Group seminar presentation, [Learning Outcomes 2-4]
Portfolio 1,500 words [Learning Outcomes 1-4]

This module aims to introduce you to some of the key elements, periods, movements and genres of English and European drama and theatre, from the origins of European theatre in classical Greece, up to the beginnings of Realism and Naturalism in the drama of Ibsen. These may include: Greek Tragedy, Medieval Drama, Renaissance Drama in England, Restoration Drama, Romantic Drama and `Sturm und Drang', Melodrama and the `Well-Made Play'. The periods or genres will be studied through a range of texts and/or playwrights indicative of the period, genre or movement under investigation. Examples of these may include: Sophocles (Oedipus Rex), Anon (Everyman, The Second Shepherds' Play), Shakespeare, Marlowe (Doctor Faustus), Aphra Behn (The Rover), Sheridan (The Rivals), Schiller (Mary Stuart), Boucicault (The Corsican Brothers), Scribe, Sue, Ibsen (Ghosts). The module will also introduce you to elements of theatrical scholarship, textual analysis and conventions of academic writing and presentation.

Lectures will introduce you to the historical and theatrical context of the selected texts. Staff-led and student-led seminars will provide you with the opportunity for further textual analysis and discussion. The writing of the portfolio will enable students to develop their understanding of the module content, as well as enabling staff to address study skills issues at an early stage of the students' academic career, e.g. academic argument and the appropriate reference and bibliographical conventions.

Slide projection, video screen and IT equipment (CALL packages, WP software)
Library

A.M. Nagler, A Sourcebook in Theatrical History (Cover Publications Inc., 1952)
Simon Shepherd & Peter Womack, English Drama: A Cultural History (Blackwell, 1996).
Sarah Stanton and Martin Banham, Cambridge : Cambridge paperback Guide to Theatre (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1996)
George Taylor, Players and Performances in the Victorian Theatre (M.U.P., 1989).
Glynne Wickham, A History of the Theatre (Phaidon Press 1992)
Doug Burnham, Studying Independently: writing better essays, exams and presentations (Staffordshire University)