Prerequisites: Communicative and written competence in English at C1 level or above.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Gain extensive knowledge of influential twentieth-century Irish plays in their historical and cultural context.
• Apply a selection of literary theories (e.g., gender and postcolonial studies) and theatre scholarship to the reading of the plays.
• Analyse scenes, characters, and major themes in the plays during class presentations.
• Write analytically about the plays in an academic essay.

Twentieth-century Irish Drama: Performing Revival, Nation, and Gender

This course analyses key theatrical texts in the twentieth-century Irish literary tradition in the context in which they were first written and performed. We will start from the foundational plays of the Irish Literary Theatre/Abbey Theatre written by W. B. Yeats, Lady Augusta Gregory, and John Millington Synge and continue with Sean O’Casey’s drama responding to crucial events in Irish politics (the Easter Rising, the Irish War of Independence, and the Civil War). We will delve into the groundbreaking theatre of Samuel Beckett and end our journey with the artistic vision of contemporary playwright Marina Carr. In class, we will engage closely with the texts and, where available, with famous productions (e.g., DruidSynge, Beckett on Film). 

Plays

1. (A) Harrington, John P., ed. Modern and Contemporary Irish Drama: A Norton Critical Edition. Second Edition. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-393-93243-0 

[All the plays covered in the course are included in the Harrington’s anthology. The anthology also contains relevant secondary reading on each of the plays].

Secondary Reading

2. (A) Roche, Anthony. The Irish Dramatic Revival, 1899–1939. London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015. ISBN: 9781408175279

3. (A) Sihra, Melissa. “Writ in the Sky: By the Bog of Cats…” In Marina Carr: Pastures of the Unknown, 111–147. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. ISBN: 978-3-319-98330-1

Further information / additional material: A weekly reading schedule from the Harrington anthology will be illustrated at the beginning of the course and available on Teams. 

• Classes are partly lecture- and seminar-based and students will also be working in smaller groups for discussion tasks and presentations. Students are required to read assigned texts and/or extracts periodically and are expected to come to class prepared to actively discuss the texts with their peers and their teacher.

  
  

• Assessment 

  • Argumentative Essay 50%

  Students will write an argumentative essay (approx. 2,500 words) choosing from a list of topics that will be made available during the course. The essay must be submitted via email to the teacher 10 working days prior to the oral exam session. 

   

  • Oral Exam: 50%

  The oral exam will consist of questions on the plays and secondary reading. 

The course is taught and assessed entirely in English. 

English