Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LAS2055

 
TITLE The Story of Western Drama: From the Greeks to Modern Times

 
UM LEVEL H - Higher Level

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION The West has a long and rich dramatic tradition, with plays typically reflecting the social and political concerns of playwrights, readers and spectators. From its beginnings in Classical Greece to the modern age, Western drama represents changes in cultural values, traditions, religious beliefs and societal views. It is, therefore, imperative to know about these dramatic texts if we truly want to understand culture’s role in shaping our lives. These texts can reveal awareness of our cultural heritage, social, and political aspects which ultimately help us to bond in new ways with our past and present, as well as with ourselves and others.

This unit looks in depth at plays in a chronological way, starting from the rise of Classical Greek drama to the modern period. This will include an analysis of plays by Greek and Romans dramatists such as Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Euripides’s Electra, and Seneca’s The Trojan Women; morality plays of the medieval period; women’s closet drama of the Renaissance period, to modern drama in the twentieth century. Plays of the twentieth century shall include the works of Arthur Miller, Caryl Churchill, Francis Ebejer, Alfred Sant, Tanika Gupta and Sarah Kane.

Consideration is given to both Anglo-American and Maltese dramatists with focus on what their writings reveal in terms of cultural values, as well as how some of the plays have challenged the status quo by giving a voice to marginalized groups and individuals to reflect class, gender, migration and racial concerns. The plays are examined for two main reasons: first, to trace changes in society within specific moments in history and in different geographical locations; and second, to understand how plays are written in light of theories that developed at various periods in Western culture.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the unit the student will be able to:

• Describe how plays reflect the social and political concerns of playwrights, readers and spectators;
• Discern patterns of changes in plays within specific moments in history and in different geographical locations;
• Explain how plays are written in light of theories that developed in Western culture;
• Analyse dramatists’ undercurrents in broader literature and culture, both in canonical and popular works.

2. Skills
By the end of the unit the student will be able to:

• Analyse plays from different historical periods and geographical locations in the West;
• Write and speak critically on scenes from plays;
• Relate dramatic literature to a broader culture;
• Draw connections between drama and society.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts
A selection of plays will be given.

M. Sidnell, ed., Sources of Dramatic Theory (Cambridge: CUP, 1991)
Aristotle, Aristotle’s Poetics (New York: Hill and Wang, 1961)

Supplementary Texts
L. Goldstein, The Origin of Medieval Drama (Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2004)
Marta Straznicky, Privacy, Playreading and Women’s Closet Drama 1550-1700 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Simon Tussler (ed.), Twentieth Century Drama (Palgrave Macmillan, 1983)

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
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It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit