Shakespeare: Page, Stage, Screen module (EN41028)

• Level 4
• Semester 1
• English - School of Humanities
• Coursework 100%
• A Hybrid English/Film Studies and Pre-1900 Century module.

Description

This module examines the representation of the Shakespearean star body and (and off) screen. Investigating connections between early modern playtexts, contemporary film and theatre performance and related extratextual discourses (such as press materials, fan magazines and ephemera) the module explores the use of the 'star' body as a site for the imagining of early modern and contemporary socio-cultural discourses.

Throughout the module we will engage with critical concepts of celebrity and stardom in different historical/performance contexts alongside critical and theoretical conceptions of the body in early modern and contemporary thought. Organised around a history of Shakespearean performance within an American and British cinematic context, this module interrogates our cultural investment in Shakespeare by focusing on the body in play.

Pre-requisites

Open to Level 4 English students, other relevant expertise will also be considered.

Convenor

Dr Jennifer Barnes

Teaching

This module is taught by TWO hour weekly seminars over 11 weeks plus ONE-hour introductory lecture to weekly film screenings (minimum of 33 total contact hours).  The module includes up to two film screenings per week.

Assessment

• Presentation 10%
• Performance Analysis/Review 30%
• Essay 60%

Reading - Primary texts

Plays

• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Hamlet
• Henry V
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Othello
• Titus Andronicus
• Richard III
• Loves Labours Lost
• Romeo and Juliet
• Coriolanus

All available in The Norton Shakespeare.

Films

• A Midsummer Night's Dream (dir. Reinhardt, 1935)
• Romeo & Juliet (Dir. Cukor, 1936; dir. Lurhmann, 1996)
• Hamlet (dir. Olivier, 1948)
• Henry V (dir. Olivier, 1944: dir, Branagh, 1989)
• The Taming of the Shrew (dir. Zeffirelli, 1967)
• Othello (dir. Welles, 1952)
• Coriolanus (dir. Fiennes, 2011)
• Titus Andronicus (Dir. Taymor, 1999)
• Richard III (dir. Loncraine, 1995)
• Love's Labour's Lost (dir. Branagh, 2000)
• Kiss Me Kate (Sidney, 1953)
• Tromeo and Juliet (Kaufman, 1996)
• O (dir, Blake-Nelson, 2001)
• 10 Things I Hate About You (dir. Junger, 1999)
• Anonymous (dir. Emmerich, 2011)
• Shakespeare in Love (dir. Madden, 1998)

Access the online reading list system

Intended learning outcomes

By the end of this module students should have acquired:

• The ability to bring a knowledge of early modern contextual material and contemporary performance criticism to analyses of the body on stage and screen and in the play text,
• A knowledge of star theory and the ability to apply this theory to analyses of the Shakespearean body in performance,
• The ability to think critically about representations of otherness in early modern and contemporary performance,
• The ability to root the playtext and its preoccupations within its relevant historical, social and cultural contexts and to make connections between those context and our own,
• The ability to think critically about the ways in which 'Shakespeare' functions as a cultural concept,
• To access and use critically visual, printed and electronic and learning resources identified as useful by the module tutor.