Module description
In this course, we will read, view, and analyse a selection of plays, performances, and other texts that pose gender as a central problem. In conjunction with these performance texts, we will also read a variety of theoretical texts that offer methods both for interpreting gender in performance and for understanding gender as performance. We will focus on theatre and performance works produced from the 1950s to the present and will cover a range of performance forms, including dramatic realism, experimental theatre, performance art, and drag performance. At the same time, you will be exposed to a variety of approaches to the topic of gender, from those that seek to understand, value, and represent the “truth” of gendered experience to those that attempt to deconstruct myths about gender and actively create new possibilities for gender performance. While the focus of this course will be on understanding gender in and as performance, throughout the course, we will pay close attention to how gender intersects with other categories of difference including race, class, and disability. We will also find that gender is intricately tied to sexuality; thus, while we will keep the category of gender at the forefront of our explorations, we will frequently confront the ways in which norms surrounding sexuality are tied to gender norms. By the end of the semester, you will be able to analyse the performance of gender across a range of sites - from theatre, to performance art, to everyday life - and to consider critically how particular performance forms variously enable and restrict the possibilities for gender presentation.
Assessment details
1 three hour exam
Suggested reading list
Most of the readings for this module will be contained in a course pack available at the beginning of term. In addition, you will need to acquire the following texts. Please note that the editions listed below are indicative only. You may use any edition of these plays:
John Osborne, Look Back in Anger, Faber and Faber; reprint edition, 1978.
Caryl Churchill, Cloud 9, Nick Hern Books; New edition, 1989.
Suzan-Lori Parks, Venus, Theatre Communications Group Inc.; 1st edition, 1997.
Eve Ensler, The Vagina Monologues, Virago Press Ltd; New edition, 2001.