OVERVIEW:
 

This class is predicated upon the conceit that Shakespeare--as a  member of a producing theatre company--wrote his plays as  theatrical artifacts and not literary works. To understand, appreciate and master the plays of the Bard, students must approach the texts as performance specimens. Functioning as scholarly artists in a laboratory setting, students--working from both the Folio and modern editions-- will master the rudiments of Shakespearean performance, become  acquainted with historical and contemporary staging conventions, investigate the notion of textual integrity and explore dramaturgical issues. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the desirability and/or need to subvert through performance problematic texts.

Requirements:

1) Attendance at all sessions
2) Completion & submission of all written assignments
3) Participation in all exercises, memorization of lines, in-class performance
 

Plays: King Richard II The Tempest Hamlet Twelfth Night

Book:

Stanley Wells, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies