Module description
This module explores intersections between theatre and politics in the 20th and 21st centuries. You will be introduced to a range of political performance forms and the debates that surround them, from the political theatre of George Bernard Shaw, to the epic theatre of Bertolt Brecht, to the provocative performances of the Black Revolutionary Theatre Movement, to the feminist performances of women’s theatre groups in the 1970s, to the recent rise of documentary and verbatim theatre. In addition, we will consider the theatricality of political protests, from die-ins to zombie walks, as well as recent protest reenactments by artists, including Jeremy Deller’s miners’ strike reenactment, The Battle of Orgreave (2001). Moving chronologically through the semester, we will focus each week on a particular performance form, engaging with a selection of performance texts and relevant scholarship. By the end of the semester, you will be familiar with a number of influential practitioners and theorists of political theatre and performance; you will be knowledgeable about the contributions of playwrights and theatre-makers to a range of political movements; and you will be able to engage in informed debate about how various theatre and performance forms act politically.
Assessment details
1 x 4,000 word essay (100%)
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable, and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 6 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
1. Detailed knowledge of key practitioners and theorists of political theatre and performance in the 20th and 21st centuries.
2. A systematic understanding of a variety of political theatre and performance forms.
3. The ability to evaluate critically these forms, for example their use of narrative, realism, alienation techniques, audience address, site - specificity, autobiography, and documentary evidence.
4. An understanding of and ability to enter into existing debates about the politics of performance and the performance of politics.
5. The ability to isolate and study a specific body of materials relevant to the module topic, and to present their interpretations orally and to debate their conclusions with others.
Teaching pattern
One 2-hour seminar weekly
Suggested reading list
Preparatory reading
Useful reading prior to this module would include:
Lizbeth Goodman and Jane De Gay, The Routledge Reader in Politics and Performance (London: Routledge, 2000)
Joe Kelleher, Theatre & Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)