Staging Shakespeare
THEA 4001:008 Staging Shakespeare (Cross-listed with ENGL 4050.008): 14620
TR 9.30-10.50 Robinson 308
Office: Robinson 371
Office hours: Tues/Thurs: 8.30-9.30, 1.30-4.00 and by appointment
The following syllabus is subject to change. The definitive schedule and policies will be maintained on-line through web CT if I can figure out how to use it. I’ll let you know ASAP. If it proves too unwieldy, I’ll set up a home page for the class.
This syllabus contains the policies and expectations I have established for Staging Shakespeare. Please read the entire syllabus carefully before continuing in this course. These policies and expectations are intended to create a productive learning atmosphere for all students. Unless you are prepared to abide by these policies and expectations, you risk losing the opportunity to participate further in the course.
This course is premised on two different—possibly even contradictory—impulses: to understand Shakespeare as a literary and historical entity on the one hand, and to perform his work on stage in the present on the other. I do not presume that we can effect a marriage of these different approaches, but I intend to make them speak to each other in ways which are, hopefully, productive. Both literary criticism and the way actors and directors prepare to stage a scene are premised on analysis which is detailed, specific, and intellectually defensible, and it will thus be the central tool of this class.
As well as using analytical tools (and their research components), we will also be trying to bring Shakespeare’s words to life in our bodies, and everyone in the class will participate. You should intend to wear comfortable, loose fitting clothes and appropriate shoes.
Required texts and reading:
Russ McDonald: The Bedford Companion to Shakespeare
Patsy Rodenburg: Speaking Shakespeare
Shakespeare: The Sonnets
Twelfth Night
Romeo and Juliet
The Winter’s Tale
All have been ordered through the school book store in specific editions. If you wish to use a different edition you must show it to me first. All are different and many (esp. the cheaper, older editions, or complete works volumes based on very old editions which are usually 100 years old in order for the present publisher to sidestep copyright) are inadequate, inaccurate or unnecessarily difficult to use. Only the editions I have recommended will contain all the extra material (sources, original documents, essays etc.) which the class will dip into periodically.
We will not be assigning class time to the discussion of every page of every book assigned. Much of what we don’t specifically deal with, however, particularly in the cases of the McDonald and Rodenburg books, will underlie the way we approach the plays throughout the semester and you should thus read them all and keep them to hand as references.
Don’t sell your books at the end of the semester! They are an invaluable investment in your development as actors, thinks and critics which you will want to revisit if you continue to be intellectually alive after college!
Be sure to HAVE READ any text assigned for class PRIOR to our meeting. Failure to stay up with the reading (and that means having read it thoughtfully, attentively and critically so that you have things to say about it) renders you present only in body and I will thus mark you absent. You cannot possibly grasp the material effectively if you rely on other people’s discussion of it in the classroom.
Attendance and participation:
Attendance is mandatory. A class like this depends on active participation for its success. Non attendance thus has a negative impact on everyone involved. You are permitted two excused absences after which you will merely be considered absent regardless of the validity of your excuse unless the circumstances are extraordinary (e.g. a documented death in the family). You should thus save your absences for genuine emergencies. For each absence beyond the two allowed, you will lose 10% of your participation grade. If you fail the participation portion of the class (attaining only 50% or less of the points assigned to participation), you will fail the course automatically. (7 total absences—including 2 which are “excused” will thus result in your automatically failing the class. If your participation is not up to standard, you may fail with fewer than 7 absences.) You can fail the participation portion by any combination of absences, unpreparedness, and failing to be actively engaged in discussion, rehearsal and performance exercises. Mere attendance is not enough to pass this portion of your grade.
I will conduct this class in an atmosphere of mutual respect. I encourage your active participation in class discussions. Each of us may have strongly differing opinions on the various topics of class discussions. The conflict of ideas is encouraged and welcome. The orderly questioning of the ideas of others, including mine, is similarly welcome. However, I will exercise my responsibility to manage the discussions so that ideas and argument can proceed in an orderly fashion. You should expect that if your conduct during class discussions seriously disrupts the atmosphere of mutual respect I expect in this class, you will not be permitted to participate further.
If I am late in arriving to class, you must wait a full 20 minutes after the start of class before you may leave without being counted absent, or you must follow any written instructions I may give you about my anticipated tardiness.
Students in this course seeking accommodations to disabilities must first consult with the Office of Disability Services and follow the instructions of that office for obtaining accommodations
All students are required to abide by the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-61.html) and the policy on Responsible Use of University Computing and Electronic Communication Resources (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-66.html). Sexual harassment, as defined in the UNC Charlotte Sexual Harassment Policy, is prohibited, even when carried out through computers or other electronic communications systems, including course-based chat rooms or message boards.
Papers:
Two papers are required. The mid term paper (4-5 pages) will be a carefully constructed analysis of one of the characters in either of the plays we have read thus far. It will detail everything that can be learned about that character from the text and make an argument about which element of the world that shapes that character is the most important and why. It should make use of the historical sources available in the edition and in McDonald, and should be articulated as a thesis-driven argument which would be useful to both literary critics and actors playing the role.
The final paper (10-12 pages) should make an argument for a way of staging any one of the plays we have read this semester. It should draw on reviews of prior productions in order to differentiate itself and should anchor its ideas in close analysis of the play. The plan should use design elements (light, costume, sound etc.) to support a core thesis, an issue or idea which you think is latent in the play which you want to explore in performance. In short, this should be a creative imagining of rigorously developed, logical and subtle thought.
Performances:
All performances will be rehearsed in advance and presented off book. After each performance there will be a Q/A period in which the performer(s) will be expected to offer thoughtful explanations of their choices.
You will need to find time out of class to rehearse both as individuals and groups. Anyone who does not make themselves available or fails to attend group rehearsals which have been planned in advance can significantly hurt the achievement of the group as a whole, and the group may legitimately inform me if they feel that their work has been adversely affected by one or more members of the group.
Performances will be graded according to the intelligence of their choices and the commitment of the performers to realizing those choices.
Course Requirements:
Participation: 40%
Final paper: 20%
Mid term paper: 10%
Group performances: 15% (7.5% each for two)
Individual performances: 15% (5% for each of three)
All components will be graded numerically as a fraction of the total percentage points allowed along with an equivalent letter grade so that you can maintain a sense of where you are as the semester progresses. So, for example, each individual performance (5% of total grade) will be graded as follows: A=5, B=4.5, C=4, D=2, F=1. If you do not complete the assignment, you will be assigned a zero. For your final paper (20%) an A will be 19-20, A-=18, B+=17, B=15-16, B-=14, C+=13, C=11-12, C-=10, D=8-9, F=1-7. Non completion=0 Your final grade will be calculated according to the same number system.
Tues Aug 23: First class. Introduction. Recommendation: Begin reading Romeo and Juliet now as it will be the subject of your first paper which comes up soon.
Thurs Aug 25. McDonald: 38-58, 195-211 on Language and text. Bring Sonnets to class.
Aug 29 Last day to drop
Tues Aug 30 Rodenburg: 1-66 (Foundation Craft). Continue sonnets work in class.
Aug 31 Last day to Add
Thurs Sep 1 Rodenburg: 69-119 (Structure in lines). Sonnets continued.
Tues Sep 6 Assignment 1, Individual performance 1: Sonnet reading. Select two sonnets and prepare them for performance. Begin by studying the poem so that you understand every thought, every word. Identify the poem’s psychological beats and then annotate it for mental energy and direction. Memorize the poem. Explore various readings of each before settling on one which you consider to be valid and which makes full use of the poems’ scansion, diction etc. As with all performances in this class, you should be prepared to explain/defend your performative choices.
Thurs Sep 8 Begin Romeo and Juliet.
Tues Sep 13 Romeo and Juliet McDonald 253-78 (Gender)
Thurs Sep 15 Romeo and Juliet. Rodenburg: 120-90 (Structure in scenes)
Tues Sep 20 Romeo and Juliet. Table work. Assignment 2: Paper 1 Due
Thurs Sep 22 (Deadline to withdraw from all courses with grade of “W”). Assignment 3, Individual performance 2: Romeo and Juliet.
Tues Sep 27 McDonald: 109-28, 354-82 on historical and contemporary performance. Begin Twelfth Night.
Thurs Sep 29 Twelfth Night
Tues Oct 4 Twelfth Night Rodenburg: 191-225 (Imaginative)
Thurs Oct 6 Twelfth Night
Tues Oct 11 NO CLASS
Thurs Oct 13 Twelfth Night Table Work
Tues Oct 18 Assignment 4, Group Performance 1: Twelfth Night.
Thurs Oct 20. Macbeth
Tues Oct 25 Macbeth
Thurs Oct 27 Macbeth. McDonald: 304-324, 336-9.
Tues Nov 1 Macbeth Table Work
Thurs Nov 3 Macbeth
Tues Nov 8 Assignment 5, Individual Performance 3: Macbeth.
Thurs Nov 10 Winter’s Tale
Tues Nov 15 Winter’s Tale
Thurs Nov 17 Winter’s Tale
Tues Nov 22 Winter’s Tale Table Work
Thurs Nov 24: Thanksgiving. NO CLASS
Tues Nov 29 Winter’s Tale
Thurs Dec 1 TBA
Tues Dec 6 LAST CLASS. Assignment 6: Final Paper due.
Thurs Dec 8: Reading Day
Thursday Dec 15th 8-11:00 a.m. Assignment 7, Final Exam: Group Performance 2: The Winter’s Tale.