FALL 1999
This information effective for Fall 1999.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
FALL 1999
This information effective for Fall 1999.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
This upper division course will study selected plays from the
period
1586-1642, the great era of dramatic writing from its flowering in
London
(after the construction of the Theatre and the Curtain playhouses
in
Shoreditch in 1576 and 1577) through to the closure of the playhouses
under
the Puritan city government. The course will focus on playwrights
contemporary with Shakespeare, but will probably not include
Shakespeare,
since there is ample opportunity to study his plays elsewhere. We
shall study
some forms of tragic drama from between 1586-7 and 1634? (Kyd,
Marlowe,
Webster, and Ford); two kinds of comedy (Jonson and Middleton); and
an
important early history play (Marlowe's Edward II, which ACT promises
to
perform in May 2000, a rare event). The texts for the course are not
yet
definite (they are dependent on availability in print), but I hope to
include
the following major works:
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy
Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine, Parts One and Two; Edward II (on
the
Ben Jonson, Volpone
Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid In Cheapside
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
John Ford, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore
Students will be expected also to read Andrew Gurr, The Shakespearean
Stage,
1576-1642, Third edition (Cambridge University Press).
It is desirable that students entering the course have completed the
lower
division requirements of the Literature major or Theater Art