ΘΕΣΠ522: History of Theatre and Drama II

Module Purpose and Objectives

In this module students gain a global insight into the history of Western theatre from its dawn to the late 17^th c. The greatest landmarks in theatre history are looked at here, along with the types of drama and the most important currents and Schools, their major representatives, as well as the most notable developments in theatre architecture, scenography, direction, acting etc.

Beyond a historically oriented venture into theatre development, this thematic unit includes thorough reading and interpretation of 12 major plays of Western drama from the late 17^th to the 20^th c. The plays are select specimens of world drama, offering students the opportunity to acquaint themselves with telling evidence of dramatic composition from different stages of theatre history. In this way, the two aspects of this unit (theatre history and drama) complement each other.  

After successfully completing this module, students will:

• Know the basics of the theatrical output of the Enlightenment (Diderot, Rousseau, Lessing), the English Theatre of the Restoration, as well as of the French (Marivaux, Beaumarchais) and English (Addison, Sheridan, Fielding) comic theatre of the 18^th and 19^th
• Know the basics of the Storm-and-Stress movement (Sturm und Drang), Classicist and Romanticist theatre in France, Germany and England
• Know representative plays of modern drama in Scandinavia (Ibsen, Strindberg), France (naturalist theatre), Russia (Chekhov) and elsewhere.
• Understand the development of nonrealistic theatre in Germany, France and elsewhere, as well as the development of modernist theatre in Russia/Soviet Union, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Ireland, England, United States and elsewhere+
• Know major works of contemporary drama, especially from the area of Epic Theatre and the Theatre of the Absurd
• Understand modern and contemporary developments in playwriting and stagecraft, such as postmodern and environmental theatre

Module Content

Α. History of Theatre

• Theatrical Activity in England, 1642-1660
• The Reestablishment of the Theatre in England with the Restoration (1660 onwards)
• English drama from 1660 to

• The evolution of Italian scenic design from 1700 to 1800
• Italian drama of the 18^th century
• French drama of the 18^th century
• Parisian Acting Troupes in the 18^th century

• The origins of public theatre in the German States
• The reforms of Gottsched and Neuber
• German drama, 1740-1787
• Goethe, Schiller and Weimar Classicism

• Romanticism: theoretical principles
• Romantic drama in Germany
• Postromantic German-speaking drama
• French drama in the 19^th century
• The beginnings of realism in drama and the theatre
• Theatrical conditions in France to 1900
• The Saxe-Meiningen Players

• Henrik Ibsen
• Zola and the French naturalists
• Antoine and the Théâtre Libre
• The Freie Bühne and German Realism
• Το Independent Theatre and Realism in England
• The Moscow Art Theatre and Realism in Russia

• Wagner and the Nonrealistic Theatre
• Nonrealistic Theatre in France
• Appia and Craig
• Strindberg and Freud
• Nonrealistic Theatre and Drama in Germany
• The Irish Renaissance
• Russian Modernism
• The Revival of Idealism in France

• Theatre and drama in the Soviet Union, 1917-1940
• German theatre and drama, 1918-1939: German expressionism, epic theatre, the Bauhaus, Neorealism
• Theatre and drama in France, 1918-1939: the theatre of cruelty, popular theatre, Copeau and the Cartel des Quatre
• Theatre and drama in Italy, 1918-1939

• Theatre and drama in Spain, 1918-1939.
• English and Irish drama το ιρλανδικό θέατρο, 1914-1939
• Theatre and drama in the United States, 1917-1941

• French drama in the mid-20^th The Theatre of the Absurd.
• Theatre and Drama in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1968
• German Theatre and Drama, 1945-1968
• Theatre and Drama in Italy, 1945-1968
• English drama, 1945-

• Drama in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s
• Theatre in Czechoslovakia and Poland, 1968-1990
• German theatre, 1968 to 1990
• Theatre in Italy, 1968 to 1990
• Theatre in France, 1968 to 1990

• British theatre, 1968 to 1990
• Major theatre companies: Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre
• Major representatives: Peter Brook, Peter Hall
• Major playwrights: John Osborne, Peter Shaffer, Harold Pinter, Edward Bond, David Storey, Tom Stoppard, David Hare, Caryl Churchill, Alan Ayckbourn, Michael Frayn

• Theatre in the United States, 1968 to 1990
• Major theatre companies: Living Theatre, Open Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, κτλ.
• Major playwrights: Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, David Rabe, David Mamet, Terrence McNally
• Theatre of Identity: African-American, Latin American, gay theatre in the United States
• The postmodern
• Environmental Theatre: Richard Schechner
• Wooster Group, Elizabeth LeCompte
• Prominent theatre makers: Andrej Serban, Peter Sellars, Lee Breuer, Robert Wilson, etc.

Β. List of Plays

• William Shakespeare, Macbeth
• Carlo Goldoni, La Locandiera
• Heinrich von Kleist, The Broken Jug
• Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya
• Henrik Ibsen, The Lady from the Sea
• August Strindberg, The Father
• Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera
• Federico Garcia Lorca, Blood Wedding
• Eugene Ionesco, The Bald Soprano
• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
• Tennessee Williams, Glass Menagerie
• Eugene O’ Neil, Long day’s journey into the night