Course syllabus

Drama 301: Themes and Topics. Semester 1, 2017

 

Tom Bishop     

Arts 1, Rm 629 ext 87841

t.bishop@auckland.ac.nz

                                                       

Class time:    M 9-11, F 10-12

Workshop time: W 2-4                                                 

Location: Drama Studio, Arts 1 

                                                        

Overview:  Welcome to Drama 301 for 2017. This course is the most fun I have in my job. I hope you will enjoy it also and that we will learn much from one another this semester. We all have different interests and expertise in theatre that we can successfully pool and develop. Please feel free to ask questions or open discussion on relevant topics at any time, in class or in person or over email.

This course focuses on several topics around working with an audience, especially in comic acting and comic forms. You should be prepared for extensive practical workshops and exercises on the material studied, both solo and in groups. Topics of exploration will include: laughter, the comic actor and the audience, clowning, styles of comedy and the comic, the social spaces of performance, and so on. We will look in particular at dramatic work by Beckett and Shakespeare, at traditions of the mask and commedia dell’arte and street theatre. Our semester-length project will be a performance of Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, performed by acts in workshop groups at the end of the semester.

We will begin with laughter. Laughter is a universal human experience, and drama that provokes and marshalls laughter seems to be a near-universal in cultures that have traditions of dramatic performance. In the European tradition, this type of drama is often called “comedy” (with various subspecies such as comedy of manners, tragicomedy, black comedy, farce, etc.), though other kinds of drama also contain laughter. In the first part of the course we will explore what laughter is, how it is generated and what effects it has, and combine our discussion of various theories of laughter with explorations of comic performance and comic acting. We will investigate scenes of laughter in everyday life, discuss some instances of extraordinary laughter, and try exercises designed to produce laughter and the comic, involving such variables as status, gender, incongruity, relief, embarrassment, obscenity, etc. The first question we will be addressing will be “Why do we laugh?”

Readings for workshop sessions will be provided over Canvas in weekly modules, and you are also expected to work on group projects for a further two hours a week, on Wednesday afternoons. Assessment is based on work in class, both individually and in groups, plus occasional written reflective assessments of your creative exploration and development. There is no examination. 

A detailed week-by-week syllabus and description appears below.

Contact: I can be contacted at any time for questions or discussions of course concerns at the above addresses. Email is by far the most efficient way to reach me.

 

Readings:

Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (get your own copy)

Additional readings will be posted on Canvas for you to read online and/or print out.

 

 Week by week schedule

(readings listed are to be done IN ADVANCE OF that class)

 

Week 1:

M:      Introduction to Laughter                                          Tom Bishop

Pre-homework: Scoping laughter project (explained below; please read)

                  Section 1 of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on “Humor”

                  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/#HumPlaLauPlaSig

 

W workshop:  No meetings.

 

F:      Laughter 2: Status and Superiority                   TB

Reading:        Section 2 of SEP on “Humor”

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/#HumPlaLauPlaSig

 

Week 2:

M:      Laughter 3: Relief                                                 TB

Reading:      Section 3 of SEP on “Humor”

                  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/#HumPlaLauPlaSig

 

W workshop:  “Gag clinic”. See assignment in the canvas "Module" for this week.

 

F:      Laughter 4: Incongruity                                          TB

Reading:       Section 4 of SEP on “Humor”

                  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/humor/#HumPlaLauPlaSig

Presentation:          Gag clinic presentations

 

Week 3:

M:      Intro to Masks                                                      TB

Reading:       none

 

W workshop:  Working with masks; assisting each other with trying out individual masks and developing characters

 

F:      Masks 2                                                                       TB

Reading:       none

 

Week 4:

M:      Masks and Commedia 3                                          TB

Reading:      Readings on commedia and lazzi

 

W workshop:  Further mask polishing characters with group feedback

 

F:      Mask character performances (individual) 1                 TB             

Reading:      none

 

 

Week 5:

M:      Mask character performances (individual) 2                 TB

Reading:      none

T:        Report #1 due Tuesday APRIL 4^TH noon                       (2 pages)

 

W workshop: Planning group skit based on assignment scenario.

 

F:      Group work on mask performances 1                         (TB away)

 

 

Week 6:

M:      Group work on mask performances 2                         (TB away)

        

W workshop: Rehearsing group skit.

 

F:      GOOD FRIDAY – NO CLASS                         

 

         Mid-semester Break

 

 

Week 7:

M:      Masks (group performances)                                    TB

 

W workshop: Looking at Street Theatre clips

 

F:      Street Theatre 1  (NB Venue: Pat Hanan Room)  TB

 

 

Week 8:

M:      Street Theatre 2      (walking tour)                           TB

 

W workshop: Rehearsing Street Theatre

 

F:      Street Theatre 3                                                   TB

 

 

Week 9:

M:      Street Theatre 4                                                   TB

 

W workshop: Street Theatre Group presentations -- compulsory

 

Th:      Report #2 due Thursday May 18^th, noon                      (2 pages)

 

F:      Two Gentlemen of Verona 1                                     TB

 

 

Week 10:

M:      Two Gentlemen of Verona 2                                     TB

 

W workshop: Planning TGV work

 

F:      Two Gentlemen of Verona 3                                     TB

        

Week 11:

M:      Two Gentlemen of Verona 4                                     TB

 

W workshop: Rehearsing TGV work

 

F:      Two Gentlemen of Verona 5                                     TB

 

 

Week 12:

M:      QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HOLIDAY                                  TB

 

W workshop: Final rehearsals TGV

 

F:      Final presentations of Two Gentlemen of Verona       TB/RK/EW

 

M:        Report #3 due Monday June 12^th noon                         (2 pages)

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASSESSMENT in this course will be apportioned as follows:

 

Attendance and participation                                      5%

 

Mask work (solo, incl report):                                   20%

 

Mask work (group):                                                15%

 

Street Theatre work (group, incl report):                     20%

                                                                                         

TGV work (individual, incl report)                              20%

 

TGV work (group)                                                  20%

 

                                                                                          100%

 

 

 

There will be no examination in this class.

There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class.

Further details about these various assignments will be forthcoming.

 

General course notes and policies:

 

Extensions:  These are always possible, but only in advance for proper cause. If you have a problem, you need to SEE ME. Extensions for solo performance work are extremely difficult to organise and will only be granted for medical or other documented emergency. There can, obviously, be no extensions for group performance work.

 

Excuses: Excuses for late written work will only be accepted in cases of documented medical or family emergency, of which I must be notified as soon as is practicable.

 

Work completion: Students must complete all assigned work in order to merit a passing grade in the course. Failure to do required work by the end of the course will result in a grade of DNC for the course. You cannot do only part of the work.

 

Group assignments (logistics): For some of the work in the class you will be placed in a group of seven to develop joint projects. Each group will attend the two-hour Wednesday workshop session every week for preparing projects. We will rotate the Studio space to make it available for all work in, but space constraint means we will also have to use the dressing rooms. Groups are expected to work efficiently on their own, building on class exercises but using their own skills and expertise. Instructors may visit group workshops from time to time, and are available to visit by invitation. As all workshops are at the same time, there will be opportunities to rotate membership.

 

Group assignments (assessment): Group projects will be graded collectively, but most also have an individual assessment assignment or component. There will be opportunity for each group member to comment on and assess internal group dynamics (this rewards the committed and detects the recalcitrant). These assessments can affect individual grades in extreme cases (up or down).

 

Attendance:  Regular attendance is expected. Necessary absences should be cleared in advance, or formally excused afterwards by doctor’s note or other documentation. Repeated absences (more than three) will reduce the final grade. Really. Lots of unexcused absences may result in a grade even further reduced, possibly even failure for the course.

 

Plagiarism:  Plagiarism is the deliberate, unacknowledged use of other people’s words, work or ideas as your own.  In a formal academic context, it constitutes dishonesty.  It is especially important in the case of Website information to document your sources. Defaulters will face failure in part or all of the course and may be reported to the University. Be warned! If you are in any doubt, ASK ME. (Fortunately, plagiarism in this class is almost impossible, but I give the warning just to make things clear).

 

 

SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS

 

Scoping laughter – non-assessed

 

This non-assessed assignment will help get our conversation off to a good start on the first day. Here it is:

           Go to a public venue in which people gather and socialize, and where you can innocently eavesdrop on their interactions (a café, study space, lecture theatre foyer, etc.). Tune in on a group of people and pay especial attention to how and when and why they laugh and use laughter in their interactions. Who laughs? When? DO some laugh more than others? Who begins? Who follows? As the group changes, does laughter change? Etc. Try to form some hypotheses as to what laughter is doing for the group and for the individuals in it. Bring your hypotheses and examples to the first class for us to consider.

 

Reports (individual)

 

After every assessment unit, I will ask you to submit a short (2 page), but cogent and reflective report on the assignment: what did you do, what challenges did you face, what did you learn, what was difficult, how did you face problems, what further questions has the assignment raised for you as a performer, or in your understanding of drama. These reports are due for Mask (April 4^th), Street Theatre (May 18^th) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (June 12^th). 

 

 

Mask Work (individual and group)

 

You will use one of the various masks provided to invent and flesh out a “character” of your own imagining, including developing an “environment” for that character, and presenting him or her to the class. Together with your group you will also come up with a short performance together based on a scenario including characters from your group.

 

Street Theatre (group)

 

In your workshop groups, you will devise and then perform a piece of street theatre somewhere on campus or in the surrounding city. You will together be responsible for choosing the venue, devising and “scripting” the piece, resourcing and performing it. More information will be forthcoming during the project.

 

PLEASE NOTE: These performances will be given in the WEDNESDAY WORKSHOP period of Week 9, May 17th: 2-4 pm. This is a MUCH BETTER timeslot for Street Theatre than either Monday or Friday morning. Attendance is compulsory (as it is for all workshops!)

 

 

Semester final project – Two Gentlemen of Verona (individual and group)

 

Groups will be assigned one of the first four Acts of Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona to work on as a semester project. You are at liberty to adapt the text to your needs and strengths, and are encouraged discuss your ideas with me throughout the semester. You would be well advised to start thinking and working together early, though more intensive time will be set aside in the last weeks of semester. The play contains many issues and problems of interpretation and staging, which can be informed by your work in comic performance through the semester. The assignment is intended to be a kind of “capstone” for your work in undergraduate drama as a whole. It should also be a fun and exciting challenge.