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Instructors: Mirjam Haas
Event type:
hybrid: Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
05.874.313
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 30
Registration group: ELC 313
Priority scheme: Senatsrichtlinie
Requirements / organisational issues:
“Shakespeareans are divided, it is well known, into three classes ; those who prefer to read Shakespeare in the book ; those who prefer to see him acted on the stage ; and those who run perpetually from book to stage gathering plunder.” (Woolf 34)
In these twin seminars (each student will only be taking part in one!), we will attempt to explore all “three classes”: while the first seminar, Telling Words, will begin with the “book” and move on to the “stage,” the second, Telling Performances, will move from “stage” to “book.” The Telling Words group, that is, will be reading and discussing the texts during the seminar and have a look at the performances only later on during the excursion; the Telling Performances group will begin with the excursion and, hence, the performances and then consider the texts in a block seminar following the excursion. So you can choose the seminar you want to take part in according to your own preferences (or purposefully forgo them?) – do you like to read drama or are you more of a theatregoer? How do text and performance connect from the respective perspectives? At the excursion, which due to current circumstances may be virtual, both groups meet. Will they “gather[…]” different “plunder”? Does our approach to drama change according to the way we first encounter it? The excursion will unite both groups and allow them not only to see and hear the performances together, but to work with each other and create theatre reviews, a new text form for some and a fun way to engage with drama. In case we get to go to Stratford and/or London in February 2021, we will publish the reviews in blog form (we may do this anyway). In case we will not be able to, I will do my best to organise a local theatre experience at the very least and we will certainly be able to work with recorded performances.
Please note that these are research-driven seminars that feed into my own research. This means that you can engage first hand with empirical research in literary studies, but it also means a little bit more work on your side as there will be a few questionnaires to be filled in. There will be room to discuss the results and entire process, maybe not always within the seminar itself (as this might influence the results), but I will definitely offer some kind of debriefing session for those interested.
Contents:
Telling Words Group
This group will begin with reading the texts with an eye to performance in a regular course over the winter semester and only move on to the performances during the excursion. Please note that you are to refrain from watching/listening to any performances of the plays beforehand. The excursion (in whichever shape) will take place from Feb 15 to Feb 19 2021. I will need 12 people to agree to take part in the study and (hopefully) excursion. If you have already signed up for the seminar during the first registration period and want to join the excursion also, please write me a mail at mihaas@uni-mainz.de that indicates that you sign up for the excursion till October 16 at the latest. In case you haven’t signed up during the first registration period, please also write me a mail till October 16 and sign up during the second registration period, so we can admit you then. The remaining seminar places are open to anyone, i.e. you need not necessarily take part in the excursion in order to take part in the seminar.
Excursion
The excursion was originally planned to cover both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. As it is unclear as of now what will happen due to Covid-19 (possible quarantine etc.) as well as theatre’s somewhat uncertain future, it is difficult to predict what will be possible in Feb 2021. For Stratford, there may be the possibility to organise some live video sessions or similar and we will definitely be able to watch and discuss performance recordings both from the RSC and the Globe. If you are interested in taking part in the excursion at all – i.e. also in case you haven’t decided yet –, please drop me a line at mihaas@uni-mainz.de and I will create a mailing list providing you with the latest info (which may be slow in coming). You will need to sign up for the excursion till October 16. There may be a regular info meeting later in the year.
Recommended reading list:
Readings
We will either work with the (early modern) texts that the performances we will see in February are based on, or a set of plays of which we can access theatre performances and that are relevant to my wider research (most likely Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Fletcher and Shakespeare’s The Two Noble Kinsmen, possibly Lyly’s The Woman in the Moon and a modern play). I will let you know in due time which editions to buy.
Please be aware that this is a reading-intensive course, there will be weekly assignments and all students will hand in a theatre review. A couple of sessions will be planned by groups of students independently, so you are expected to actively participate. Some of the texts may be available via https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com (migrates to a new platform from July 2020).
https://lms.uni-mainz.de/moodle/login/index.php.
Attendance in the first session is mandatory.
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