Learning Outcomes:

Completing this module, students should be able to:

- Identify and define key players, ideas, and works in theatre and activism
- Gain a broad knowledge of dramatic approaches to the topic and be able to write about these ideas
- Interpret the impact of activism in theatre works and in theatre-making
- Critically analyse performative/theatrical elements within activists’ approaches.
- Evaluate the efficacy and aims of activist theatre
- Acquire an understanding of how activism in theatre has changed and evolved
- Grasp some of the key dramatic techniques employed by activist playwrights

Indicative Module Content:

Indicative Module Content (subject to change):
Lecture Schedule:


Class 1: Introduction: Defining Activism and its Place in Theatre

Class 2: The Good Person of Szechwan: Brecht’s Mark on Political and Activist Theatre

Class 3: Waiting for Lefty: Labor Rights and Audience Engagement

Class 4: Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed and its Lasting Impact

Class 5: 1960s Radical Theatre: Antiwar, Civil Rights, and Radical Approaches to Activism

Class 6: Seven: Women and Gender Rights Activism

Class 7: The Normal Heart: HIV/AIDS Activism and LGBTQ+ Rights

Class 8: Performing Activism: How Can We Be Effective Activists?

Class 9: The Exonerated: A Case Study about Capital Punishment and Theatre’s Influence on Politics

Class 10: Climate Change on Stage and Beyond

Class 11: Theatre Activism Within: Evaluating Efforts in Current Theatre Practices to Change Longstanding Inequities

Class 12: Review and Preparation for Exam

Student Effort Type	Hours
Lectures	12
Small Group	12
Autonomous Student Learning	76
Total	100

Not applicable to this module.

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  

Description	Timing		Component Scale		% of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Composed of two 200 word responses over the semester that cover class readings and participation and involvment in tutoring session discussions and exercises.	Throughout the Trimester	n/a	Graded	No	15
Examination: End of semester exam comprised of multiple choice, matching, true/false, short answer, and longer essay questions.	2 hour End of Trimester Exam	No	Graded	No	45
Essay: Midterm Essay - A 1000-1200 word critical essay that utilizes a student's original idea and contextualizes it against material covered so far in class. Due past week 7.	Week 7	n/a	Graded	No	40

 

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Autumn	Yes - 2 Hour

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Peer review activities

Feedback Written feedback will be provided to students individually throughout semester. Feedback on mid-term paper given within two weeks. End of term exam feedback will be offered in the post-assessment period.

Plays:
Waiting for Lefty by Clifford Odets
The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht
The Exonerated by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen
The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer
Seven by Paula Cizmar, Et al.
Climate Change Plays - link provided

Chapters from these Books:
Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal
Theatre & Protest by Lara Shalson
Restaging the Sixties – Radical Theatres and Their Legacies by James M. Harding
Radical Street Performance by Jan Cohen-Cruz

Excerpts from other books and articles provided on Brightspace

Recommended Reading:
Stefan Bläske, Luanda Casella, Milo Rau, and Lara Staa, The Art of Resistance: On Theatre, Activism and Solidarity (Berlin: Verbrecher Verlag), 2020.
Jan Cohen-Cruz, Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology (London: Routledge) 1998.
Dan Friedman, Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) 2021.
Jacob Juntunen, Mainstream AIDS Theatre, the Media, and Gay Civil Rights: Making the Radical Palatable (London: Routledge), 2016.
D. Soyini Madison, Acts of Activism: Human Rights as Radical Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge UP), 2010.
Mary McAvoy, Rehearsing Revolutions: The Labor Drama Experiment and Radical Activism in the Early Twentieth Century (University of Iowa Press), 2019.
Mady Schutzman and Jan Cohen-Cruz, Playing Boal: Theatre, Therapy, and Activism, (London: Routledge), 1994.
Kim Solga, Theatre and Feminism, (London: Metheun Drama), 2015.
Vanessa Nakate, A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis (Boston: Mariner Books), 2021.

Name	Role
Dr Jeanne Tiehen	Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Lia Capotorto	Tutor
Aikaterini Kaniamou	Tutor

Spring
Lecture	Offering 1	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Wed 11:00 - 11:50
Tutorial	Offering 1	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Thurs 11:00 - 11:50
Tutorial	Offering 2	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Thurs 13:00 - 13:50
Tutorial	Offering 3	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Thurs 12:00 - 12:50
Spring