DRAM20110

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the course students should:

be familiar with a range of contemporary Irish plays; be aware of issues of representation, convention and innovation in contemporary Irish theatre;
be able to discuss and write critically about contemporary theatre practice in Ireland;
be familiar with current sources on contemporary Irish theatre.

Indicative Module Content:

List of Seminars


21/01 Introduction (EJ)

28/01 The Weir by Conor McPherson (EJ)

04/02 The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh (EJ)

11/02 The Mai by Marina Carr (SH)

THEATRE VISIT: TBC
All students are expected to draft a review prior to their SGT.

18/02 One Upon a Time & Not So Long Ago by Bisi Adigun (EJ)

25/02 Override Stacy Gregg (AT)

03/03 Performance Review (EJ)


Theatre Review due 06/03 at 14:00: Deliver to Drama and Film Studies Administrator, Newman Building

Reading Weeks

24/03 The Factory Girls by Frank McGuinnesss (EJ)

31/03 Howie The Rookie by Mark O’Rowe (EJ)

07/04 I know my Own Heart by Emma Donoghue (SH)

14/04 A Woman in Progress by Panti Bliss (CM)

21/04 Conclusion/Overview (EJ)

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

This module is lecture based.
Students are expected to have read the play in advance of each lecture.
The lecture is followed by one hour of small group teaching.
These sessions are more practice-orientated.
Lectures will be informed by at least one theatre visit.
The focus of one SGT will be on the writing of theatre reviews.
The use of AI is not accepted

Not applicable to this module.

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will be given feedback on their theatre reviews within two weeks of the probject submission.

The below outline is indicative only.
List of Seminars

One class will be on zoom

13/09 Introduction (EJ)

20/09 The Weir by Conor McPherson (EJ) (Drama on Line)

27/09 By the Bog of Cats by Marina Carr (SP) (Drama on Line)

04/10 The Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness (EJ) (Drama on Line)

11/10 A Woman in Progress by Panti Bliss (CM)

18/10 Review writing session (CO’R)
(Please have seen and drafted a review of Nancy Harris’s Somewhere Out There You at the Abbey Theatre [27 Sept -4 Nov])
(Book the play yourself at a time that suits you. There are no alternative plays for you to review.)

https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/somewhere-out-there-you/

25/10 Class by Iseult Golden and David Horan (EJ)

27/10 - Theatre Review due

Reading Week 01/11


08/11 One Upon a Time & Not So Long Ago by Bisi Adigun (EJ)

15/11 Rathmines Road by Deirdre Kinahan (BA) (Drama on Line) ZOOM SESSION

22/11 I Know My Own Heart by Emma Donoghue (SH) (Drama on Line)

29/11 The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh (EJ) (Multiple copies in Library)



Required Readings

Adigun, Bisi, One Upon a Time & Not So Long Ago in Staging Intercultural Ireland: New Plays and Practitioner Perspectives, edited by Charlotte McIvor and Matthew Spangler (Cork: Cork University Press, 2014)
Carr, Marina, By the Bog of Cats in Plays 1 (London: Faber, 1999)
Donoghue, Emma, I know my Own Heart is published in Emma Donoghue: Selected Plays (London: Oberon Books, 2015) and in Seen and Heard: Six New Plays by Irish Women, ed. by Cathy Leeney (Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2001).
Golden, Iseult and David Horan, Class (London: Nick Hern Books, 2018)
Kinahan, Deirdre, Rathmines Road (London: Nick Hern Books, 2018)
McDonagh, Martin, The Pillowman (London: Faber, 2003)
McGuinness, Frank, The Factory Girls in Plays One (London, Faber and Faber, 1996)
McPherson, Conor, The Weir (London: Nick Hern Books, 1997)
Panti Bliss, A Woman in Progress in Fintan Walsh’s Queer Notions: New Plays and Performances from Ireland (Cork: Cork University Press, 2010).


BRIGHT SPACE RESOURCES

Numerous articles will be available to you on Brightspace
Lecture slides will be available online prior to the session

Recommended Readings


Handbooks

Cronin, Finola and Eamonn Jordan, (eds) Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance Studies Reader, (EBOOK, 2016 see UCD Library)
Grene, Nicholas and Chris Morash Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Drama (Oxford 2016)
Jordan, Eamonn and Eric Weitz (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance, (2018) (Online)

Overview books

Haughton, Miriam Staging Trauma: Bodies in Shadow (Palgrave: Basingstoke, 2018)
Hill, Shonagh, Women and Embodied Mythmaking in Irish Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Roche, Anthony, Contemporary Irish Drama, (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009)
Jordan, Eamonn, Dissident Dramaturgies: Contemporary Irish Theatre (Dublin: IAP, 2010)
Lonergan, Patrick Irish Drama and Theatre Since 1950 (London: Methuen, 2019)
McIvor, Charlotte, Migration and Performance in Contemporary Ireland (Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2016)

And numerous other publications, books and articles, will be suggested throughout the trimester.