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BrSt 190: Contemporary British Theatre Prof. Marc Robinson Yale-in-London, Summer 2013 [email protected], 203-804-5040 (cell)
Syllabus
This seminar combines play-reading and theatre-going in order to map the landscape of British drama and performance of the last twenty years. The theatre in this period is often acerbic and sometimes brazen, passionately engaged with the politics of a changing Britain, and scornful of old pieties—including those of earlier radical playwrights. We begin with several writers who defined British theatre at the close of the last century— David Hare, Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, and their iconoclastic successors, Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill. We then immerse ourselves in drama since 2000, including several plays that premiered this past season. Many of these writers find elegant theatrical forms for sprawling subjects—class and racial strife in the aftermath of Thatcherism, the 2005 terrorist bombings in London, the persistent ghosts of Britain’s imperialist past. We’ll also consider work created on a more intimate scale. Some of the most stirring contemporary British plays look inward—at the sexual gamesmanship between couples, for instance, or at the equivocal morality of writers and even spectators. We’ll also make quick detours to consider two prominent Irish writers (Conor McPherson and Martin McDonagh) and one American (Naomi Wallace) who are significant presences in the London theatre. Every week, we will supplement our readings with performances. Large-scale productions at the National Theatre and in the West End will be balanced by new works at important smaller theatres such as the Donmar Warehouse and the Tricycle Theatre. Productions by the Globe, Propeller, and the National will give us a chance to consider three different approaches to staging Shakespeare. We’ll end by looking at London’s burgeoning experimental theater scene, represented here on DVD by Forced Entertainment and Gob Squad.
Theatre productions in bold
Please read the plays for July 8 before class!
July 8: David Hare: Skylight (1995) Tom Stoppard: The Invention of Love (1997) Caryl Churchill: Far Away (2000)
July 9: Bracken Moor (Campbell) by Shared Experience at the Tricycle Theatre
July 10: Sarah Kane: Blasted (1995) 4:48 Psychosis (1999) Mark Ravenhill: Shopping and Fucking (1996)
July 10: Twelfth Night by Propeller at Hampstead Theatre
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July 18: Martin Crimp: The City (2008) In the Republic of Happiness (2012) David Harrower: Blackbird (2005)
July 18: Merrily We Roll Along (Sondheim/Furth) at the Harold Pinter Theatre
July 19: Simon Stephens: Pornography (2007) Port (2002) Dennis Kelly: Orphans (2009)
July 19: Strange Interlude (O’Neill) at the National Theatre
July 22: Martin McDonagh: The Pillowman (2003) Conor McPherson: The Weir (1997)
July 22: The Cripple of Inishmaan (McDonagh) by Michael Grandage Company at Noel Coward Theatre July 23: The Night Alive (McPherson) at the Donmar Warehouse
July 24: E V. Crowe: Kin (2010) Naomi Wallace: And I and Silence (2011)
July 26: Paper due
July 29: Roy Williams: Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (2002) David Eldridge: In Basildon (2012) Laura Wade: Posh (2010)
July 30: Othello at the National Theatre
July 31: Nick Payne: Constellations (2012) Caryl Churchill: Love and Information (2012)
August 1: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Stephens) at Apollo Theatre
August 5: Zinnie Harris: Further than the Furthest Thing (2000) Debbie Tucker Green: Born Bad (2003)
August 7: Mike Bartlett: Cock (2009) Nina Raine: Tribes (2010)
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August 8: Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe
August 12: David Greig: Dunsinane (2010) Forced Entertainment: Viewing: Emanuelle Enchanted (1992) (server) Reading: Tim Etchells: “A Decade of Forced Entertainment” “On Performance Writing” (server)
August 13: Liolà (Pirandello) at the National Theatre
August 14: Tim Crouch: The Author (2009) Gob Squad: Viewing: Gob Squad’s Kitchen (You’ve Never Had it So Good) (2010) (server) Reading: Gob Squad: “On Structure,” “On Performing,” “On Participation” (server)
August 16: Paper due
Requirements: Two papers (8-10 pages each), 6 blog-posts at http://brst19001su2013.commons.yale.edu/, attendance at all theater productions, lively participation in class.
Texts available on Amazon, with some available only on the UK Amazon site (www.amazon.co.uk). Xeroxes available on Classesv2 server. DVDs available for screening on the server (under “Media Gallery”). I encourage you also to read the plays we’ll be seeing, when possible.