| About
the Course
Welcome to the wonderful world of 20th CENTURY BRITISH/IRISH DRAMA. We will experience and enjoy the variety and richness of the art of drama in our time. Modern British drama begins with the witty drawing-room comedies of Oscar Wilde, while Bernard Shaw brings another kind of wit into drama--the provocative paradox that was meant to tease and disturb, to challenge the complacency of the audience. With Beckett and Pinter, the theatre of the absurd manifests a theatrical revolution, challenging the traditional verbal and scenic design, exploring the significance of human existence. And of course, we will read some plays by the well-known contemporary playwrights, such as Stoppard, Shaffer, Ayckbourn, and Churchill (finally, a female playwright).
In order to establish a clear picture of British/Irish drama in the 20th century, in the first part of the semester, we will study the plays of 1900-1950 by Wilde, Shaw, Coward, Yeats, Synge, O'Casey, and Osborne, and the plays of 1950-1990 by Beckett, Pinter, Stoppard, Shaffer, Ayckbourn, and Churchill in the second half of the semester. Some videotapes of the plays are available for viewing.
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