Drama and Theatre Studies 2BADTP Student Handbook 2019-2020 - NUI Galway
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Drama and Theatre Studies
2BADTP Student Handbook
2019-2020This handbook contains an overview of your modules for Second Year in Drama and Theatre Studies. For information on the following general Drama and Theatre Studies policies and guidelines, please refer to the undergraduate student handbook which contains the following information: 1. About Drama at NUI Galway 2. Staff Contacts and office hours 3. Communications 4. Feedback and evaluation 5. Modules and Structure: GY118 6. Modules and Structure: GY115 7. Credits and Workload 8. Conduct in class 9. Punctuality and Attendance 10. Extensions, Repeats and Deferrals 11. Student support services. 12. Student code of conduct. 13. Extra-curricular activity 14. Studying Abroad 15. Internships 16. Theatre outings 17. Use of Blackboard 18. Research Resources 19. Plagiarism 20. Marking Criteria for written work 21. Marking criteria for performances 22. Writing an Academic Essay 23. Common Errors in Grammar, Style, Punctuation. 24. MLA style 25. Calendar 2019/2020 Who to contact Head of Second Year is Ian Walsh (ian.walsh@nuigalway.ie) Second Year 9 September 12:00 – 2BA DTP introduction, CR 1 Important Dates and Events 9th September–2BADT Intro meeting -12pm, CR 1 12th and 13th September- Campus premiere of Active Consent Programme’s The Kinds of Sex You Might Have At College, (12th at 5PM, 13th at 1PM and 5PM, O’Donoghue Theatre) Week of 30th September-4th October- Class Rep Meeting #1 26th September-13th October- Dublin Theatre Festival
9th October - Third Year Placements meeting 3-4pm
9th-19th October- Moonfish Theatre’s Redemption Falls in performance at the Abbey
involving Máiréad Ní Chróinín, Druid Artist in Residence
24th October-Theatre Archives Symposium
28th October – Bank Holiday - No classes
Week of 4th November- Class Rep Meeting #2
5th-10th November- Melinda Szuts PhD PaR Presentation, The Dreaming of the
Bones- ODT
30th November- End of Teaching- Semester 1
2nd-7th December –Study week
8th and 9th December- “Devised Work in Minority Languages” Conference- National
Theatre of Scotland (part of Garraí an Ghiorria)
16th December – Deadline for submission of all UG Assessment (individual deadlines
set for each module, refer to outline)
22nd December – Christmas Holidays begin
13th January – Teaching Semester 2 Begins
Week of 20th January – Class Rep Meeting #3
1st-7th February- GUMS Musical
8th-14th February- Theatre Week- Societies
8th-22nd March-Third Year Production Load-in, Tech/Dress and Performance- ODT
inclusive
• Third Year Production Performance Dates: 19-22 March (8PM, 2PM on 22
March)
• Strike 22 March
Week of 9th March – Class Rep Meetings
17th March- Bank Holiday-St. Patrick’s Day
19th March- “Staging the Incarcerated Female Body: Records and Representations”-
Feminist Storytelling Network Event- Miriam Haughton
23 March-9 April- Advanced Theatre and Performance Lab-ODT inclusive
• Closed showings of Advanced Theatre in theatre weeks of 23 and 30
March as needed.
• Performance Lab tech- Monday 6 April-Wednesday 8 April-9AM-
5PM
• Public showing of Performance Lab works in progress, Thursday 9
April, 6PM
End of March- GIAF SELECTED! applications due
First week of April- GIAF SELECTED! decisions given
3rd April – end of teaching
10th-13th April- Easter Holidays
14th-15th April- ‘“Glorious Outsiders”: Queer Pasts and Futures in Irish Performance,’
organised by Zsuzsanna Balázs (DTS), Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz, Daniela
Toulemonde
14-20th April- Study Week1st May - Deadline for submission of all UG and PG Assignments (individual
deadlines set by all instructors)
4th May – Bank Holiday
Early-mid May- Galway Theatre Festival
14th-17th June- Theatre Forum Conference/IETM Plenary Meeting- ODT- to be
confirmed
13-17 July- International Federation for the Theatre Research Conference- Galway
5th August- Repeat Exams held
15th August- All full-year module and general student handbooks released to
incoming
Semester 1
All students take DT2105 Modern Drama and DT2107 Stagecraft 2, then choose
ONE module from the list below:
• DT2108: Voice and Shakespeare
• DT204: Playwriting
• DT2112: Practice and Exploration of Creative Arts
Please note that you may not be able to take your desired optional module if it
clashes with the time of a lecture in your other subject or if the module is
oversubscribed.
TIMETABLE SEMESTER 1
Ian Walsh Monday 12 CR 1
and to 1
DT2105: Modern Drama
Catherine Monday 2 STUDIO
Morris to 3 2
Marianne Tuesday Studio
ní 12 to 1 3
DT2107 Stagecraft 2 Chinnéide ODT
and Mike Tuesday Studio
O’Halloran 2-3 3/ODT
Max Hafler Wednesday STUDIO
DT2108: Voice and Shakespeare 12-2 1
Catherine Wednesday Studio
Morris 12-1 2
DT204 Playwriting
Friday 12-1 CR 1Mary Wednesday ODC
McPartlan 1-2
DT2112 Practice and Exploration & Barry
of Creative Arts Houlihan Wednesday Studio
2-3 3
Semester 2
In the second semester, all students do DT2104 Contemporary Theatre and
DT2106: Irish Theatre, and then choose ONE module from the list below:
• DT3101 Dance and Movement
• DT208 Introduction to Directing
• DT2113 The Practice and Exploration of Creative Arts
Please note that you may not be able to take your desired optional module if it
clashes with the time of a lecture in your other subject or if the module is
oversubscribed.
TIMETABLE SEMESTER 2
Patrick Monday 12 CR 1
Lonergan to 1
DT2104 Contemporary Theatre
& Ciara Monday 2 STUDIO
Murphy to 3 2
Finian Tuesday CR 1
O’Gorman 12 to 1
DT2106: Irish Theatre
Tuesday Studio
2-3 2
Rachel Wednesday STUDIO
DT3101 Dance and Movement Parry 12-2 1
Melinda Wednesday Studio
Szuts 12-1 2
DT208 Introduction to Directing
Friday 12-1 Studio
1
Mary Wednesday ODC
McPartlan 1-2
DT2113 The Practice and & Barry
Exploration of Creative Arts Houlihan Wednesday Studio
2-3 3SEMESTER 1
CORE MODULES
DT2105 MODERN DRAMA
Workshop: Monday 12-1pm Venue: CR1 – Lecture
Monday 2-3pm Venue: Studio 2 –Workshop
Instructors: Ian R. Walsh (IW) Catherine Morris (CM)
In this course, we will examine a selection of the major texts and thinkers from the
field of modern dramatic literature. We will situate the development of this body of
work in cultural, social and historical currents of the early-mid 20th century in the
context of the U.S, and Europe primarily. In order to trace these cultural, historical
and social dynamics, we will explore the relationship between the terms modern,
modernity, modernism and modern drama.
Students will engage in regular in-class performance exercises which include
experimenting with acting exercises from major theorists of the time (Meyerhold,
Brecht, Pirandello) as well as staging short scenes from texts read in class throughout
the semester. There will be a final performance that offers the oportunity to explore
in independent group work processes and approaches covered on the course.
This course targets the development of analytical reading and writing skills: close-
reading, critical thinking, and argumentation. Students will also learn to put their
close-readings of primary texts in conversation with secondary historical and critical
sources.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
LO1 Identify the particular conventions of a range of modern theatrical styles
LO2 Critically assess varying dramatic forms and functions
LO3 Situate experimental movements and seminal plays within their cultural
and historical context
LO4 Formulate a critical argument addressing a specific topic or issue
LO5 Give presentations to small groups
LO6 Practice modern staging techniques and exercises useful for actors,
directors, designers, critics and dramaturgs.CLASS SCHEDULE Week One: Lecture: The Twentieth Century and Modernity (IW) Workshop: Embodied Responses to Modernity (IW) UNIT 1: Stanislavski and Naturalism Week Two: Lecture: Stanislavski and Naturalism (CM) Workshop: Historical Given circumstances (CM) Readings: Theatre Histories, 388-392. J.L Styan ‘The Naturalistic Revolt’ from Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 1: Realism and Naturalism (CUP) Bella Merlin, Mining the Text from The Complete Stanislavski Toolkit Week Three: Lecture: Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (CM) Workshop: The Seagull in Performance (CM) Readings: Anton Chekhov, The Seagull (Drama Online) Theatre Histories, 408-416. Bella Merlin, ‘Analysis of The Seagull’ in Konstantin Stanislavsky : Routledge Performance Practitioners. UNIT 2: Expressionism and Meyerhold Week Four Lecture: Expressionism and Meyerhold (IW) Workshop: Meyerhold’s Grotesque and Biomechanics (IW) Readings: J.L Styan ‘Expressionism in the Theatre’ from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre, (CUP) J.L Styan ‘Expressionism in Soviet Russia” from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre, (CUP)
Joanthan Pitches, ‘Meyerhold’s Key Writings’ UNIT 2 Machinal and Expressionism Week Five Lecture: Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal and Expressionism (IW) Workshop: Machinal in Performance (IW) Readings: Sophie Treadwell, Machinal (1928) Jerry Dickey, ‘Sophie Treadwell: The Expressionist Moment’ UNIT 3 Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism and the Reaction Against Realism Week Six: Lecture: Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism (CM) Workshop: Manifestos (CM) Readings: F.T. Marinetti, “The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism” The Dadaist Manifesto Andre Breton, ‘The First Surrealist Manifesto’ Week Seven: Lecture: Pirandello and the teatro grottesco (CM) Workshop: Six Characters in Search of an Author in Practice (CM) Readings: Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters Searching for an Author (1921) (Drama Online) Theatre Histories, 417-424. J.L Styan ‘Pirandello and the teatro grottesco” from J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2: Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd (CUP) Preface to Six Characters Searching for an Author Week Eight: Bank Holiday – No class UNIT 4 Brecht and Epic Theatre Week Nine: Lecture: Brecht and Epic Theatre (IW) Workshop: Brecht in Practice (IW)
Readings: David Barnett, Ch. 4, 5, 6 in Brecht in Practice (Availale through Drama Online) Week Ten: Lecture: The Good Person of Szechuan and Epic Theatre (IW) Workshop: The Good Person of Szechuan in Performance (IW) Readings: Bertolt Brecht, The Good Person of Szechuan (Drama Online) Theatre Histories, 450-456. UNIT 5: Performances and Essay Preparation Week Eleven: Lecture: Essay & Critical Reflection Preparation (CM) Workshop: Final Group Performance Presentation Rehearsal (IW and CM) Week Twelve (IW and MS) Lecture: Course Review (CM) Workshop: Final Group Performance Presentation (IW and CM) ASSESSMENT Group Performance Project (25%) Critical Reflection (25%) (1,500 words) Final Essay (50%) (2000 words) Play Texts: Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman ( Drama Online) Pirandello, Luigi, Six Characters in Search of an Author ( Drama Online) Treadwell, Sophie, Machinal - Brecht, Bertolt, The Good Person of Szechuan ( Drama Online) Core Reading There will be weekly recommended readings provided on Blackboard. These will be largely taken form the following texts: Meyerhold on Theatre, edited by Edward Braun, (Eyre Methuen,) Shomit Mitter, Systems of Rehearsal (Routledge)
Alison , Hodge, Actor Training (Routledge)
Peter l. Hays, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (Bloomsbury)
Jonathan Pitches, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Routledge Performance Practitioners
J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 3: Expressionism and Epic
Theatre, (CUP)
J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2: Symbolism, Surrealism and the
Absurd (CUP)
J.L Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 1: Realism and Naturalism (CUP)
Peter Szondi, A Theory of Modern Drama, (trans. Michael Hays) (Un. Of Minnesota)
Brecht on Theatre, edited by John Willett (Hill and Wang)
David Barnett, Brecht in Practice ( Bloomsbury
DT2107 Introduction to Stagecraft 2
Times: Tuesdays, 12pm - 1pm & 2pm - 3pm
Venue: O’Donoghue Theatre / Classroom 1 / Studio 2
Course Instructors: Marianne Kennedy Mike O’Halloran
Contact: Marianne.nichinneide@nuigalway.ie
Michael.ohalloran@nuigalway.ie
Course Description
“Stagecraft 2” will build on the previous learning of “Stagecraft 1” and focus more
specifically on Lighting, Sound, Set and Costume from a design and technical point of
view. A huge requirement of any element of Stagecraft is the ability to think on your
feet. This module will allow students to develop their problem solving skills in line
with best practice in terms of industry standards and analyse the processes of design
through theoretical frameworks. The student will develop a set of skills in specific
areas of Stagecraft allowing them to take on entry level backstage roles in a theatrical
production. Students will also be required to view a production on Digital Theatre
Plus during the module.
Learner outcomes
On successful completion of this module students will:
• Have an informed capacity to work safely and efficiently in a theatrical
venue.• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the elements and design theories of
stagecraft disciplines - set, lighting, costume and sound by submitting
academic and practical written and project work.
• Be able to analyse the stagecraft elements of a production from script to live
performance in terms of vision, execution, health and safety and logistics.
Assessments
1. Active Participation in class assignments workshop, discussions & practical classes
through submission of worksheets 10%
2. Midterm Assignment: 30%
3. Final project: (project/presentation + 1500 words): 60%
Weekly Class Outlines
Week 1 - September 10t
Theatre Company & Venue Structure
12pm - 1pm: Course Introduction and assessment explanation MNiC & MOH
2pm - 3pm: Stage Management Systems Overview - Comms, Cue Lights & Infra Red
Cameras MOH
audio. MNiC
Please Read Vanek, Joe. 2015 Irish Theatrescapes: New Irish Plays, Adapted
European Plays and Irish Classics (excerpts will be scanned to Blackboard.
Week 2 - September 17th
Costume Design & Construction
12pm - 1pm: What is a costume design? MNiC
2pm - 3pm: How to communicate the costume design to the creative team – the
costume design as tool of realisation. MNiC
audio. MNiC
Please read Chapter 45 Brown, Ross Sound Design: The scenography of
Engagement and Distraction from eds Collins, Jane & Nisbet, Antrew
Theatre Performance in Design: A Reader in Scenography, Routledge, 2010. for
Week 3.
Week 3 - September 24th
Costume Design & Sound Design
12pm - 1pm: Rendering the Costume Design, the process. MNiC2pm - 3pm: Soundscapes and Effects - Creating and Supporting the action and
character with audio. MNiC
Please read Chapter 2 from Coleman, Peter. A Beginner’s Guide to Stage
Sound. Entertainment Technology Press - 2004 for week 4.
Week 4 - October 1st
Sound Design
12pm - 1pm: Sound System Components Overview MOH
Here students will have the chance to examine an audio system close up and gain an
understanding of how it functions.
2pm - 3pm: Practical Sound Workshop MOH
Students will create their own soundscapes by working in groups and present them in
class.
Week 5 - October 8th
Mid Term Assignment Pitching Sessions
12pm - 1pm: Presentation / Pitching Sessions
2pm - 3pm: Presentation / Pitching Sessions
Please read Chapters 1, 2 & 6 from Reid, Francis. The Stage Lighting
Handbook Sixth Edition Routledge for week 6.
Chapters 1, 8 & 11 from Gillett, Micheal, McNamara, Michael. Designing
with Light, 6th edition. McGraw Hill, New York.2014. ISBN:[9780073514239]
Week 6 - October 15th
Lighting Design and Fixture Selection
12pm - 1pm: Lighting Design Theory MniC
Creating Moods and Atmosphere with colour and angles.
Covering the range of lighting angles/positions commonly found in theatres students
will look at the methods of creating different moods by positioning lighting fixtures
around an object or performer. Colour media will then be introduced to add
atmosphere to the scene.
2pm - 3pm: Lighting Instruments and their source of power! MOH
An look inside the most common lighting fixtures and the components that make them
up.
Followed by a look at the theatrical power distribution system.
Week 7 - October 22nd
Lighting Design
12pm - 1pm: Rigging and Set up (Practical) MOH
Here students will help prepare and rig a simple lighting plot in the O’Donoghue
Theatre in preparation for their next class.
2pm - 3pm: Group Practical Sessions MOH
Here groups of students will be asked to come up with a simple lighting design using
the lighting that was set up in the previous class. Students will be given all therelevant information to prepare for this in Week 6 and will be assigned into their
groups.
Please read Chapter 1, 2 & 4 from Winslow, Colin. The Handbook of Set
Design. The Crowood Press - 2006 for week 8.
Week 8 - October 29th
Set Design and Modelling MNiC
12pm - 1pm: Set Design Concepts Covering the various types of design styles
students will look at specific examples of the Set Designer’s impact on the production
and the ways in which a theatrical set can serve the performers and the text.
2pm - 3pm: Set Design Examples MniC
A look at some of Ireland’s leading designers work.
Please Read Chapter 2 and Chapter 8 from - Orton, Keith. Model Making for
the Stage A Practical Guide. The Crowood Press - 2004 for week 9.
Week 9 - November 5th
12pm - 1pm: Set Modelling MOH
Here students will look at model boxes which have been created for some of the best
designers working in Ireland today.
2pm - 3pm: Set Modelling MOH
Here students will gain hands on experience with making model boxes.
Week 10 - November 12th
12pm - 1pm: Production Management MOH
2pm - 3pm: Production Management Case Study MNiC
Week 11 - November 19th
12pm - 1pm: Discuss Digital Theatre Plus Sound and Costume
2pm - 3pm: Refresh 1st Half of Module
Week 12 - November 26th
12pm - 1pm: Discuss Digital Theatre Plus Lights and Set
2pm - 3pm: Refresh Second Half of Module
1. Active Participation in class assignments, reading, workshops, discussions &
classes through the submission of worksheets
These worksheets will not be graded but must be submitted by Week 6 and Week 12
respectively.In-class assignment performance reviews. Students will be required to watch an
assigned play on Digital Theatre Plus, focusing on the elements of stagecraft assigned
by the Instructor.
2. Mid Term Assignment - Must be submitted via Blackboard by October 18th
@ 5pm
During week 5 students will pitch their ideas for costume or sound designs to the
class. These designs will be based on plays chosen from Drama Online. Students will
be required to have a visual powerpoint or a soundscape to support their designs for
their pitch.
These designs and a written explanation of design choices must then be submitted via
Blackboard by the date above.
3. Final Project - Must be submitted via Blackboard by December 1 @ 5pm
(Part A)
Referring to a performance agreed with the lecturer beforehand, prepare one of the
following:
• Lighting plan for a scene or act including plan, legend and title block
• Set design for a scene or act including plan and section or elevation
(Part B)
Write a short essay (1500 words) in which you explain in detail your decisions, which
should be justified by clear reference to the original text. Your essay will also cite the
theoretical frameworks analysed in class.
OPTIONS
OPTION 1
DT2108 VOICE AND SHAKESPEARE
COURSE TUTOR: MAX HAFLER
WEDNESDAY 12-2, Studio 1
Module Description
The student will receive fundamental practical training in Voice for Acting and how
to put it into practice. Freeing your own voice and tapping into its power requires
both technical understanding and imaginative work. It is essential for an actor, but
also other areas, like teaching. Breathing, diction, resonance, expression and
projection will be amongst the areas covered. Students will be expected to do short
periods of practise between sessions and deliver brief 150 word journals each week.
We will be working with Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Work
will focus on the role of language in Shakespeare, story and imagery; how language
informs acting; and explore through discussion and exercises how the very buildings
and audiences had a fundamental effect on why the plays were written as they were.We will work with monologues and short scenes. The student will perform a 25 line
piece for class from the play and at the end write a journal of 1000 words describing
their progress through the course.
· Learning Outcomes
1. The student will have learned to breathe diaphragmatically and hopefully be
able to incorporate it at some level into their acting
2. She will have explored the whole range of components: diction/resonance/
projection and understand the link between the ability to perform and the
importance of voice.
3. She will have understood and experienced something of the connection
between body/voice and imagination in order to create whole powerful and
mature performance.
4. She will have understood the link between theatre/audience and actor in
Shakespeare's theatre and something of why the plays were written as they
were, through study and practise of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
5. She will have learned something about the issues of performing Shakespeare
through hands-on practise.
· Required Texts (core)
TEACHING VOICE by Max Hafler [Nick Hern Books 2016] (several copies
available in library)
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM Shakespeare [Arden edition; available in
library and on Drama Online]
EVOKING (AND FORGETTING) SHAKESPEARE (1998) by Peter Brook.
London. Nick Hern Books
· Assessment (Modes, Breakdown of Marks)
Development/ involvement and progress. Meeting learning assignments and the
weekly ‘entries’. 50%
There will be a presentation at the last class, with each student performing a
monologue of 25 lines duration to the class from the play. 25%
A short self assessment of 1000 words is required based upon the weekly entries,
focussing on their personal learning and development. 25%
· Class Outline [subject to flexibility]
CLASS ONE : physical warm up. introduction to basic relaxation and breathing work
(fuel for the voice) diction, resonance, projection. Looking at the imaginative and
physical response to words and language. Using a few lines of A Midsummer Nights
Dream.
CLASS TWO: physical warm up. development of the above; singing, and primarily
projection and resonance. Connecting the voice to the body and imagination.
Radiating receiving.CLASS THREE: physical warm up, vocal qualities (Chekhov). Body/voice exploration. Placing the Voice. Talk, discussion : Shakespeare’s plays and the theatres in which they were performed. CLASS FOUR: Physical warm up. Work on 8 line soliloquy of a character. The issue of emphasis / breath /radiating . Working in chorus. Working on the 8 line speech. CLASS FIVE: regular practise . More work on 8 lines , colours and phrasing. Pitch and Tone. Midsummer - the different socio economic groups/worlds and how they needed to be catered for and how it affected the play writing . CLASS SIX: regular practise. Further development of breathing, diction etc. Working with the audience. Exercises in backwards and forward energy. The Power of The Pause. CLASS SEVEN: regular practise working with rhythm. The rhythm of regular speech developing soundscape, and pace. Through voice and bodywork, the emotional Journey of the chosen speeches. Rehearsing monologues . CLASS EIGHT. Regular practise. Working on very short scenes in pairs. Listening/Radiating/receiving. CLASS NINE . as above CLASS TEN Regular work. Exercises in tone and pause. Rehearsing monologues CLASS ELEVEN. Regular work. Rehearsing monologues. CLASS TWELVE: presentation of 25 line monologues and feedback. Delivery of journal. · Secondary and Further Reading List Berry, Cicely (1973) VOICE AND THE ACTOR London: Virgin Publishing OPTION 2: DT204 Introduction to Playwriting Dr Catherine Morris Wednesdays 12-1 Studio 2; Fridays 12-1 Classroom 1 Overview: The aim of this course is to discover your playwriting voice: what is your style, what are your concerns as a writer? We will find your subject and medium of choice – whether for radio, gallery instillation, stage, live, pre-recorded or hybrid. Each seminar will enable discussion, writing and reading aloud. What do you need to write a play? How do you begin? How do you create a first draft? What happens after it is written? How do you re-draft and edit your work? Together we will create a bibliography and a methodology. We will reflect on different models of plays and of playwriting; we will explore themes and social context; story, plot, voice and character. From Greek Tragedy to the plays of the Spanish Civil War; from ancient Irish oral performance theatre to Becket’s Not I; the archives show us the extent and variety of playwriting. In writing plays we can bring in music, dance, draw on other performance arts such as mask, mime, documentary, tableaux. A play can be dialogue, monologue; it can use technological media to convey time: memory and story unfold through technology in Krapp’s Last Tape, for instance. This module will explore how as a playwright you can create a drama that consists of hours of multiple acts and scenes that unfold on a stage with an epic cast or write a singular short
performance piece that unfolds in multiple locations across a city. You are all
encouraged to read, listen and to watch as many plays and performance pieces as you
can from as many different genres. Our bibliography will be a live document
constantly in process: we will learn from each other and collectively create learning
tools from our pooled experience of research, writing and practice. The important
thing is to do what Joyce Carol Oates urges all writers to do: “write your heart out.”
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, you should:
• Have developed an understanding of the basic elements of playwriting
• Have a small portfolio of your own experiments with these elements,
including your own one-act play
• Be able to analyse the structure of a play as a piece of dramatic literature, and
offer constructive critical feedback on plays
• Be able to plan and structure your own original play
Assessment:
• Midterm Assessment Critical Reflection Essay: 40% Total (submission date:
21 October 5pm)
This essay should be 1,000 words in length and will be an opportunity to
examine critically your class writing assignments that you will upload to
blackboard throughout the course. These individual pieces will not be
formerly assessed but will form the backbone to your writing process,
class participation and critical self reflection.
• Final Playscript: 60% Total (submission date: 16 December)
This is your final project; a one-act play (around 20 minutes duration, 30 page
approx) on a topic and in a style of your choice, selected in consultation with
the course tutor. You will share a pitch for this in class and upload the final
draft to Blackboard by TBC.
Task for each week – keep writing outside of class documenting your ideas,
developing your own play, noting your observations, the plays that you are
reading and seeing: each week we will read aloud something from our
notebooks.
Week 1 (11 & 13 September)
The Notebook – Read, Watch, Listen, Write: In this session we will get to know
each other a little; hear about our different experiences of writing and of plays.
Everyone taking the module is encouraged to carry a notebook at all times and to keep
writing ideas for characters, situations, dialogue, monologues; stage directions for
scenes and ideas for acts. This notebook is also essential for documenting your
reading and watching plays. Every week we will begin with a short ‘Notes from the
Notebook’ session in which we can reflect on and share some aspect (challenges &
breakthroughs) of our playwriting journey. In this session we will explore how social
media and digital technology used ethically and with permissions may form a part of
their practice as playwrights. For instance, how can using video or oral recordings of
story-telling, conversation, capturing dialect, character, spaces for scenes and
situations can assist your craft.
TO DO: Bring your notebook and a found object (or an image or photograph of an
object) or a press cutting: something that holds resonance for you as a writer and thatyou are happy to share with the group. This will form the basis for our writing workshop. Week 2 (18 & 20 September) Finding your voice Irish writer Maeve Brennon (1917-1993) wrote to her editor at the New Yorker: “I’m looking for the voice in which I can say anything.” In our workshop session we will explore how to find voice. As a group we will identify our collective and individual skills; learn what our individual key concerns and interests are and how they can be communicated in or through drama. In this writing workshop we will begin writing with a 15 minute monologue exercise followed by reading aloud and analysis. Week 3 (25 & 27 September) Research: As a playwright you have responsibility to your characters and to the world you create. A character only has dignity if the world in which they exist has conviction. An actor has to perform your script – so their language has to be authentic to the time they are ‘speaking’; the world of your play has to convince the audience and the performer(s) that they share the same moment. Research is a vital tool in any writer’s repertoire. Carol Churchill’s Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (1976) would have been impossible to write without significant research into the Putney Debates of 1646, Cromwell and the Levellers. We will explore the different modes of research you will need to write your play. Whether you are writing a character in a historical moment or depicting the internal world of an individual, we will develop ways in which to relate the condition or experience of that character or situation. Your subject might require investigation into a certain kind of science, an art form, a historical moment. In using archive we will also learn the value of documenting our own creative journey in progress. What does archive mean? How do you make your own archive for your play? You have a chance as your writing is quickening to equip your archive with details that enrich your vocabulary as a writer and the world of your characters. Be prepared to get out and about to do a live in-situ Galway research workshop. Once we return to the seminar room we will write a script based on the archive material we bring back to the table. Week 4 (2 & 4 October) Archive & Craft of Writing In this session we will visit and engage with the rare theatre archives that you have unique access to as postgraduate students at NUI Galway. Some of the greatest playwrights, directors, actors, theatre practitioners of our time have deposited their archives with this library. As writers you can explore how other playwrights such as Thomas Kilroy wrote (and re-wrote) versions of his award winning plays for stage, screen and radio. You can see the way in which novels are adapted by playwrights for the stage. John McGahern, for example, revisits his radio adaptation of a Tolstoy story for three decades making new interventions and changes. You can visit the archives and watch internationally acclaimed award winning dramas. You can study the stage craft and writing processes behind plays devised and performed at Irish theatres including the Abbey, Lyric, Druid and the Gate. The second part of this seminar will be a writing workshop: each student will step into character from a book; you will each write a short piece in character about something you encounter in the archive Week 5: (9 & 11 October)
Time Theatre is a durational art. Language is a time based media. Lighting, stage, sound: the way people walk, the way we pace a scene. We will examine how as a playwright you put a metronome to your play. Scripts cause the voice to work in certain ways. How old is a character? From what point in time are they speaking? When you work in radio or TV and are writing plays for multi-media platforms, then time takes on different liberations and constraints for each of those media. We will discuss the tangled geometry of how time unfolds and works in a play’s structure and in dialogue. In a writing workshop you will take a voice from a play and write it from another time perspective. Week 6 (16 & 18 October) Plays to change the world In this session we will discuss why some plays become catalysts of social, political and legislative change? We will explore how some playwrights create work that opens up a sense of new possibility for playwriting and for the world? Ken Loach’s Up the Junction was a 1965 TV play that had an audience of 10m viewers and received over half a million complaints. It led to the 1967 Abortion Act that changed the reproductive rights for women in the UK (excluding NI and Scotland). Patricia Burke Brogan’s 1992 play Eclipsed gave Irish and international audiences the first shocking view into the Magdalene Laundries. Eugene O’Neill’s Long Days Journey into Night and Arthur Miller’s Death of A Salesman opened a new wave of American Realism that put the concerns of family into a new realm of recognisable language and gave place to the ordinary and the mundane in staging. Each student will write and choose a political situation and a play form: you have 20 minutes to write a plot for a one act play in which the object / image / cutting you have brought along features as the catalyst for an event. Week 7 (23 & 25 October) Collectivism In this session we will not only look at examples of collectivist playwriting; but we will collectively produce a script. Between 1995 to 1998, the Liverpool playwright Jimmy McGovern and Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh set up a collective writing group formed of the sacked dock workers and ‘the women of the waterfront’ solidarity organisation. Together they wrote a script (reworked as a screen play for Channel 4) based on what was happening to them on a daily basis during the dispute. Using Dockers as a case study, we will consider methodologies and subjects for collectivist playwriting. Other examples that we will discuss include Fugard’s The Coat: a play co-written and devised a piece of collectivist theatre. Peter Brooke’s Paris Collective and Corn Exchange’s collaborative script writing approach to Dublin by Lamplight. We will put into practice what we have learned: What is the catalyst in a self organising process? We will create two groups and each group will write a play to workshop. Collectively we will talk about the process of writing. Where does your voice go? Or does it appear as the groups voice emerges? Week 8 (30 Oct & 1 November) Radio Radio gives us voices in the dark: in this session we will think about the different fusion of experiences that radio can bring to the art of playwriting. How does the audible world develop around and within character? Radio is swift to produce: how do you devise story for a particular play format and experience of sound? How do you set the environmental conditions of voice? What acoustic parameters do you have to consider? We will learn how to work to strict times and to know how radio
plays can be at their best in achieving something musical in pace, rhythm, voice. In our workshop we will write a short scene for a six minute radio play using sound recorders (mobile phones and other equipment) to create the sound and atmosphere of the script. Week 9 (6 & 8 November) Next steps Virginia Woolf highlighted how class, inequality and human rights determine whose stories are told on stage and who gets to tell them: “Shakespeare’s plays… seem to hang there complete by themselves. But when the web is pulled askew, hooked up at the edge, torn in the middle, one remembers that these webs are not spun in mid-air by incorporeal creatures, but are the work of suffering human beings, and are attached to grossly material things, like health and money and the houses we live in...” How do you find out about competitions and funding not only to write your next play but also to lift your work out of your notebook and onto the stage and/ or into publication? While writing a play can be a lonely process, theatre is a social art: when you finish writing a play you will want to begin engaging with producers, associate directors, agents, actors, editors, publishers and social media. How do script departments forge strong relationships with writers, to help them produce their best work? How do you make contacts? In this session, we will each learn how our practice as a playwright can lead to publication and performance. Week 10 (13 & 15 November) Writing workshop Week 11 (20 & 22 November) First draft play readings and feedback. WK 12: (27 & 29 November) Second Draft Script Doctoring OPTION 3: DT2112: The Practice and Exploration of the Creative Arts Module Creator: Mary McPartlan Co-Convenors Mary McPartlan and Dr. Barry Houlihan The Module Description: This 12-week module will offer students a distinctive and exciting opportunity to access the creative arts through a series of lunchtime concerts featuring world-class performers in an array of multi-disciplinary art forms. The concert sessions will be followed by focuses talks, workshops, and lectures with guest artists and expert academic and archival staff. Students will experience national and international culture, engage with artists, form exclusive and informed critical insights from the creative presentations and receive hands-on instruction in how creative arts are researched, designed, and produced. Students will be supported by teaching and skills development in archival research in the creative arts with workshops and talks on unique collections from the Archives of the Hardiman Library, from the Archives of Druid Theatre, Jean Ritchie, The Abbey Theatre, Tim Robinson, Etienne Rynne and more. Accomplished, professional visiting guest artists will collaborate in this offering to the students, to create a varied course of enquiry, fostering an environment where unique and original talent can emerge and flourish among students.
Each week contact hours shall consist of two components:
A.
On a weekly basis the student shall compulsorily attend the programmed Arts in
Action event, presented on that assigned day. This will be a 1-hour long performance.
B.
This will be followed immediately by the second hour of the lecture where students
will meet with visiting artists, practitioners, and also conduct archival workshops. The
second hour will take place in O'Donoghue Centre Seminar Room 1 (Studio 1) or to
the Archives Seminar Room, Hardiman Library, Room 004. Students will be notified
in advance each week of the correct venue.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this module, each student will be able to:
• Develop skills in creative self-development and disparate intellectual and artist
interests
• Demonstrate proficiency in critical analysis of several artsfroms in written,
oral format and presentation.
• Approach their own specific line of enquiry with creativity and rigour, via
creative writing, theatre and playwriting, Music appreciation, Creativity - the
Irish Language and its culture, (Music, Song, Poetry and Prose), History and
Geography in relation to the landscape of Irish Culture.
Assessment:
There are two component/ assignments for assessment
• A weekly reflective journal of not more than 500 words
• A final essay of 1,000 words
You will complete 10 reflective reviews. (There are 13 Arts in Action Events in
S1)
The Essay and the completed Journals will be submitted on or before Friday
December 6th 2019 at 5pm.
Assessment of 100%
60% of total mark will be awarded for the reflective scholarly journal
40% of the total mark will be awarded for the essay of 1,000 words.
Mary Mc Partlan
Contact Details and Office Hours for enquiries and discussion
Mary.mcpartlan@nuigalway.ie
Tuesday morning 10am-12pm.
Room 313, Floor 1, Tower Block 1.
Dr. Barry Houlihan, Tuesday afternoon, 2.30-4.30pm
THB-G005f (Archives Reading Room)Week by Week Pre-Week 1 - Introductory Session Venue: Meet in Foyer of James Hardiman Library (next to video wall) Date: Tuesday 10th September 4pm. Week 1: 11 September Hour 1 Jean Ritchie Lecture delivered by Christy Moore 1pm - 2pm (Venue: ODC) Hour 2 -Viewing of Jean Ritchie Archive (Venue: JHL) 2-3pm. Dr. Barry Houlihan Week 2: 18th September Hour 1: Welsh Traditional Band, AlAW (from Wales), Hour 2, guest lecture with the artist/ performers Venue: Seminar Room 1, O'Donoghue Centre. 2-3pm Week 3: 25 September Hour 1: Music for Galway - Classical Concert Performance by Patrick Rafter. Hour 2: Guest lecture by Anna Lardi, Music for Galway - "Producing Classical Music in Galway". Venue: ODC. 2-3pm Week 4: October 2 Hour 1 Concert: The Cormac McCarthy Jazz Trio from Cork. Followed by talk with the musicians "From Traditional Music to Contemporary Jazz in Ireland". Venue: ODC. 2-3pm Week 5: October 9 Hour 1 Concert: Centenary Celebration of the legendry piper and folk music collector Seamus Ennis With piper Peter Browne and Singer Roisin Elsafty Followed by guest lecture from Dr. Ríonach UÍ Ógáin.( The Seamus Ennis Field Diary and other stories) Venue: ODC. 2-3pm Week 6: October 16 Hour 1 Concert: English Folk Music, Lisa Knapps and Gerry Diver ( England) Hour 2 Guest lecture with Q&A by the performers. “Contemporary Folk Song in England” Venue1: ODC. 2-3pm Week 7: October 23 Hour 1 Performance: Traditional Irish fiddle by Martin Hayes Hour 2: Documenting Landscape guest lecture by Dr. Barry Houlihan Exploring Tim Robinson and Etienne Rynne Archives. Venue: JHL Week 8: October 30 Hour 1: Clarinet and Cello performance - Christopher Moriarity and Gabrielle Dikciute. Music For Galway. Hour 2: Guest Lecture by Mary McPartlan - Irish Traditional Music 1900 - 1970 Venue: Seminar Room ODC, 2pm – 3pm
Week 9: November 6
Hour 1: Scottish Traditional Music Performance from Chris Stout fiddle and
Catriona McKay on Harp
Hour 2: Guest lecture by the musicians on, The Music of the Shetland Islands.
Venue: ODC. 2-3pm
Week 10: November 13
Hour 1 Comedy: Actor, comedian, - Tommy Tiernan
Hour 2: Guest lecture by Dr. Barry Houlihan
Memory and Performance: How the Archive Remembers
Venue: JHL.2pm – 3pm
Week 10: November 13 (Two events for November 13)
Tulca Festival of Visual Arts.
6pm. Meeting point: Quadrangle Archway (under the clock tower).
Week 11: November 20
Celebration of the culture of the Aran Islands
Featuring music, literature and Sean nós singing introduced by Poet Mary O Malley
Hour 2: Q&A session in the theatre with the Artists, “Life and Culture on the Aran
Islands” convened by Mary Mc Partlan, 2pm- 3pm
Week 12: November
Hour 1 Aoife Burke Cello, Chiara Opalio Piano, Eoin Ducrot Violin, Emily
Anderson Hall. ( Music For Galway)
Hour 2: Showing of the JM Syne Play “Riders to the Sea” at the James Hardiman
Library
Convened by Dr Barry Houlihan. 2pm -3pm
SEMESTER 2
CORE MODULES
DT2104: Contemporary Theatre
Instructor: Patrick Lonergan and Ciara Murphy
Time Location: Monday 12-1 (CR1); Monday 2-3 (Studio 2)
Description: This module analyses seminal plays and productions from
contemporary theatre and performance in the Anglophone tradition – which in
this class will be considered to begin in the post-WW2 period. It will introduce
students to some of the major playwrights and theatre-makers who have shaped
new theatrical paradigms, particularly those involving postmodern and
postdramatic aesthetics. Plays will be analysed in conjunction with core
processes of staging and production, considering their programming andreception in wider cultural and industry contexts. Dominant themes and issues
stemming from this selection of works will be identified and interrogated, such
as representations of gender and sexuality, the relationship between people and
place, globalization, hidden histories, the staging of violence, and the body in
performance.
Assessment:
In this course, students will complete a practice-based research project
Stage 1 – Archives and library-based research on a key play. Students provide an
overview of research materials relating to a particular performance. This can
include videos, books, youtube videos, theory, etc.
Stage 2 – in-class performance (final week)
Stage 3 – essay that synthesizes both
Readings
Primary and secondary readings are included in the text below.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, a successful student will:
• Produce knowledge of the dominant processes involved in the
contemporary practice of making theatre and performance.
• Possess knowledge of the dominant style(s) and tone(s) of
contemporary playwriting in English.
• Work as a company member, creatively collaborating in the decision-
making processes and development of performances.
• Produce a scene performance in a theatre space.
• Research the key historical, social and political issues informing the
culture the play was written and produced in, and apply that
theoretical knowledge in writing and in practice.
Lecture Schedule
Week 1 – 14 January
Lecture: Introduction and Key Terms (PL, CM)
Workshop: A landscape beyond death’: New adventures in Time and
Space (CM)
Week 2 – 21 January
• Lecture: End of Master Narratives: Samuel Beckett’s Play and Not I (CM)
• Workshop: The Actor as Text-bearer (CM)
• Reading: All available on
http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/playwrights/s
amuel-beckett-iid-134071• Read excerpts from Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (library)
Week 3 – 28 January
• Lecture: Theatres of Cruelty – Artaud (PL)
• Workshop: Staging the Open Text 1: Image States (PL)
• Reading: Selections from Artaud (Blackboard)
• Assessment: Mid-Term project announced
Week 4 – 4 February
• Lecture:Caryl Churchill Cloud Nine: from feminism to postcolonialism (CM)
• Workshop:Post-Brechtian Theatre Practice: Gestus revisited (CM)
• Reading: Cloud Nine:
http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/plays/cloud-
nine-iid-14838
• Read Elaine Aston, ‘On Collaboration: “Not Ordinary, Not Safe,”’ in The
Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill, ed. Elaine Aston, available via
library website:
http://literature.proquest.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/searchFulltext.do?id
=R04647328&divLevel=0&trailId=1502DA5C6AA&area=criticism&forward
=critref_ft&browse=true
Week 5 – 11 February
• Lecture: The Fragmented Subject: Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis (CM)
• Workshop: Staging the Open Text 2: Immanent Theatricality (CM)
• Reading: 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane (available in library)
• Read: ‘“Victim. Perpetrator. Bystander”: Melancholic Witnessing of Sarah
Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis’ by Alicia Tycer. [Available on Blackboard].
Week 6 – 18 February
• Lecture: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (PL)
• Workshop: Staging the real (PL)
• Read: Play available via Library website
• Mid-Term essay due
Week 7 – 25 February
• Lecture:‘ The Ghost and the Host’: Site-Responsive Theatre
– Goddodin(CM)
• Workshop: Site Responsive Theatre Workshop (CM)
• View: A documentary on Brith Gof’s Goddodin. Available online:
https://vimeo.com/80218855
• Reading: Fiona Wilkie’s ‘Mapping the Terrain: a Survey of Site-Specific Performance in
Britain’ [Available on Blackboard]
Week 8 – 4thMarch
• Lecture:Problematizing the Postdramatic Churchill, Far Away (PL)
• Workshop: Staging Climate Change (PL)
• Read: https://www-dramaonlinelibrary-
com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/plays/far-away-iid-151987• Additional Reading: Hans Thies Lehmann, ‘Prologue,’ Postdramatic
Theatre, translated by Karen Jürs-Munby, available via library website:
https://www-dawsonera-
com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/readonline/9780203088104/startPage/12
• Final Projects announced
Week 9 – 11thMarch
• Lecture: Problematizing the Postmodern Pinter, Mountain Language, One for
the Road (PL)
• Workshop:Preparation for performance (PL)
• Reading: Harold Pinter, One for the Road and Mountain Language both on
http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/playwrights/h
arold-pinter-iid-129063
Week 10 – 18thMarch
• Lecture: Sondheim and Lapine: Into the Woods (PL)
• Workshop Preparation for performance (PL)
• Watch: https://www-digitaltheatreplus-
com.libgate.library.nuigalway.ie/education/into-the-woods
Week 11 – 25thMarch
• Lecture:Essay Preparation and Course Review (CM)
• Workshop: Preparation for performance (CM)
Week 12 – 1stApril
• Lecture: Essay Preparation and Course Review (PL)
• Workshop:Final Performance Presentations (PL/CM)
DT2106 Irish Theatre
Instructor: Finian O’Gorman
E: f.ogorman3@nuigalway.ie
Time: Tuesdays
Session1 [Discussion]: 12pm-1pm (CR1)
Session 2 [Workshop]: 2pm-3pm (S2)
Course Description
This module provides an introduction to modern Irish drama, starting with the
foundation of the Irish Literary Theatre in 1897, and running to the present. Each
week, students will read and discuss key Irish plays in their cultural and theatrical
contexts, aiming to form a deeper appreciation of the contours and preoccupations of
the Irish dramatic tradition. Students will also participate in skills-based workshops
that will explore a variety of topics related to the plays.
Learning OutcomesBy the end of this module, students will be able to:
• Identify the major developments in playwrighting and dramaturgy in
Irish drama in the modern era.
• Critically analyze the selected plays and performances according to
appropriate theoretical frameworks.
• Source, evaluate and utilize an extensive range of relevant and
appropriate primary and secondary sources, including previously
unexplored archival material.
Required texts
Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Faber and Faber, 1956. [Drama Online]
Deevy, Teresa. Selected Plays of Irish Playwright Teresa Deevy, 1894-1963. Edited
by Eibhear Walshe, Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. [Hardiman Library]
Friel, Brian. Brian Friel: Plays One. Faber and Faber, 1996. [Drama Online]
Harrington, John P. Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama. New York : W. W.
Norton & Company, 2009. [Hardiman Library]
Manning, Mary. “Youth’s the Season?” Plays of Changing Ireland. Edited by Curtis
Canfield, New York: Macmillan, 1936. [Blackboard]
Morash, Christopher. A History of Irish Theatre 1601-2000. Cambridge University
Press, 2002. [Hardiman Library]
Yeats, William Butler. Yeats’s Poetry, Drama, and Prose: Authoritiative Texts,
Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. [Blackboard]
Assessment
• Mid-term written assignment: 30% (750 words)
• Final Performance: 20%
• Final Essay: 50% (1250 words)
Schedule
Week 1 (Tue 14 Jan)
Session 1: Introduction, course overview
Session 2: Performing Ireland
Week 2 (Tue 21 Jan)
Session 1: W.B. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, Kathleen ni Houlihan and W.B.
Yeats, On Baile’s Strand
Session 2: Performing Irish Legend and Verse
Week 3 (Tue 28 Jan)Session 1: Lady Augusta Gregory, The Rising of the Moon and Spreading the News
Session 2: Performing Irish comedy
Week 4 (Tue 4 Feb)
Session 1: John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World
Session 2: Physicalising Synge
Week 5 (Tue 11 Feb)
Session1: Sean O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock
Session 2: Performing Melodrama in O’Casey
Week 6 (Tue 18 Feb)
Session 1: Mary Manning, Youth’s the Season?
Session 2: Modern Irish Realism 1.
Week 7 (Tue 25 Feb)
Session 1: Teresa Deevy, Katie Roche
Session 2: Modern Irish Realism 2.
Week 8 (Tue 3 Mar)
Session 1: Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Session 2: Performing Beckett
Week 9 (Tue 10 Mar)
Session 1: Brian Friel, Faith Healer
Session 2: The monologue
Week 10* (Tue 17 Mar)
*NO CLASS (St. Patrick’s Day)*
Week 11 (Tue 24 Mar)
Session 1: Final Essay Prep
Session 2: Final Performance Prep
Week 12 (Tue 31 Mar)
Session 1: Final Performances
Session 2: Final Performances
Further Reading
Fitz-Simon, Christopher. "Buffoonery and Easy Sentiment": Popular Irish Plays in
the Decade Prior to the Opening of the Abbey Theatre. Dublin: Carysfort
Press, 2011.
Grene, Nicholas. The Politics of Irish Drama : Plays in Context from Boucicault to
Friel. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Grene, Nicholas, and Chris Morash. The Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Theatre.
Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2016.Hickey, Des, and Gus Smith. A Paler Shade of Green. London : Frewin, 1972.
Kearney , Eileen, and Charlotte Headrick . Irish Women Dramatists: 1908-2001.
Syracuse University Press, 2014.
Levitas, Ben. The Theatre of Nation : Irish Drama and Cultural Nationalism, 1890-
1916. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2002.
Murphy, Paul. Hegemony and Fantasy in Irish Drama, 1899-1949 . Palgrave
Macmillan, 2008.
Murray, Christopher. Twentieth-Century Irish Drama : Mirror up to Nation.
Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama.
Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Roche, Anthony. Contemporary Irish Drama. Basingstoke ; New York : Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009.
Trotter , Mary. Ireland's National Theaters: Political Performance and the Origins of
the Irish Dramatic Movement . Syracuse University Press , 2001.
---. Modern Irish Theatre. Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity, 2008.
Welch, Robert. The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999 : Form and Pressure. Oxford : Oxford
University Press, 1999.
Wills, Clair. That Neutral Island: a Cultural History of Ireland during the Second
World War. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
2007
Richards, Shaun. The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Irish Drama.
Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.
OPTION MODULES SEMESTER 2
OPTION 1
Optional Module : Dance and Movement DT3101 (2019/2020)
Wednesday 12-2pm, Studio 1.
Tutor: Rachel Parry
Contact: r.parry2@nuigalway.ie
Course Overview
This twelve-week module will investigate the influence of Western dance history on
current Irish and international dance and choreographic practice. The course will begin
with an exploration of prominent dance practitioners and their ideas, and will culminate
with students choreographing and performing their own short dance solo. Each classwill comprise a basic dance technique class, a choreography lab, and group discussion
of process and practice.
This course is suitable for both beginners and students with some dance experience. No
previous dance experience is required.
Students should wear loose, comfortable clothing for class and be prepared to work
barefoot.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students will:
• be able to choreograph a short solo drawing on a variety of styles and
choreographic approaches;
• have performed a short solo;
• be able to place current Irish and international dance practice within theoretical
frameworks;
• have a good working knowledge of dance vocabulary;
• have reflected on and written about their own choreographic process;
• have researched and written about an element of contemporary dance practice.
All course texts will be available to students at NUI Galway Reading Lists.
Course Schedule
Each week will begin with a 40-minute contemporary technique dance class.
Week 1 Introduction to course and assessment.
Ballet: 1500’s – present day
Choreography Lab: Linear and Non-linear narrative
Artists: Louis XlV (France); Jean-Georges Noverre (France); Vaslav
Nijinski (Ballets Russes, Russia); Christopher Bruce (UK); Wayne
McGregor (UK)
Reading: Excerpts from Adshead-Lansdale, Janet and June Layson.
Dance History: An Introduction. Routledge, 1994
Week 2 Modern Dance, 1890 – 1950
Choreography Lab: Abstraction and Expressionism
Artists: Isadora Duncan (US); Ted Shawn (US); Martha Graham (US);
Mary Wigman (Germany); Merce Cunningham (US)
Reading: Excerpts from Brown, Jean Morrison. The Vision of Modern
Dance. Princeton, 1998
Week 3 Postmodern Dance: Judson Dance Theatre, 1962 – 1964
Choreography Lab: Chance techniques and non-narrative
choreographic approachesYou can also read
