Annotation
N.B.:
THIS CODE WAS CREATED SPECIFICALLY FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS who need a grade for this course.
The course is only open to DALC incoming Erasmus students.
Full course details are posted under AAALB021A.
The course will investigate the development of contemporary American drama since the 1970s. C.W.E. Bigsby observes that it is only when we reach the twentieth century that American drama begins to “test its own boundaries and possibilities.” We will explore the ways in which its key playwrights address these boundaries and possibilities in particular through recurrent themes of social and individual alienation as well as through formal experiment. The playwrights in focus this semester will include: David Mamet, Sam Shepard, Luis Valdez, Marsha Norman, Paula Vogel, Tony Kushner, Neil LaBute, Suzan-Lori Parks, Wallace Shawn, Anne Washburn, Lynn Nottage, Bruce Norris and Jackie Sibblies Drury.
Schedule:
Week 1 (3.10) Introduction
Week 2 (10.10) David Mamet American Buffalo (1977) & Oleanna (1992)
Week 3 (17.10) Luis Valdez Zoot Suit (1978) & I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges! (1986)
Week 4 (24.10) Sam Shepard Buried Child (1978) & True West (1980)
Week 5 (31.10) Marsha Norman ‘night Mother (1982) & Paula Vogel How I Learned to Drive (1997)
Week 6 (7.11) Tony Kushner Angels in America (1990, 1991)
Week 7 (14.11) Suzan-Lori Parks Top Dog/Underdog (2001)
Week 8 (21.11) Neil LaBute The Shape of Things (2001)
Week 9 (28.11) Bruce Norris Clybourne Park (2010)
Week 10 (5.12) Wallace Shawn Grasses of a Thousand Colors (2009) & Anne Washburn Mr Burns (2012)
Week 11 (12.12) Lynn Nottage Sweat (2015)
Week 12 (19.12) Tracy Letts August: Osage County (2007) & Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins Appropriate (2014)
Week 13 (2.1) Jackie Sibblies Drury Fairview (2018)
Week 14 (9.1) Conclusion, feedback session, discussion of final research projects
Please note: priority goes to DALC MA students, others may join if there is space.