MA World Theatres

In this module, you'll focus on contemporary literary drama and dramatists from the Anglo-phone, Franco-phone and Luso-phone language zones in Africa. One of our major aims is to remove the tendency in previous African theatre and performance scholarship to study these theatre traditions and genres as separate, while in fact, the impulse behind them was essentially the same, and their hybridising strategies follow the same path.

You'll investigate the impact of different forms of colonisation on the creation and direction of the theatre. You'll explore the influences of the indigenous traditions and the function of theatre within African societies - you'll specifically look at theatre and politics, the role of the dramatist in Africa, the playwright and the state, theatre under apartheid and totalitarian regimes, theatre and liberation struggles, theatre and the universities, African audiences, video drama/movie (theatre, technology and innovation).

The module encourages you to explore and extend your perception and understanding of performance practice and cultural dynamics. You'll be encouraged to research one of the themes identified above, giving you the opportunity to explore a specific concern in contemporary African dramaturgy and theatre and performance practice.

Theatre or the practice of drama has an extraordinarily long, ruptured and variegated history in India. The module will examine this history of practice along a few different lines - classical, colonial, traditional, regional, English, Parsi, urban, contemporary and global. We will begin with a critical study of the unique aesthetic theory of Rasa concerned with production and communication of theatrical experience by the actor and its reception and enjoyment by the spectator. It is the core proposition of the Natyasastra (lit. Drama Principles), the drama manual from India, ascribed to a sage called Bharata, dated 200 BCE-200 CE and recognised as the world's oldest treatise on dramaturgy. The study will draw upon commentary from scholars as ancient as Abhinavagupta, as modern as Adya Rangacharya and as trangressive as Richard Schechner, and more, and take a look at renowned plays from pre-Christian eras and early Christian eras such as 'The Clay Cart' and 'Sign of Shakuntala', the latter being the first ever translated Sanskrit play leading to the creation of early 19th operas and ballets based on the story. We will then swiftly move to gain familiarity with still current traditional forms of theatre, often akin to storytelling with words, movement and dance, such as Ram Lila, Bhagavatha Mela, Koodiyattum and Kathakali.

A second part of the module will focus on urban and urbanisation of forms and means of production and presentation examining the impact of the colonial period which re-introduced written plays after a gap of nearly 1200 years when non-written, improvised theatre was favoured. A regional sweep will take in the focus and politics of theatre practice and plays in regional languages in the '60s-'70s through the works of playwrights such as Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar, and Habib Tanvir, who were also translated into English and other languages. Bombay's Parsi theatre will come in for special consideration for their Gujarati theatre and contribution to India's English theatre featuring Brecht and Chekov and more. Conversely, we will look at India's popular regional language translations and re-renderings of Brecht and Shakespeare in urban and rural modes -- the latter most recently at the Globe to Globe festival in London.

The module is based on the premise that performance is essentially a social and cultural practice. As such, it is to be analysed, understood, explained and questioned in terms commensurate with its composite nature and socio-cultural complexity. These terms of this analysis are provided by an interdisciplinary approach which will draw, notably, on theatre and performance studies, cultural theory, anthropology, ethnography, philosophy, and aesthetics, among others. Although the module is primarily theoretical, it assumes that theory is constantly in dialogue with practice. Thus, it uses the latter to explore and develop points of theory; and uses the former to foreground aspects of theatre and performance practice. The module is anchored on the idea that learning and critical inquiry are based on cross-referencing, cumulative and in-depth acquisition of knowledge. Its structure fosters initiative and independence in research and presentation of work, and collaborative effort in class discussion and practice workshops.

What is the significance of distinguishing European theatre culture(s) between East and West? What histories are recalled or forgotten in making this distinction? When did Eastern Europe, or East-Central Europe, become identified as distinct from "the West" - by and for whom? Prior to being the "Other Europe" of the Cold War, and the "New Europe" of the 1990s, "Eastern Europe" was a colonial designation of Prussian and then Nazi empires. And prior to this, these terms designated confessional empires, distinguishing Catholic (then Lutheran) and Orthodox regions, as also Teutonic and Slav domains, while today the nations of the "European home" are all partners of a European Union. Is all Europe "Western" today, with a capital in Brussels (or even Frankfurt)? Is Eastern Europe like Shakespeare's legendary Bohemia, with its imagined deserts and shorelines? Or is it like Jarry's Poland at the end of the nineteenth century - somewhere that is remembered culturally, but which doesn't exist politically? How is a geographical region - with its histories of empires (including the Ottoman), nationalities, minorities, and changing borders - thought of in terms of its theatre practices? This module will explore the emergence of a new critical discourse about "Eastern Europe" (principally in the context of the visual arts) and reflect on ways that twentieth century "art theatres", "experimental" or "laboratory" theatres, National theatres, "director's theatre", ensemble theatre, repertoires, "classic" and "contemporary" plays, have been understood in English translation(s) as "East European".

Amongst topics to be considered will be: the relation between romanticism and modernism; realism, socialist realism, and the avant-garde; the impact of two pan-European wars and the aftermath of foreign occupation; censorship, exile, "inner emigration", and dissidence; organisations and festivals for exchange, such as the ITI, UNIMA, IETM, and BITEF; the haunting figure of "Hamlet"; and besides the dramatic canon, examples of cabaret, performance art, and puppet theatre. Amongst artists (besides Craig), we will consider the example of two, exiled Poles as professors of theatre at the College de France (Mickiewicz and Grotowski); the particular history of Stanislavsky in Poland (in the contrasting legacies, pre- and post-war, of Limonowski and Witkacy, Grotowski and Kantor); the legacies of Brecht and Müller, both during and after - but also across - the division of Berlin (where, in a real sense, 1945 only occurred in 1990); the European Yiddish legacy, with the example of Ansky's The Dybbuk (read with Derrida, Krall, and Warlikowski); the changing situations of Vaclav Havel's theatre work; and the example of two theatre critics, historians, and theorists, Jan Kott and Dragan Klaic. The module is based on the premise that performance is essentially a social and cultural practice. As such, it is to be analysed, understood, explained and questioned in terms commensurate with its composite nature and socio-cultural complexity. 

The terms of this analysis are provided by an interdisciplinary approach which will draw, notably, on theatre and performance studies, cultural theory, anthropology, ethnography, philosophy, and aesthetics, among others. Although the module is primarily theoretical, it assumes that theory is constantly in dialogue with practice. Thus, it uses the latter to explore and develop points of theory; and uses the former to foreground aspects of theatre and performance practice. The module is anchored on the idea that learning and critical inquiry are based on cross-referencing, cumulative and in-depth acquisition of knowledge. Its structure fosters initiative and independence in research and presentation of work, and collaborative effort in class discussion.

Further information about this module will be available soon.

This module is made up of two components - Postgraduate Research Methodology and the Dissertation.

The Postgraduate Research Methodology is designed to support you in developing your research project and to assist you in defining their mode of inquiry. The module has been constructed to guide you through a range of issues and considerations which should inform your general approach to research. It will give you a general introduction to postgraduate research, its methodologies, its challenges and its organisation. 

You will be introduced to a range of research tools that will equip them to plan and organise their research, as well as to disseminate their findings. This mandatory module is intended to enable you to develop your independent research, understanding and knowledge arising from your interest in any area within the field of World performance and theatre, and culture. It is hoped to extend learning and skills developed/acquired from the other modules on the programme.