Bachelor 2024/2025

Drama and Theatre. Advanced English

Type: Elective course (HSE/NES Programme in Economics)

Area of studies: Economics

Delivered by: Undergraduate Programmes Curriculum Support

Where: Faculty of Economic Sciences

When: 4 year, 3, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of one campus

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 64

Course Syllabus

Abstract

“There is nothing more pleasant than to lie on the sofa and read a novel,” wrote a nineteenth-century narrator, quoted once by Walter Benjamin. This seminar aims to demonstrate that interaction with drama and theater can far surpass this lonely relaxing reading activity. Unlike a work of prose, drama suggests a collaborative art, created in the imagination of the playwright, the actor, and the audience, and thus a totally different aesthetic experience. In this course, students will read and discuss the most celebrated plays from various historical periods, explore the essential elements of drama, as well as the role of theater as cultural and social institution. Further, they will have a chance to analyze the dynamics and creativity of the theatre productions of some of the plays we cover, as well as to try their hand at their own creative projects. The selection of texts includes dramas written by some of the most innovative playwrights such as Sophocles, Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Bertolt Brecht, Anton Chekhov, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard and others. While exploring the interplay between the dramas’ form, content and context, the students will also trace the intricate history of social, gender, and artistic relationships that the plays unravel. Active participation in class discussions is crucial to doing well in this course. During the semester students will write several response papers, one review of the theater performance, prepare one oral presentation with a partner and participate in a performing project.