Dramatic Arts

Theatrical performance is not a mere imitation, but a very imaginative and creative art. This course focuses on improvisation to inspire the imagination of actors and the expressiveness of body voices. In addition, through the analysis and interpretation of drama texts, and through the discussion of characters, relationships, emotional motivations, and presentation of short scenes in the classroom, students are guided how to discover, construct, and enter their characters in the text. This course is not only an introduction to various performing arts (such as mime, dance, opera, musical, etc.), but also one of the best ways to appreciate dramatic literature.

This course examines how Shakespeare has been adapted and appropriated in a variety of performance contexts. Students address and debate issues such as cultural and textual authority, authorship, gender, sexuality, national identity, ethnicity, adaptation, and appropriation. Possible topics, contexts and texts through which these issues are addressed may include, but are not limited to authorship; decolonization, postcolonial and settler cultures; queering Shakespeare; feminist performance; heritage and tourism; festivals; translation; popular culture; education. 

The first half focuses on Western plays and the second half focuses on Chinese plays. Guided readings through Western cultivates the ability to analyze and appreciate the power of plays as well as how to analyze the structure, language, characters, etc of the different plays. The section on Chinese/Taiwanese plays goes over an introduction of drama and screenplay readings. The introduction of dramas covers the history, characteristics, and admiration of Chinese plays, providing knowledge and ability to read and understand Chinese plays.

Naturalism seems to be the theater that all fashionable modern theatre people love to hate. This course reconnects with the original dynamic energy of naturalist theater, and to trace a century-long fascination with the art of making it look and feel real. Students look  at new discoveries and explorations of 19th-century science, and at radical moves in painting and literature, as a way of framing our exploration of naturalist drama itself. Students find out why it was so offensive to see a version of their own living room on stage and how theater started to bring all the sordid realities of everyday life on stage. Seminars involve extensive study of naturalist plays, from Ibsen and Strindberg, via Franz Xavier Kroetz to Richard Maxwell, film screenings, and critical and historical texts that place the phenomenon of naturalism in historical and aesthetic context.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by consent of the instructor. The course examines Greek and Roman theatre as a whole (places of performance, festivals and dramatic competitions, poets and preserved works; directors, chorus, players; relationship with public and institutions; the different dramatic genres and their history) and develops a critical attitude towards the main issues concerning the Greek and Roman theatre. Course contents include dramatic performances in the ancient world, with a special regard to Athenian tragedy and its importance for the modern theatre, and Euripides and Alcestis.