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English and Comparative Literary Studies

EN107 British Theatre Since 1939

Jerusalem

British Theatre Since 1939
Module Convenor 2023-24: Dr. Ronan HatfullLink opens in a new window

SEE BELOW FOR TEACHING TIMES FOR 2023/24
DAY / TIME / LOCATION
MON / 10-12 / FAB5.02
MON / 12-2 / FAB6.05

OVERVIEW

The module will serve both as an introduction to contemporary theatre in Britain post-1939 and as a first investigation of the relationship between literary texts and the conditions of performance. Major plays of the period will be studied in their own right but also as examples of trends and developments in the period.

Each week involves focus on one or more playwrights, with designated primary and secondary texts. It is essential that you read the primary text, but also strongly encouraged to read the secondary text. By doing so, you will gain an understanding of each playwright's development as an artist and begin to hone your skills of comparative literary and theatrical analysis.

Design, theatrical architecture, performance styles, organisations and repertoires will be studied, with special attention to assumptions concerning the social role of the drama. Playtexts will be related to specific productions, and you are encouraged to watch or listen to stage, screen and radio adaptations, where these are available. The module will be taught through a combination of mini-lectures, roundtable discussions and practical explorations.

'It wasn't until director Dominic Cooke arrived at Warwick University in 1985 that he began to understand theatre's capacity to be both a political and a moral force. Fittingly enough, it was the Royal Court that seized his attention:

"We did this brilliant course, which was basically all about the Court – about the shift from TS Eliot's The Cocktail Party to Look Back in Anger, right through Wesker, Bond, all those writers. Plays that really engaged, which were asking questions."'

Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre (Guardian, 29.1.2011)

TERM 1

Week 1: Terence Rattigan

Week 2: John Osborne

Week 3: Shelagh Delaney / Joan Littlewood

Week 4: Arnold Wesker 

Week 5: Harold Pinter

Week 6: Reading Week

Week 7: Samuel Beckett

Week 8: Brian Friel

** FORMATIVE ESSAY DUE **

Week 9: Martin McDonagh

Week 10: Marina Carr

TERM 2

Week 1: David Greig

Week 2: Jez Butterworth

    Week 3: Caryl Churchill

    Week 4: Lucy Prebble

    ** ESSAY 1 ESSAY DUE **

    Week 5: Ella Hickson

    Week 6: Reading Week

    Week 7: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

    Week 8: Michaela Cole

    Week 9: Inua Ellams

    Week 10: Silent Faces

    TERM 3

    Student-led seminars on plays by British playwrights not yet studied on the module.

    Examples might include: Bola Agbaje, Mike Bartlett, Alice Birch, Alan Bennet, Breach Theatre, Helen Edmundson, debbie tucker green, Lucy Kirkwood, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Liz Lochhead, Duncan Macmillan, Alistair McDowall, Gary Owen, Nick Payne, Nina Raine, Ambreen Razia, Sam Steiner, Simon Stephens, Tom Stoppard and Laura Wade.

    Group 1

    Week 1:

    • Jonathan Harvey, Beautiful Thing (1993) – Dylan, Luke, Lucy, Ife

    Available on Drama Online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9781408164549&tocid=do-9781408164549-div-00000005&st=Jonathan+Harvey%2C+Beautiful+Thing

     

    • Polly Stenham, That Face (2007) – Alessandro, Edie, Soroya

    Available on Drama Online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9780571285471&tocid=do-9780571285471-div-00000005&st=Polly+Stenham%2C+That+Face

     

    Week 2:

    • Nick Payne, Constellations (2012) – Holly, Matthew, Casi

     Available on Drama Online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9780571313655&tocid=do-9780571313655-div-00000006&st=Nick+Payne%2C+Constellations

     

    • Suzie Miller, Prima Facie (2019) – Katherine, Tamara

     Available on eBook Central: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/warw/detail.action?docID=6280540

    Week 3:

    • Chris Bush, Standing at the Sky’s Edge (2022) – Emma, Vi, Sinead

    Not available in the Library. Currently on at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/standing-at-the-skys-edge/

     

    Group 2

    Week 1:

    • Julian Mitchell, Another Country (1981) – Harry, Somi

    Physical copy available in the Library: https://warwick.summon.serialssolutions.com/#!/search/document?ho=t&include.ft.matches=f&fvf=ContentType,Newspaper%20Article,t%7CContentType,Book%20Review,t&l=en-UK&q=Julian%20Mitchell,%20Another%20Country&id=FETCHMERGED-warwick_catalog_b121013212

     

    • Alan Bennet, The History Boys (2004) – Famke, Matty, Freya, Fred

    Available on Drama Online: https://0-www-dramaonlinelibrary-com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/playtext-overview?docid=do-9780571289325&tocid=do-9780571289325-div-00000008&st=

     

    Week 2:

    • Nick Payne, Constellations (2012) – Felix, Emily, Isabel, Angelina, Clemi

    Available on Drama Online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9780571313655&tocid=do-9780571313655-div-00000006&st=Nick+Payne%2C+Constellations

     

    • Simon Stephens, Bluebird (2012) – Rowan, Fathima

    Available on Drama Online: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playtext-overview?docid=do-9781408168431&tocid=do-9781408168431-div-00000005&st=%E2%80%A2Simon+Stephens%2C+Bluebird

    Week 3:

    • Gecko Show TBC (I suggest Institute, as this is available to watch on Box of Broadcasts) – Shona, Bethan, Fred

    Institute available on Box of Broadcasts: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/1677666B?bcast=132394077

    Week 4: ** ESSAY 2 ESSAY DUE **

    LIVE THEATRE OPPORTUNITIES

    Several of the plays which we're studying will be staged during the 2023-24 academic year. Seeing live theatre is the best way to engage with playwrights and their work, so I'd encourage you to try and see as much as you are able. I've listed below relevant productions and will add to this list if and when new ones are announced. If you hear of any productions taking place, please let me know and I will add them. The productions are ordered by date:

    TEACHING

    Teaching is seminar-based, with weekly 2 hour sessions.

    ASSESSMENT

    Assessment is by two essays, each of 2,500 words - one due Term 2, Week 4 and another in Term 3, Week 4.

    There is also a 1,500-word formative essay due in Term 1, Week 9 - this is compulsory, but its mark does not count towards the final module mark. You do need to complete this essay to pass the module, however.

    Each essay will have the following elements:

    • A full bibliography, including publication details, showing evidence of secondary critical reading.
    • The essay will be anonymous, but will have your student number on every page.

    READING LIST

    The reading list for this module is on Talis AspireLink opens in a new window. All books can be purchased either from the University or other bookshops, or secondhand online; any edition is fine. The Library has a very limited number of physical copies of all books. It is essential for all students to bring copies of the week's reading (book, printout, or laptop/e-reader; not mobile phone copy) to seminar.

    SUGGESTED BACKGROUND READING

    Michael Billington, State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 (London: Faber, 2007)

    Colin Chambers, Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History (London: Routledge, 2011)

    Claire Cochrane, Twentieth-Century British Theatre: Industry, Art and Empire (Cambridge: CUP, 2011)

    Dominic Dromgoole, The Full Room (London: Methuen, 2000)

    David Edgar, ed. State of Play (London: Faber, 1999)

    Christopher Innes, Modern British Drama: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge: CUP, 2002)

    Stephen Lacey, British Realist Theatre: The New Wave in its Context 1956-1965 (London: Routledge, 1995)

    Mary Luckhurst, ed. A companion to modern British and Irish drama, 1880-2005 (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006)

    Dan Rebellato, 1956 And All That - The Making of Modern British Drama (London: Routledge, 1999)

    Dominic Shellard, British Theatre Since the War (New Haven: Yale UP, 2000)

    Aleks Sierz, In Yer Face Theatre (London: Faber, 2001)

    John Russell Taylor, Anger and After (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964)

    Micheline Wandor, Look Back in Gender (London: Methuen, 1987)

    Photo credit: Trafalgar Studios production of A Taste of Honey (2019)