H80.1104 Lecture 4 Credits
Instructor(s): Epstein, Farrell, Rocamora
An intensive study of the major 19th- and 20th-century playwrights whose work comprises the modern theatre at its best. Particular emphasis is given to the playwright’s use of dramatic craft to define the religious, psychological, and political conditions that illuminate the individual’s relation to money, sex, and power. A re-examination of the changing concepts of tragedy and comedy, the playwright’s relation to society, and the influence of other art forms on modern theatrical expressions. Texts include works by Buchner, Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, Shaw, Cocteau, Pirandello, O’Neill, Brecht, Eliot, Genet, Williams, Ionesco, Pinter, Beckett, Bernhard, and Strauss. Students write a number of short papers through which they explore their own relation to the material covered in class. Required course. Formerly H80.1008.
