropriate University Office, DSA.
Incoming international and Erasmus students are asked to contact the teacher as soon as possible. Disabled students students and those with learning difficulties should discuss the exam with the teachers, together with the appropriate University Office, DSA.
Unità didattica A
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unità didattica B
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unità didattica C
L-LIN/10 - ENGLISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours