TOPICS IN THEATRE HISTORY BAROQUE AND NEO-CLASSICAL THEATRE: THEATRE OF EMPERORS, THEATRE OF THE BOURGEOISIE Professor Mazer Fall 1995 Bennett Hall 305, x8-7382; cmazer@english.upenn.edu Office Hours: Tu 1:30-3:00, Th 1:00-2:30, and by appointment) January 17: Introduction: Drama vs. Theatre vs. Theatre History. September 12: The Renaissance Background I: The Popular Tradition. Reading: Alois Nagler, A Sourcebook in Theatrical History, pp. 113-138. September 14: Renaissance Background II: The Courtly Tradition (with slides). Reading: Nagler, pp. 71-110. September 19: The Stuart Masque (with slides). Reading: Ben Jonson, Oberon (bulkpack; BRING THE SCRIPT TO CLASS); Stephen Orgel, The Illusion of Power. September 21: The Stuart Masque II: Gender, Race, and Empire. Reading: Ben Jonson, The Masque of Blackness (bulkpack); Kim Hall, "Sexual Politics and Cultural Identity in The Masque of Blackness" (bulkpack). [September 26: no class] September 28: French Neo-Classicism I. Reading: Pierre Corneille, Le Cid (in Landmarks of French Classical Drama). October 3: French Neo-Classicism II. Reading: Le Cid (cont.); documents from the controversy over Le Cid (bulkpack). October 5: Molière I. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): Molière, The School for Wives (in Tartuffe and Other Plays). October 10: Molière II. Reading: Molière, The Critique of The School for Wives; The Impromptu of Versailles (in Tartuffe and Other Plays). October 12: Neo-Classical Tragedy. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): Jean Racine, Phèdre (in Landmarks of French Classical Drama); Roland Barthes, excerpts from On Racine (bulkpack). [APPROXIMATE DUE-DATE: TAKE-HOME ASSIGNMENT #1] [Fall Break] October 19: English Restoration Theatre: Theatre and Society; the Actress. Reading: Nagler, pp. 203-214; Thomas A. King, "`As if (she) were made on purpose to put the whole world into good Humour': Reconstructing the First English Actresses" (bulkpack) Reports: Thomas Betterton __________ Nell Gwynne __________ October 24: Restoration Comedy and Society. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): William Wycherly, The Country Wife; Judith Milhous and Robert D. Hume, "The Production Process," and "The Country Wife," from Producible Interpretation (bulkpack). October 26: Baroque Theatres and Scenography (with slides). (BRING A PAIR OF SCISSORS TO CLASS) October 31: French Theatre and the Italian Comedians. Reading: Pierre Carlet de Marivaux, The Lottery of Love (in Landmarks of French Classical Drama). November 2: English Ballad Opera. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (bulkpack); listen to the music for The Beggar's Opera in the Ormandy Listening Room, Van Pelt Library. Report: Handel in London __________ November 7: Mid-Century Middle-Class English Theatre. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): John Lillo, The London Merchant (bulkpack). Report: The Licensing Act of 1737 __________ [APPROXIMATE DUE DATE: TAKE-HOME ASSIGNMENT #2] November 9: David Garrick. Reading: Joseph R. Roach, "Garrick, the Ghost, and the Machine" (bulkpack); excerpt from Henry Fielding, Tom Jones (bulkpack). Reports: Charles Macklin __________ The Stratford Shakespeare Jubilee __________ November 14: 18th Century France: Establishment vs. Popular Theatre. Reading: Voltaire, Sémiramis (bulkpack); Frederick Brown, "The Speechless Tradition," from Theatre and Revolution (bulkpack); Thomas Simon Gueullette, "The Two Doubles, or The Surprising Surprise," "The Blind One-Armed Deaf-Mute," and "The Shit Merchant" (bulkpack) November 16: Italian Transformations. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): Carlo Goldoni, The Venetian Twins (bulkpack). November 21: Italian Revivals. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): Carlo Gozzi, The King Stag (bulkpack). [Thanksgiving] November 28: Goethe and Weimar Classicism. Reading: Gotthold Ephraim von Lessing, excerpts from Hamburg Dramaturgy (bulkpack); Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "Rules for Actors," in Nagler, pp. 428-433; Goethe, Egmont (bulkpack). November 30: On the Eve of the Revolution I. Reading (and [prepared? __________] in-class staging?): Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, Figaro's Marriage (in Landmarks of French Classical Drama). December 5: On the Eve of the Revolution II. Listening (in the Ormandy Listening Room, Van Pelt Library): Lorenzo da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Le Nozze de Figaro. December 7: Looking Ahead: Revolution and Romanticism (with slides); AND CONCLUSIONS. You are responsible for ONE short (10 minutes) in-class presentations on the subject and dates specified above (with the blanks); OR participation in ONE prepared scene, to be presented during the classes noted. BRING YOUR SCRIPTS TO CLASS THAT DAY, even if you are not participating in the prepared in-class staging; if no one has signed up in advance to stage a scene, we might work through a scene and put it on its feet during the class hour. There will be TWO take-home essay assignments, plus ONE final research project, due at a date to be announced, on a topic that must MUST BE APPROVED IN ADVANCE. Attendance in class is crucial; CHRONIC ABSENCE OR LATENESS WILL BE COUNTED AGAINST YOU. Bring your scripts to class. The following books can be purchased at the Penn Book Center, 37th and Walnut: Alois Nagler, A Sourcebook in Theatrical History. Stephen Orgel, The Illusion of Power. Landmarks of French Classical Drama. Molière, Tartuffe and Other Plays. William Wycherly, The Country Wife. The bulkpack can be purchased at the Campus Copy Center, 39th and Walnut. I have set up a listserv for this course on e-mail, to which you have been automatically subscribed (if this is not so, contact me via e-mail). You will be sent a copy of every e-mail message posted to the listserv, and any message you send will be distributed to everyone who signs up (including the professor). Important announcements about assignments and due dates, notices about local theatre events, etc., will be posted regularly, so CHECK YOUR E-MAIL EVERY DAY. The listserv can also be used by you and your classmates as a clearing house for thoughts and impressions about the readings and the class discussions. Just send a note to Mazer140@english.upenn.edu, or reply to any message you receive over the listserv. (But remember: everything you post can be read by everyone; if you have any private comments, or any private replies to a query you read on the listserv, you should respond privately to the individual's own e-mail address, rather than replying through the listserv). If you are not yet on e-mail, you might consider getting an account, which you can access at any computer hooked up to the network.