ENGLISH 9114A: THE STAGECRAFT OF DR MARGARET JANE KIDNIE

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Thomas Heywood was one of Shakespeare's most successful and prolific contemporaries. describes him as a “prose Shakespeare” and Heywood claims, probably truthfully, to have had “a hand or at least the main finger” in 220 plays of the period. His plays, some of them collaborative, show a sustained intertextual engagement with the drama and poetry of his contemporaries, and with Shakespeare, in particular. This course will study Heywood’s writings for the stage with close attention to his dramaturgy, his professional association with the popularist , and to his recurrent interest in the politics of marriage and authority.

The class meets on Thursdays 9:30-12:30 in ????.

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

My office is in the Old Ivey building, 3G01. Phone: 519-661-2111, ext. 85830. Office hours: Tuesdays 1:30-2:30; Wednesdays 12:30-1:30.

TEACHING PROGRAMME

SEPTEMBER 4 Introduction

Heywood’s career on the professional English stage and the various theatrical companies with which he was associated; surviving manuscript and print drama; critical resources; available editions (with close discussion of EEBO and early modern print conventions).

Assignment of seminars.

11 The Four Prentices of

The play is available online through the Weldon catalogue, either through EEBO or Tudor facsimiles.

18 Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle

The New Mermaids edition is available at the Bookstore.

Ten-minute seminar presentations.

25 How a Man May Choose a Good Wife from a Bad

The play is available online through EEBO (Weldon catalogue).

OCTOBER 2 The Fair Maid of the West, Part 1

Katherine Lee Bates’s 1917 edition is available online through the Weldon catalogue; it’s a reliable edition.

9 A Woman Killed with Kindness

I’ll provide you with my Arden edition, which is currently in the press.

16 Domestic Tragedy (crime plays) – Arden of Faversham (anon.)

The New Mermaids edition is available at the Bookstore.

23 Domestic Tragedy (eighteenth-century sentimentalism) – Lillo’s London Merchant (1731) and Benjamin Victor’s Fatal Error (1776)

A. W. Ward’s excellent 1906 edition of The London Merchant is available online through Weldon: insert “London Merchant” into the catalogue under “TITLE”, then click on Item 11 (for some reason it doesn’t show as available online if you go any other route). The Fatal Error , in Original Letters, Dramatic Pieces, and Poems , vol. 2, is available through the Weldon catalogue.

30 READING WEEK

NOVEMBER 6 Sources and Borrowings: Woman Killed with Kindness and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure

Measure for Measure is available online through the Folger Shakespeare Library. Please only use the Folger editions of this play if you read it online; if you already have a print edition, feel free to use it instead (you might alternatively want to use a library copy).

13 Research class

I’m giving a paper in London, on 14 November. There will be no formal class this week; please use our usual classtime for research.

20 Shakespeare’s Lucrece

Lucrece is available online through the Folger Shakespeare Library. Please only use the Folger editions of this poem if you read it online; if you already have a print edition, feel free to use it instead (you might alternatively want to use a library copy).

27 Heywood’s Rape of Lucrece

Allan Holaday’s edition is available in Leanne’s office.

ASSIGNMENTS (TENTATIVE ) Ten-minute presentations on Knight of the Burning Pestle (10%) Full seminar (20%) and 3000-word write-up (20%) Two-hour exam – 4 December 10am (40%) Participation (10%)

Ten-minute presentations All of these presentations will happen on 18 September. These short oral papers give you a chance to develop a tightly-focused interpretation of some aspect of Beaumont’s comedy, and will provide you with some early feedback on seminar presentations at the graduate level. You will be graded both on content and argument, and presentation skills. Give thought to pace, projection, eye contact, timing, conceptual organization of your material, and AV support (whether that is a handout, powerpoint, or something else). If you use a handout, consider presentation: your name and topic, for example, should be included, and quotations should be properly cited. You will not be permitted to over-run your allotted time slot, so think carefully about your material and take-home points. Effective oral communication is dynamic and engaging; you should try to avoid reading a prepared essay.

Full Seminar On the first day of class, each of you will be assigned a week on which to present your seminar. Choose and research a topic in relation to a single play, and develop it into a twenty-minute oral presentation. Effective oral communication is dynamic and engaging; you should try to avoid reading a prepared essay. After finishing your presentation, you will lead group discussion and analysis for the rest of the hour. All of us will contribute our own questions and ideas, but you should come prepared with some open-ended thoughts with which to initiate and direct discussion.

3000-word write-up Submit a formal essay based on your seminar. Your essay may pursue the argument largely as you presented it orally in class, or you may choose to develop the argument further, or in a different direction, in light of the discussion that follows. English Department essays conform to the MLA stylesheet, and you should consult it prior to submission for guidance on presentation, footnoting, and layout of your Works Cited list. Essays are due no later than two weeks after your in-class seminar presentation. Late essays will be penalized 2% per day.

Two-hour exam Held in class time the week after our final class.

Participation You will be graded on preparation, time-keeping, and the quality of your oral contributions during class time. I’ll try to give everyone feedback on their participation half-way through the course.

STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC OFFENCES Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_grad.pdf.