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TOPIC MODULE T1: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE DRAMA (1400-1603)

Dudes

Course tutors and e-mail addresses:
AH = Alaric Hall, English Language: alarichall@gmail.com
RM = Rob Maslen, English Literature: R.Maslen@englit.arts.gla.ac.uk
VP = Vicky Price, Theatre Studies: V.Price@tfts.arts.gla.ac.uk
TH = Theo van Heijnsbergen, Scottish Literature: heynsbrg@human.gla.ac.uk

Course contacts: the course is officially administered by the Department of English Literature, so if you have administrative queries, contact the English Literature secretaries. (Previous enquiries have been dealt with in particular by Anna Macmillan, at 0141 330 5296, e-mail: A.Macmillan@englit.arts.gla.ac.uk)

Tutorials

Tutorials take place in Room G678 on Thursdays at 3.00 p.m. If there’s anything raised in tutorials you want to discuss further, or anything not raised that you’d like to talk about (such as a play we haven’t dealt with), please feel free to get in touch and we’ll arrange a meeting. The two best anthologies for the Renaissance component of this module are Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, ed. Arthur F. Kinney (Blackwell 1999) and English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology, ed. David Bevington et al. (Norton 2002). These don’t include early drama, however, and there’s no in-print edition of these currently on offer (at least, not that I’m aware of). All the plays I discuss can be found in various editions in or near the Malone Society Reprint section of the library; ask a librarian if you have trouble finding this area. Read around the subject as widely as you can.

Presentations:
Week 2 (Mystery Plays etc.): Johanna Green, Kathryn Oldham
Week 3 (Interludes): Erica MacKenzie
Week 4 (Humanist Drama): Jennifer Curson, Alex Scroggie
Week 5 (Marlowe): Sarah Duffy, Andrew Page
Week 6 (Dekker): Kirsty Ward
Week 7 (Justice and Heresy): Emily Brazier, Clare Wright
Week 8 (Early Comedy): Carolyn Bremner, Lisa Conroy
Week 9 (Kyd): Hazel MacKay, Colin Sharp

Essay Deadlines and Assessment

You are asked to write two essays of 3000-4000 words, to be submitted by 12 noon Friday of week 6 and by 12 noon Friday of week 10 respectively. You can make up your own essay titles, but must get the agreement of one of the tutors before starting to write on your own title. Alternatively, you can use one of the essay titles suggested by us!

The dates of the essay submissions this term are: 12 noon Friday of week 6; 12 noon Friday of week 10. The assessment model is as follows: 45% for each written piece of work; 10% for presentation, contribution, attendance.

Topics

For individual topics, speak to the relevant lecturer teaching that topic. For teaching-related matters on a wider scale (such as essay topics, dates, deadlines, etc., contact Theo van Heijnsbergen, Dept of Scottish Literature (office hour Tuesday 13.30-14.30), or Rob Maslen, Dept of English Literature, depending which department you are doing most classes in.

List of topics:
Week 1, 13 Jan: AH / Morality plays. Text: Castle of Perseverance. Please read this text for the first class, on Thursday 13 January
Week 2, 20 Jan: AH / Mystery plays. Texts: Chester Harrowing of Hell, Towneley Second Shepherds' Play, Robin Hood and the Friar
Week 3, 27 Jan: RM / Moral interludes. Text: Wit and Science
Week 4, 3 Feb: TH / Humanist drama. Text: George Buchanan, The Baptist
Week 5, 10 Feb: VP + RM / Text: Marlowe, Faustus (A-text)
Week 6, 17 Feb: VP + RM / Text: Thomas Dekker, A Shoemaker's Holiday
Week 7, 24 Feb: AH + RM / The theatre of justice and of heresy
Week 8, 3 Mar: TH / Early Renaissance Comedy. Texts: anon., Philotus, anon., Gl'Ingannati, and Gascoigne, The Supposes
Week 9, 10 March: RM / Text: The Spanish Tragedy
Week 10, 17 March: TH / Summary review, with short pieces of metadrama. Text: tbc