02/10/20 DRAM5001 Theatre and Theory: Modern and Post-modern | Oxford Brookes

Reading Lists

DRAM5001 Theatre and Theory: Modern View Online

and Post-modern
(Semester 2)

This module aims to introduce students to significant

modern practitioners and theories through the analysis
of key texts and historical periods and the application of
theories to a selection of plays. It will consider a range
of theoretical writings from Modernism to the present
day and will examine the social, economic and cultural
conditions of theatre production in a European and
global context during the twentieth-century. The module
seeks to embed theoretical debates within a historical
understanding of the development of twentieth-century
theatre and to foster an understanding of the impact of
Modernist and historical Avant-garde movements and
practitioners on contemporary performance practice.
The module will explore theatrical theories through
discussion and practice and will draw on a variety of
materials, including visual, textual and audio.

188 items

Set texts (20 items)

A Dream Play - August Strindberg
Chapter

A dream play - August Strindberg

Chapter

A dream play - August Strindberg

Chapter

Woyzeck - Georg
Bu
̈
chner
Chapter

Woyzeck - Georg
Bu
̈
chner, Gregory Motton, Kenneth McLeish, 1996
Book

The government inspector -

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Reading Lists

Nikolai
̆
Vasilʹevich Gogol
Chapter

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello

Chapter

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello, Stephen Mulrine, 2003

Book

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello

Chapter

The good soul of Szechuan - Bertolt Brecht, 2008, c1985

Book

The good person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

Chapter

The good person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

Chapter

The Marat/Sade - Peter Weiss, Geoffrey Skelton, Adrian Mitchell, 1997

Book

The bald prima donna: a pseudo-play in one act -

Euge
̀
ne Ionesco, Donald Watson, 2012
Book

Portrait of Dora - Hélène Cixous, Sarah Burd, 1983

Document | Please note, you do not have to buy this play, but should download the text
from Jstor

Portrait of Dora - Hélène Cixous

Chapter

Attempts on her life - Martin Crimp, 2007

Book

Attempts on her life - Martin Crimp, 2005

Document

Macbeth - William Shakespeare, 2015

Book

In addition to these plays, you will also be required to read scholarly essays and texts by
several of the playwrights and practitioners studied (see required readings below).

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Reading Lists

Useful secondary reading for the course (9 items)

You will find the following texts extremely useful for this course

Actor training - Alison Hodge, 2010

Book

The director and the stage: from naturalism to Grotowski - Braun, Edward, 1982
Book

Modern drama in theory and practice: Vol. 1: Realism and naturalism - J. L. Styan, 1981
Book

Modern drama in theory and practice: Vol.2: Symbolism, surrealism and the absurd - J. L.
Styan, 1981
Book

Modern drama in theory and practice: Vol.3: Expressionism and Epic Theatre - J. L. Styan,
1981
Book

Theory/theatre: an introduction - Mark Fortier, 2002

Book

Makers of modern theatre: an introduction - Robert Leach, 2004

Book

Drama, theatre, performance - Simon Shepherd, Mick Wallis, 2004

Book

Twentieth-century theatre: a sourcebook - Richard Drain, 1995

Book

Weekly Readings (39 items)

Please note that you should read BOTH the play and the required reading in preparation
for the seminar as the pairing of the dramatic text with the secondary reading is intended
to help you make links between theory and practice. You should bring to class the play, a
copy of the required reading (a hard copy is best as this is easier to annotate and find
passages flagged up in discussion), and the notes you have made on the play and the
theoretical text.

Week 1 Introduction: Unsettling Naturalism: the beginnings of

Modernism and the historical avant-garde (6 items)

Required Reading (5 items)

A Dream Play - August Strindberg
Chapter

A dream play - August Strindberg

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Reading Lists

Chapter

A dream play - August Strindberg

Chapter

Preface to Miss Julie - August Strindberg

Chapter

Introduction to Strindberg - Michael Robinson

Chapter

Follow-up Reading (1 items)

Introduction: The Genesis of Modernity and the Avant-Garde - Günter Berghaus
Chapter

Week 2 Expressionism (5 items)

Required Reading (3 items)

Woyzeck - Georg
Bu
̈
chner, Gregory Motton, Kenneth McLeish, 1996
Book

Woyzeck - Georg
Bu
̈
chner
Chapter

Therapy and Subliminal Theatre - Christopher Innes

Chapter

Further Recommended Reading (2 items)

Expressionism in the Theatre - J.L. Styan
Chapter

German expressionist theatre: the actor and the stage - David F. Kuhns, 1997
Book

Week 3 Meyerhold: the tragic grotesque and biomechanics (4 items)

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Reading Lists

Required Reading (1 items)

The government inspector -
Nikolai
̆
Vasilʹevich Gogol
Chapter

Further Recommended Reading (3 items)

The Fairground Booth - Vsevolod Meyerhold
Chapter

Biomechanics - Vsevolod Meyerhold

Chapter

Vsevolod Meyerhold - Jonathan Pitches, 2003

Book

Week 4 The art/life/reality dilemma (5 items)

Required Reading (3 items)

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello
Chapter

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello, Stephen Mulrine, 2003

Book

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello

Chapter

Further Recommended Reading (2 items)

Pirandello and the Teatro Grottesco - J.L. Styan
Chapter

Luigi Pirandello - Susan Bassnett, 1983

Book

Week 5 Political Parables and Political Aesthetics (4 items)

Required Reading (3 items)

The good soul of Szechuan - Brecht, Bertolt, 2008, c1985

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Reading Lists

Book

The good person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

Chapter

The good person of Szechwan - Bertolt Brecht

Chapter

Further Recommended Reading (1 items)

The Good Person of Szechwan - Christopher McCullough
Chapter

Week 6 Case Study: Peter Brook’s Marat/Sade Tensions in Text and

Performance: Brecht / Epic Theatre v Artaud /Theatre of Cruelty (4
items)

Required Reading (3 items)

All students should read the play and extract from Artaud, and each presentation group
will also be assigned an additional reading to help with their topic.

The Marat/Sade - Weiss, Peter, Skelton, Geoffrey, Mitchell, Adrian, 1997

Book

The Theater of Cruelty (First Manifesto) - Antonin Artaud

Chapter

The Theater of Cruelty (First Manifesto) - Antonin Artaud

Chapter

Further Recommended Reading (1 items)

Marat/Sade, or the Birth of Postmodernism from the Spirit of the Avantgarde - David
Roberts, 1986
Article

Week 7 Theatre of the Absurd and Anti-theatre (4 items)

Required Reading (3 items)

The bald prima donna: a pseudo-play in one act - Ionesco,
Euge
̀
ne, Watson, Donald, 2012
Book

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Reading Lists

The Theatre of the Absurd - Martin Esslin, 1960

Article

The Tragedy of Language How an English Primer Became My First Play - Eugène Ionesco,
Jack Undank, 1960
Article

Further Recommended Reading (1 items)

The Avant-Garde Theatre - Eugène Ionesco, 1960
Article

Week 9 (2 items)

Required Reading (2 items)

Please note, you do not have to buy this play, but should download the text from Jstor

Portrait of Dora - Hélène Cixous, Sarah Burd, 1983

Document

Portrait of Dora -
He
́
le
̀
ne Cixous
Document

Week 10 Being postdramatic onstage and off (4 items)

Required Reading (3 items)

Attempts on her life - Martin Crimp, 2005
Document

Attempts on her life - Crimp, Martin, 2007

Book

When is a Play not a Drama? Two Examples of Postdramatic Theatre Texts - David Barnett,
2008
Article

Further Recommended Reading (1 items)

Postdramatic theatrical signs - Hans-Thies Lehmann

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Reading Lists

Chapter

Week 12 The problem of performance: experience and record.

Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More: A postdramatic rendering? (1 items)

Required Reading (1 items)

Macbeth - William Shakespeare, 2015
Book

Critical Essay sources (8 items)

See Module handbook for essay questions

Theatre, performance, and the historical avant-garde -

Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 2005
Book | See pp. 23-24

Theatre, performance, and the historical avant-garde -

Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 2005
Book | See p.123

Avant garde theatre, 1892-1992 - C. D. Innes, 1993

Book | See p. 100

The theater and its double - Artaud, Antonin, 1958

Book | See p. 37

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello

Chapter

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello, Stephen Mulrine, 2003

Book

Six characters in search of an author - Luigi Pirandello

Chapter

Author's Note - A Dream Play - August Strindberg

Chapter

Select Bibliography (112 items)

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Reading Lists

General Background to Modernist and Avant-garde Performance (25

items)
This section includes Avant-garde and Modernist movements not listed in the discrete
categories below

The theory of the modern stage: an introduction to modern theatre and drama - Eric
Bentley, 1992
Book

The playwright as thinker: a study of drama in modern times - Eric Bentley, 1967
Book

Avant-garde performance: live events and electronic technologies -

Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 2005
Book

Theatre, performance, and the historical avant-garde -

Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 2005
Book

Futurism and politics: between anarchist rebellion and fascist reaction, 1909-1944 -
Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 1996
Book

Fascism and theatre: comparative studies on the aesthetics and politics of performance in
Europe, 1925-1945 -
Gu
̈
nter Berghaus, 1996
Book

The heritage of symbolism - C. M. Bowra, 1943

Book

The director and the stage: from naturalism to Grotowski - Edward Braun, 1982
Book

100 artists' manifestos - Alex Danchev, 2011

Book

Twentieth-century theatre: a sourcebook - Richard Drain, 1995

Book

The Routledge drama anthology: from modernism to contemporary performance - 2016

Book

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Reading Lists

Routledge drama anthology and sourcebook: from modernism to contemporary

performance - Maggie B. Gale, John F. Deeney, Dan Rebellato, 2010
Book

Drama and reality: the European theatre since Ibsen - Ronald Gaskell, 1972
Book

Performance art: from Futurism to the present - RoseLee Goldberg, 2011

Book

Performance art: from Futurism to the present - RoseLee Goldberg, 2001

Book

Actor training - Alison Hodge, 2010

Book

Avant garde theatre, 1892-1992 - C. D. Innes, 1993

Book

Makers of modern theatre: an introduction - Robert Leach, 2004

Book

The history of surrealism - Maurice Nadeau, 1968

Book

Experimental theatre: from Stanislavsky to Peter Brook - James Roose-Evans, 1984

Book

The banquet years: the origins of the avant-garde in France 1885 to World War 1 - Roger
Shattuck, 1969
Book

Modernism and performance: Jarry to Brecht - Olga Taxidou, 2007

Book

Drama from Ibsen to Brecht - Raymond Williams, 1973

Book

Drama from Ibsen to Brecht - Raymond Williams, 1973

Book

Modern drama in theory and practice: Vol.3: Expressionism and epic theatre - J. L. Styan,
1981
Book

Expressionism (6 items)
The haunted screen: expressionism in the German cinema and the influence of Max
Reinhardt - Lotte H. Eisner, 1973
Book

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Reading Lists

German Expressionist Acting - Mel Gordon, 1975

Article

German expressionist theatre: the actor and the stage - David F. Kuhns, 1997
Book

Seven expressionist plays: Kokoschka to Barlach - J. M. Ritchie, H. F. Garten, 1980

Book

Seven expressionist plays: Kokoschka to Barlach - J. M. Ritchie, H. F. Garten, Oskar

Kokoschka, August Stramm, Franz Kafka, Georg Kaiser, Yvan Goll, Alfred Brust, Ernst
Barlach, 1980
Book

Max Reinhardt - J. L. Styan, 1982

Book

Meyerhold (7 items)
The director and the stage: from naturalism to Grotowski - Edward Braun, 1982
Book

Meyerhold on theatre - V.
E
̇

Meı
̆
erkholʹd, Edward Braun
, 1998
Book

Meyerhold on theatre - V. E.
Mei
̆
erkhol'd, Edward Braun, 1969
Book

Actor training - Alison Hodge, 2010

Book

Vsevolod Meyerhold - Robert Leach, 1993

Book

Makers of modern theatre: an introduction - Robert Leach, 2004

Book

Vsevolod Meyerhold - Jonathan Pitches, 2003

Book

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Reading Lists

Pirandello (8 items)
Luigi Pirandello - Susan Bassnett, 1983
Book

The Pirandello commentaries - Eric Bentley, 1986

Book

Contradictory characters: an interpretation of the modern theatre - Albert Bermel, 1996

Book

Characters and authors in Luigi Pirandello - Ann Caesar, 1998

Book

Drama and reality: the European theatre since Ibsen - Ronald Gaskell, 1972
Book

Pirandello and Possibility - William Herman, 1966

Article

Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author: A Comedy in the Making - Antonio

Illiano, 1967
Article

On Humor - Luigi Pirandello, Teresa Novel, 1966

Article

Brecht (12 items)

Contradictory characters: an interpretation of the modern theatre - Albert Bermel, 1996
Book

The director and the stage: from naturalism to Grotowski - Edward Braun, 1982
Book

Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic - Brecht, Bertolt, Willett, John, 1964
Book

Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic - Brecht, Bertolt, Willett, John, 1964
Book

Brecht on theatre: the development of an aesthetic - Brecht, Bertolt, Willett, John, 1978
Book

The Messingkauf dialogues - Bertolt Brecht, John Willett, 1965

Book

How Brecht Read Shakespeare - Margot Heinemann

Chapter

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Reading Lists

Actor training - Alison Hodge, 2010

Book

Makers of modern theatre: an introduction - Robert Leach, 2004

Book

Systems of rehearsal: Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski and Brook - Shomit Mitter, 1992
Book

The Cambridge companion to Brecht - Peter Thomson, Glendyr Sacks, 1994

Book

The theatre of Bertolt Brecht: a study from eight aspects - John Willett, 1977
Book

Artaud, Brook, Weiss Marat/Sade (15 items)

Contradictory characters: an interpretation of the modern theatre - Albert Bermel, 1996
Book

Marat/Sade Forum - Peter Brook, Leslie Fiedler, Geraldine Lust, Norman Podhoretz, Ian
Richardson, Gordon Rogoff, 1966
Article

The empty space - Peter Brook, 1972

Book

Peter Brook - Albert Hunt, Geoffrey Reeves, 1995

Book

Makers of modern theatre: an introduction - Robert Leach, 2004

Book

Peter Weiss's "Marat/Sade": A Portrait of the Artist in Bourgeois Society - Ladislaus Löb,
1981
Article

German theater 1964: Weiss' Reasoning in the Madhouse - Hans-Bernhard Moeller, 1966
Article

Marat/Sade: The Politics of Experience or the Experience of Politics? - Sydney Parham,

1977
Article | Print copy of article available in the library basement. Click View Online to
access the digital copy

Marat/Sade, or the Birth of Postmodernism from the Spirit of the Avantgarde - David
Roberts, 1986
Article

An Interview with Peter Wiess - Michael Roloff, 1965

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Reading Lists

Article | This online issue also contains Susan Sontag - ‘Marat / Sade / Artaud'

Marat / Sade / Artaud - Susan Sontag

Chapter

Weiss’s Marat/Sade and its Three main Performance Versions - Darko Suvin, 1988
Article | This article is available online. The print journal can be found shelved in the
Library Basement.

History and Cruelty in Peter Weiss's "Marat/Sade" - John J. White, 1968

Article

Peter Brook: a theatrical casebook - David Williams, 1988

Book

Peter Brook: a theatrical casebook - David Williams, 1992

Book

Ionesco and the Theatre of the Absurd (12 items)

Ionesco - Richard N. Coe, 1961
Book

Ionesco: a study of his plays - Richard N. Coe,

Euge
̀
ne Ionesco, 1971
Book

Ionesco: a study of his plays - Richard N. Coe,

Euge
̀
ne Ionesco, 1971
Book

The Theatre of the Absurd - Martin Esslin, 1960

Article

The theatre of the absurd - Martin Esslin, 2001

Book

The Theatre of the absurd - Martin Esslin, 1980

Book

The theatre of the absurd - Martin Esslin, 1977

Book

The Tragedy of Language How an English Primer Became My First Play - Eugène Ionesco,
Jack Undank, 1960
Article

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Reading Lists

The Avant-Garde Theatre - Eugène Ionesco, 1960

Article

Notes and counter notes: writings on the theatre -

Euge
̀
ne Ionesco, Donald Watson, c1964
Book

Ionesco - Susan Sontag

Chapter

Modern drama in theory and practice: Vol.2: Symbolism, surrealism and the absurd - J. L.
Styan, 1981
Book

Feminist Theatre and Gender in Performance/Helene Cixous (13 items)

An introduction to feminism and theatre - Elaine Aston, 1995
Book

Towards a New Poetics - Sue-Ellen Case

Chapter

Towards a New Poetics - Sue-Ellen Case

Chapter

Feminist and queer performance: critical strategies - Sue-Ellen Case, 2009

Book

Aller à la mer - Hélène Cixous, Barbara Kerslake, 1984

Article | This is a print journal available in the Library Basement. It's not available
online.

Unmaking mimesis: essays on feminism and theater - Elin Diamond, 1997

Book

Contemporary feminist theatres: to each her own - Lizbeth Goodman, 1993

Book

Feminist theatre: an introduction to plays of contemporary British and American women -

Helene Keyssar, 1984
Book

He
́
le
̀
ne Cixous: a politics of writing - Morag Shiach, 1991
Book

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Reading Lists

The female malady: women, madness, and English culture, 1830-1980 - Elaine Showalter,
1987
Book

Hystories: hysterical epidemics and modern culture - Elaine Showalter, 1998

Book

Rage and reason: women playwrights on playwriting - Heidi Stephenson, Natasha

Langridge, 1997
Book

Carry on, understudies: theatre and sexual politics - Michelene Wandor, Michelene Wandor
, 1986
Book

Postmodernism and postdramatic Theatre (8 items)

Theory for performance studies: a student's guide - Philip Auslander, 2008 [i.e. 2007]
Book

When is a Play not a Drama? Two Examples of Postdramatic Theatre Texts - David Barnett,
2008
Article

Simulations - Jean Baudrillard, 1983

Book

The Routledge drama anthology: from modernism to contemporary performance - 2016

Book

Routledge drama anthology and sourcebook: from modernism to contemporary

performance - Maggie B. Gale, John F. Deeney, Dan Rebellato, 2010
Book

The radical in performance: between Brecht and Baudrillard - Baz Kershaw, 1999
Book

Postdramatic theatre - Lehmann, Hans-Thies, 2006

Book

The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge -

Jean-Franc
̧
ois Lyotard, c1984
Book

Additional Useful Online Resources (6 items)

Oxford art online

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Reading Lists

Website

Oxford English dictionary (OED)

Website

Oxford music online

Website

The Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003): ProQuest historical newspapers
Website

Tate Modern - Tate

Website

Art and artists - Tate

Webpage

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