Shakespeare: Text, Stage and Screen

Code

ENGL4219

School

English

Level

4

Credits

20

Semesters

Spring UK

Summary

This module offers students the opportunity to explore the fluidity and interpretive possibilities of the Shakespeare work and text across multiple genres. Responding to three early modern plays, and using theatre trips where possible, this module will go into depth on a small number of texts, looking at their literary interest (from textual history and sources to thematic concerns and characterisation) and their performative possibilities across stage and screen. By approaching the plays from multiple angles, students will be able to consider the varied potential for reinterpretation and recreation that each text offers. Students will build on seminar explorations (taught by a team of tutors) to develop their own project question about the interpretive possibilities opened up by different versions, and the choices made by specific interpreters of the text. Projects will be developed in consultation with tutors to take into account the interplay of performance and text.

Target Students

Only available to on-site postgraduate students in the School of English.

Classes

• One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks

Assessment

• 100% Coursework 1: One 4000-word essay (100%), answering a project addressing the textual and performance possibilities of one or more texts, developed in conversation with module tutors.

Assessed by end of spring semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

(a) Knowledge and understanding

• A1 critical and theoretical approaches to the study of early modern texts
• A2 the literary, cultural and historical contexts of early modern drama
• A4 the issues of performance and analysis specific to drama and screen adaptation

(b) Intellectual skills

• B1 engage in close and logical analysis of texts and arguments
• B2 develop independent arguments in relation to performance while giving due weight to the arguments of others

(c) Professional practical skills

• C2 analyse texts and performances with an awareness of how circumstances of authorship, textual production, convention and/or audience affect what they communicate;
• C3 write accurately and grammatically, demonstrating awareness of the importance of style and register in communication, and present written material using conventions appropriate to literary work including bibliographies;
• C4 construct and communicate a sustained analysis of texts, verbally and in writing;

(d) Transferable (key) skills

• D1 work productively with others
• D2 communicate effectively in writing
• D3 communicate effectively by oral presentation
• D5 retrieve information from a range of written and electronic sources and present the results in a clear and accurate fashion

Conveners

• Dr Anna Blackwell