DRAM40060 Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance

Academic Year 2021/2022

This course examines new Irish theatre and performance over the past twenty years, during a time of profound economic and social change. The disintegration of a unified national consciousness is reflected on Irish stages, and the proliferation of forms, themes, and styles signals trans-national concerns, urban consciousness, recreation of ‘traditional’ images and themes, and an interrogation of narrative, identity, and empathy.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Students will examine key developments in new writing and performance for contemporary Irish theatre, and will reflect on and critique the Irish theatre and performance sector in a cultural context. Students will be invited to analyse the work of key writers and selected performance case studies through assessment of formal innovation, modes of representation in contemporary work, including uses of dramatic language, and to distinguish present-day performance aesthetics, and consider the impact of social conditions on theatrical representation.

On completion of the course students should be familiar with a range of contemporary Irish plays and performance. They should be capable of researching current sources in the field, and of presenting their findings in oral and written forms. They should be critically aware of issues of representation, convention and innovation in contemporary Irish theatre, and be able critically to discuss, and write about contemporary theatre practice in Ireland.

Indicative Module Content:


List of Seminars:

Week 1 (20/09): Issues in Contemporary Irish Drama and Performance - Narrative, Gender, History, Pastoral, Myth, Metatheatre, Space, Identity, Interculturalism (EJ)
Week 2 (27/09): Tom Murphy’s A Whistle in the Dark (EJ)
Week 3 (04/10): Marina Carr’s The Mai (SH)
Week 4 (11/10): Stacy Gregg’s Override (AT)
Week 5 (18/10): Paula Meehan’s Mrs Sweeney (EJ)
(Discussion on Reviewing also during this session)
Week 6 (25/10): Emma Donoghue’s I know my Own Heart by (SH)

Review (750 words) Due Friday 26/10 2pm

Week 7 (08/11): Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer (EJ)
Week 8 (15/11): Anne Devlin’s After Easter (EJ)
Week 9 (22/11): Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman (EJ)
Week 10 (29/11): Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce and Conclusion (EJ)

Dates and texts may still change depending on what is on in the theatre.

Required Readings:
Carr, Marina, By the Bog of Cats in Plays 1 (London: Faber, 1999)
Devlin, Anne, After Easter (London: Faber, 1996)
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).
Gregg, Stacy, Override (London: Nick Hern Books, 2013)
Meehan, Paula, Mrs Sweeney in Rough Magic: First Plays, edited by Siobhán Bourke (Dublin, London & Mount Kuring-Gai: New Island Books, Methuen & Peribo, 1999) ,
McDonagh, Martin, The Pillowman (London: Faber and Faber, 2003)
McPherson, Conor, The Seafarer (London: Nick Hern Books, 2006)
Murphy, Tom, A Whistle in the Dark (Methuen)
Walsh, Enda, The Walworth Farce (London, Nick Hern Books, 2007)

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

24

Field Trip/External Visits

20

Specified Learning Activities

125

Autonomous Student Learning

60

Total

229

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a seminar module.
Students are expected to read plays and some critical readings in advance of the seminar.
A theatre review and an essay are the major writing components of this module.
Seeing work in the theatre is essential for this module. Plays often change based on what is showing in Dublin. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Project: Theatre Review Week 7 n/a Graded No

15

Continuous Assessment: Contributions to seminar, including bullet point submissions. Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No

15

Essay: Essay 3.5 k words Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

70


Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback is offered after the examination window closes on the essay. Feedback on the review is available prior to this stage.


Readings:

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

Dissident Dramaturgies: Contemporary Irish Theatre, Jordan, Eamonn, (Dublin: IAP, 2010)
Irish Drama and Theatre Since 1950 by Patrick Lonergan (London: Methuen, 2019)
Contemporary Irish Drama, Roche, Anthony (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2009)
The Theatre of Marina Carr: “before rules was made”, edited by Cathy Leeney and Anna McMullan (Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2003)
Theatre Talk: Interviews with Irish Theatre Practitioners edited by Lilian Chambers, Dan Farrelly, Ger Fitzgibbon, Cathy Leeney and Eamonn Jordan (Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2001)
A Century of Irish Drama: Widening the Stage edited by Stephen Watts (Indiana University Press, 2000)
In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today, Sierz, Aleks (London: Faber, 2001)
Druids, Dudes and Beauty Queens: The Changing Face of Irish Theatre edited by Dermot Bolger (New Island, 2001)
Deviant Acts: Essays on Queer Performance, ed. by David Cregan (Dublin: Carysfort, 2009).
In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today Aleks Sierz (Faber, 2001)
State of Play: Playwrights on Playwriting edited by David Edgar (Faber, 1999)
The State of Play: Irish Theatre in the ‘Nineties edited by Eberhard Bort (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 1996)


Numerous other publications will be suggested throughout the semester.



Name Role
Dr Emma Bennett Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Ms Fiona Charleton Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Paul Halferty Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Shonagh Hill Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Ms Clara Mallon Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Ashley Taggart Lecturer / Co-Lecturer