Learning Outcomes:
- Students will have drawn upon their understanding of theatre to examine the ethics and politics of speech in the public sphere.
- Students will have engaged in focused analysis of the way spoken address functions in a range of theatre and performance examples.
- Students will be conversant in key concepts in speech act theory, performative theory and rhetorical theory.
- Students will have developed their skills in academic writing.
Indicative Module Content:
Week 1: Introduction - what makes a speech 'great'?
Week 2: How do politicians use theatricality to legitimate their power?
Week 3: How does theatre question the legitimacy of political rhetoric? Julius Caesar
Week 4: What is theatrical about the law? Courtroom drama and tribunal plays
Week 5: What does it mean to ‘give your word’? Oaths and promises
Week 6: Can 'non-serious' utterances have real consequences? Spells, curses, and superstition
Week 7: Can jokes perform violence?
Week 8: Can words heal injury? Testimony, commemoration, apology
Week 9: How does a crowd speak? Riots, protests, shouting, chanting
Week 10: How do ‘involuntary’ utterances challenge norms and expectations of speech?
Week 11: Why are some forms of eloquence valued over others? Vernacular forms
Week 12: Module review and essay prep