Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you, trippingly on the tongue. . . . Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for anything so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. -- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, III.ii.1-2, 17-24
SYLLABUS
| Week
One (March 27-30): iNTRODUCTION |
|
| Tues. | Introduction |
| Wed. | Introduction to Dramatic Literature |
| Thur. | Read: Bedford Introduction to Drama, Introductory sections, including Lady Gregory’s The Rising of the Moon (1-28) |
| fRI. | Introduction to Greek Drama: pp.29-38; Aristotle, Poetics (94-100) |
| Week
Two (April 3-6): Greek Tragedy |
|
| Tues. | Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (68-93) |
| Wed. | Oedipus Rex |
| Thur. | Oedipus Rex |
| fRI. | Oedipus Rex |
| Week
Three (April 10-13): Greek Comedy |
|
| Tues. | Aristophanes, Lysistrata (161-183) |
| Wed. | Lysistrata |
| Thur. | Lysistrata |
| fRI. | Lysistrata |
| Week
Four (April 17-20): Medieval English Drama National Theater Company production of Twelfth Night April 17 @ 8pm, Reed Hall Auditorium. (Student tickets $4, available in RH 130.) |
|
| Tues. | First Exam |
| Wed. | Introduction to Medieval Drama (201-209) |
| Thur. | Everyman (223-235) |
| fRI. | Everyman |
| Week
Five (April 23-26): Renaissance Drama |
|
| Tues. | Introduction to English Renaissance Drama (236-247) |
| Wed. | William Shakespeare, Othello, Act One (281-283; 392-403) |
| Thur. | Othello, Act Two (403-412) |
| fRI. | Othello, Act Three (412-421) |
| Week
Six (May 1-4): Renaissance and Restoration |
|
| Tues. | Othello, Act Four (422-430) |
| Wed. | Othello, Act Five (430-437) |
| Thur. | Introduction to Late 17th- and 18th- Century Drama (517-525); Aphra Behn, The Rover, Act One (552-563) |
| fRI. | The Rover, Act Two (563-569) |
| Week
Seven (May 8-11):
Restoration Drama |
|
| Tues. | The Rover, Acts Three and Four (569-585) |
| Wed. | The Rover, Act Five (585-92) |
| Thur. | Second Exam (Objective section) |
| fRI. | Second Exam (Essay section) |
| Week
Eight (May 15-18): Realism: The Problem Play |
|
| Tues. | Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Realism (643-653) |
| Wed. | Henrik Ibsen, A Doll House, Act One (654-71) |
| Thur. | A Doll House, Act Two (671-680) |
| fRI. | A Doll House, Act Three (680-688) |
| Week
Nine (May 22-25): British Post-war Drama: Absurdism |
|
| Tues. | Introduction to Twentieth-Century Drama and Absurdism (888-898) Martin Esslin, "The Theater of the Absurd" (1266-1268) |
| Wed. | Samuel Beckett, Endgame (1235-1266) |
| Thur. | Endgame |
| fRI. | Endgame |
| Week
Ten (May 29- June 1): Contemporary American Drama |
|
| Tues. | Introduction to Contemporary Drama (1230-1242) |
| Wed. | Suzan-Lori Parks, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1614-31) |
| Thur. | Last Black Man |
| fRI. | Last Black Man |
Galvin Hall 470HDeborah Burks
Office:
I sincerely hope that you will drop by during my office hours to introduce yourself, to ask questions, to seek help in preparing your paper, or simply to be neighborly.
Texts: The Bedford Introduction to Drama (Fourth Edition) -- available at the OSU Bookstore. Be sure that you have bought the 4th edition!
Requirements: There will be a number of brief reading quizzes and three exams. Two of the exams are scheduled during regular class meetings (April 17 and May 10-11). You will write one short paper for the course: a review of a local performance you will attend during the quarter. You will also perform one staged reading in class. Of course, you are expected to be prepared for and in attendance during class meetings.
Components of Final Grade:
reading quizzes: 15%
exam #1: 15%
exam #2: 20%
exam #3: 25%
review: 10%
staged reading: 10%
attendance/participation: 5%
Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct: All work submitted for this course must be your own. If you have any questions about what constitutes academic misconduct, please ask.
Office of Disability Services: