Module Descriptors
FROM ANGER TO POLITICS: POSTWAR BRITISH DRAMA
DRAM50191
Key Facts
Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies
Level 5
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Derrick Cameron
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 24
Independent Study Hours: 276
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
  • GROUP PRESENTATION weighted at 30%
  • COURSEWORK -ESSAY weighted at 70%
Module Details
Module Resources
IT Software (e.g. word processing, PowerPoint)
Library
Internet Access
CD-ROMs as appropriate to the topic
Module Learning Strategies
Lectures will outline historical, theatrical or theoretical contexts, key areas of debate, or introductory elements of case studies, some of which may be followed up by tutor-led seminars. Student-led group seminars (15-20 minutes) will enable students to follow through and present work based on their own interests within an overall framework set by the module tutor. The writing of an essay will enable students to demonstrate analytical and critical skills in relation to at least two texts.
Module Additional Assessment Details
GROUP SEMINAR PRESENTATION, 0.33 hrs [Learning Outcomes 1-4]
COURSEWORK, Essay [Learning Outcomes 1-4]
Module Indicative Content
The course intends to study and evaluate the changes, continuities and innovations/developments in British drama since the 1950s. Part of the module will examine the developments in British drama - particularly in its more openly political guises - in the light of this period. A range of texts will be examined via lectures and tutor or student-led seminars, along with issues which may include: the relationship between theatre and politics, identity politics (e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability) and theatrical work, the role of new writing in this period

Examples of texts which to be studied may include: John Osborne (Look Back in Anger); Arnold Wesker (Roots); Edward Bond (Saved); Howard Brenton (The Romans in Britain); Caryl Churchill (Top Girls); Caryl Phillips (Strange Fruit); Martin Sherman (Bent).
Module Texts
Bull J New British Political Dramatists (London, Macmillan 1984)
Itzin C Stages in the Revolution: Political Theatre in Britain Since 1968 (London, Routledge 1980)
Rebellato, Dan. 1956 and All That (London, Routledge, 1999)
Trussler S (ed) New Theatre Voices of the Seventies (London, Eyre, Methuen 1981)
Wandor, Michelene, Post-War British Drama - Looking Back in Gender (London, Routledge, 2001)