This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
This module engages with Shakespeare by considering its unique resilience as a body of plays, focus of cultural mythology, and source of inspiration within modern theatrical culture. As well as surveying the Shakespeare work of major practitioners (The RSC, National Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe), the module will involve at least two theatre visits, as well as hands-on engagement with performance-making, performance reconstruction, and historical research.
Total contact hours: 48
Private study hours: 252
Total study hours: 300
Performance - 15 - 20 minutes (50%)
Essay or Portfolio (4000 words) (50%)
Hodgdon, B, and W. B. Worthen, eds. A Companion to Shakespeare and Performance. Blackwell, 2005.
Holland, P. ed. Shakespeare, Memory, and Performance. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Kennedy, D. Looking at Shakespeare: A Visual History of Twentieth-Century Performance. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Palfrey, S. Doing Shakespeare. The Arden Shakespeare, 2011.
Shaughnessy R. (ed) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture 2008
Shaughnessy, R. The Routledge Guide to William Shakespeare. Routledge, 2011.
Werner, S., ed. New Directions in Renaissance Drama and Performance Studies. Palgrave, 2011.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
-demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the places of Shakespeare within contemporary theatre and performance cultures;
-demonstrate an understanding of the environmental, critical and theoretical frames of reference within which Shakespearean performance operates;
-demonstrate a developed familiarity with the work of key contemporary practitioners, including directors and performers;
-undertake critical analysis of performance texts informed by script, production, critical response and context;
-acquire research skills in using secondary and primary materials.
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