SLL40850

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the module, students will be able to: critically analyse comedic traditions across European theatre and cinema; evaluate the interplay of image, text, and performance in constructing humour; assess the socio-historical and cultural influences on comedy, including gender, identity, and stardom; apply theoretical frameworks (e.g., Bergson, Butler) to comedic texts and performances; and demonstrate creative-critical engagement through written, visual, or performative assessments. They will also develop transferable skills in collaborative analysis, multimodal communication, and independent research.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

This module employs a dynamic, multimodal approach to teaching and learning, blending active/task-based learning (performance workshops, posters), peer and group work (collaborative analysis of comedic texts and films, via short video essays or podcast episodes), and critical writing (comparative analyses). Enquiry and problem-based learning is central, as students dissect humour’s socio-historical contexts, while case-based learning anchors discussions in specific performances (e.g., Commedia dell’Arte scenarios or Álex de la Iglesia films). Student presentations and debates foster engagement with gender, identity, and stardom, complemented by reflective learning. This flexible assessment strategy further encourages innovation, allowing students to demonstrate understanding through academic, visual, or performative modes.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

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
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

SLL40850 – European Comedy & Performance

Reading List (Available on Brightspace or on UCD Library website)

Week 1 – Visual Culture and the Semiotics of Comedy:
• Core reading 1: Ferdinando Taviani, “Knots and Doubleness The Engine of the Commedia dell’Arte” in Commedia dell'Arte in Context, ed. by Balme–Vescovo–Vianello (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 17-33. (Library website)
• Core reading 2: Lauren Berlant & Sianne Ngai (2017) ‘Comedy has issues’, Critical Inquiry, 43(2), pp. 233–249. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1086/689666 / https://www.jstor.org/stable/26547687?seq=1 (log in with your UCD credentials).
• Optional extra reading: Andrew Horton & Joanna E. Rapf (2013) ‘Comic introduction: “Make ‘em Laugh, Make ‘em Laugh!”’, in A Companion to Film Comedy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 1–8 only. (Brightspace)

Week 2 – Commedia dell’Arte and its Context:

• Core reading 1: Robert Henke, “Improvisation and characters”, in Performance and Literature in the Commedia dell’Arte (Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp.12-30. (Brightspace)
• Core reading 2: Stefan Hulfeld, “Notebooks, Prologues and Scenarios” in Commedia dell'Arte in Context, ed. by Balme–Vescovo–Vianello (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 46-55. (Library website)

Week 4 – The Body in the Commedia dell’Arte:

• Core reading 1: Matthew Buckley, “Eloquent Action: The Body and Meaning in Early Commedia Dell’arte”, in Theatre Survey 50:2 (2009), pp. 251-315. (Brightspace)
• Core reading 2: Gordon-Foley-Peackock, “Lazzi”, in The Routledge Companion to Commedia Dell'Arte, edited by Judith Chaffee, and Oliver Crick, pp. 230-264. (Library website)

Week 5 – The Rise of the Diva:

• Core reading 1: Rosalind Kerr, The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth-Century Commedia Dell'Arte Stage pp. 28-50 and 117-161. (Library website)

Week 6 – Genre/Gender-Bending and Power Dynamics in the Commedia dell’Arte:

• Core reading 1: M. A. Katritzky, Female Stage Costume and Cross-dressing in Women, Medicine and Theatre 1500–1750. Literary Mountebanks and Performing Quacks (Routledge, 2017), pp. 231-252. (Brightspace)
• Core reading 2: Serena Laiena, «Per ministrar […] veracemente gli scettri e le corone»: The Performance of Actresses between Dramaturgical Fiction and Societal Reality in Early Modern Italy, in Women Language Literature in Italy/Donne Lingua Letteratura in Italia, VI (2024), 27-39. (Brightspace)

Week 7 – Commedia dell’Arte in Italy and Beyond:

• Core reading 1: Giulia Filacanapa, “Giovanni Poli: The missing Link”, in The Routledge Companion to Commedia Dell'Arte, edited by Judith Chaffee, and Oliver Crick, pp. 514-523. (Library website)
• Optional extra: Christopher B. Balme, “Commedia dell’Arte and Cultural Heritage”, in Commedia dell'Arte in Context, ed. by Balme–Vescovo–Vianello (Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 311-319. (Library website)


Shift in time to contemporary Spanish film comedy


Week 8 – Comedy, Context, and National Stereotypes in Spain:

• 🎬 Key film to watch: Ocho apellidos vascos [Spanish Affair] (dir. Emilio Martínez-Lázaro, 2014) (Brightspace)

• Core reading 1: Juan Egea (2013) ‘Familiar Questions’, in Dark Laughter: Spanish Film, Comedy, and the Nation. University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 7–29. (Brightspace)
• Core reading 2: Peter Buse & Núria Triana Toribio (2015) ‘Ocho apellidos vascos and the comedy of minor differences’, Romance Quarterly, 62(4), pp. 229–241. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/08831157.2015.1068637 (log in with UCD credentials).

Week 9 – Comedy, the Body, and (Offensive?) Satire:

Please note: these films about a xenophobic, racist, misogynist ex-cop are (deliberately, one might argue) gross-out, obnoxious, and outrageous. This content may be disturbing or uncomfortable for some viewers.

• 🎬 Key film to watch: Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley [Torrente, the Dumb Arm of the Law] (Santiago Segura, 1998) (Brightspace)
• Optional extra: Other films in the saga

• Core Reading 1: Matthew Hilborn (2025) ‘Homegrown (Anti-)Hero: Surfeit, extinction, and legacy in the Torrentiad’, in Film Comedy and Spain: Humour, Genre, and the Nation 1970–2020. Oxford: Legenda, pp. 151–192. (Library website: 791.430946 HIL)
• Core reading 2: Antonio Lázaro-Reboll (2005) ‘Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law and Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella’, in Alberto Mira (ed.) The Cinema of Spain and Portugal. London: Wallflower Press, pp. 219–227. (Brightspace)

Week 10 – Stardom and Comedy: Penélope Cruz, in Spain and Beyond:

• 🎬 Key film to watch: Jamón jamón (Bigas Luna, 1992) (Brightspace)
• Optional extra: Belle époque (Fernando Trueba, 1992) (Brightspace)

• Core reading: Ann Davies (2014) ‘Performing youth’, in Penélope Cruz. London: BFI Publishing, pp. 14–40. (Brightspace)

Week 11 – Genre/Gender-Bending, Faith, and Power Dynamics:

• 🎬 Key film to watch: Mi querida cofradía [Hopelessly Devout] (Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz, 2018) (Brightspace)
• Optional extra: La llamada [Holy Camp!] (Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, 2018) (Brightspace)

• Core reading: Erin K. Hogan (2024) ‘¿Verdugas? Leading women and specular comedies of manslaughter’, in Patriarchy’s Remains: An Autopsy of Iberian Cinematic Dark Humour. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 113–141. (Brightspace)
• If preferring La llamada, read Mary Farrelly (2021) ‘Seen and Unseen: Women, Spirituality and the Gaze on the Spanish Stage and Screen.’ Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies 5 (2): 325–345. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/24741604.2021.1873587 (log in with UCD credentials)

Week 12 – Comedy, (Simulated?) Slapstick, and the Double:

• 🎬 Key film to watch: Muertos de risa [Dying of Laughter] (Álex de la Iglesia, 1999) (Brightspace)

• Core reading 1: Vicente Rodríguez Ortega (2014) ‘Clowns, goats, music and the comedic violent: Late Francoism and the transition to democracy in Álex de la Iglesia’s films’, in Duncan Wheeler & Fernando Canet (eds) (Re)viewing Creative, Critical and Commercial Practices in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. Bristol: Intellect, pp. 235–248. Available online: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucd/detail.action?docID=2091488 (log in with UCD credentials)
• Core Reading 2: Kevin Casper (2015) ‘“I’m so glad you’re fake!’: Simulacra slapstick and the limits of the real’ ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization 15 (3): 581–600. Available online, Open Access at: https://ephemerajournal.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/15-3casper.pdf.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.