This course aims to shape the students' understanding of the evolution of twentieth century drama and its poignant portrayal of the cultural and scientific changes of this century. We will explore the implications of the radical changes in dramatic form, which give rise to the tragicomedy as a leading style and Absurdism as a new dramatic model.
Over the course of the century, drama reclaims its role as a revolutionary space, used to explore unsettling ideas and provoke rather than entertain the audience. The use of plot, characters, space, and time on stage becomes increasingly daring, abstract, and innovative reflecting a world whose axis has fallen "out of joint" morally and scientifically. We will work our way through the stagnancy of dreams in a claustrophobic home in Ibsen's A Doll's House and against a dying nature in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard; the birth of the mask as the only atemporal truth in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author; the collapse of the order of war in Brecht's Mother Courage; the coming undone of time in Beckett's Waiting for Godot; the implausibility of ordering time in Pinter's Betrayal; and the entropy underlying the human experience in Stoppard's Arcadia. The course will focus on dramatic form as an expression of concerns of a specific time period and a reflection of an intended relationship with the audience. It will also investigate the impact of revolutions in cosmology on the creation of a microcosm on stage. The challenge these specific plays pose to the audience implies an urgent call to action that anticipates the crises that dominate current times.
List of Plays:
Ibsen's A Doll's House
ChekhovThe Cherry Orchard
Pirandello Six Characters in Search of an Author
Brecht's Mother Courage
Beckett's Waiting for Godot
Pinter's Betrayal
Stoppard's Arcadia
Secondary reading will be provided in the context of the course.