Theatre Before Theatres: The Uses of Medieval Drama (P00390)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : LLC-P-P00390

An investigation into the range of performance practices in Britain before the building of the playhouses in 1570s. The course will explore the civic street theatre of the towns (the mystery cycles); the moral and spiritual concerns of the drama that was performed in major households (morality plays); and the unscripted theatres of spectacle, pageantry and disguising. It will address the social, religious and political contexts of these theatrical forms.

Entry Requirements

? Costs : Essential course texts.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students should become familiar with a range of different playtexts and non-scripted theatre of the period. They will understand the different ways in which mystery and morality drama emerged from and promoted medieval devotion, the social operation of drama within the urban and household communities of late medieval Britain, and the political uses of drama in the early sixteenth century. The written project that arises from the course will enable them to pursue independent research into the primary evidence for theatrical activity, and to assess critically the implications of performance in understanding the cultural forms of the middle ages.