FRS 002U —
Sec. 001 —
(2 units) — CRN 65547 — M 4:10-6:00pm — 225 Wright
Expressing Society Through its Many Uses of Violence:
An Examination
of Five New Plays
Instructor: Peter Lichtenfels, Department of Theatre &
Dance, College
of Letters and Science
Description: The course will look at five remarkable new plays
from recent American, British, and Irish drama. The seminar explores violence
as a way of understanding our society, violence in relation to noise,
food additives,
sex, childhood, television, cultural acceptance, whether the character imposes
it on their surrounding, or the surrounding on them, place, relationships, and
human touch. The five plays are Blasted by Sarah Kane,
Shopping and
F**king by Mark Ravenhill, The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman,
Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, and Blue/Orange
by Joe Penhall.
Format: The seminar meets for two hours each week
for ten weeks.
The time will be divided between informal lecture presentations,
discussion, and
practical participation. It looks at one play every two weeks; in the
first week
there is a discussion of the use of violence in the play, in the
second we probe
how a scene can be brought from page to stage. Students will be
required to prepare
a piece of written work five pages long on a topic to be chosen in consultation
with the instructor. The second piece involves working in a group and
presenting
a short scene from one of the plays in week ten. A few hours
availability outside
of class hours is necessary. Grading: Four
hundred points
are given for punctuality, participation, attendance, and
preparedness; the first
essay is worth a further 300 points; and group work in creating the
scene is worth
a further 300 points; for a total of 1000 points.
About the Instructor: Professor Peter Lichtenfels is a member
of the faculty in the Department of Theatre & Dance. His research interests
include contemporary theatre practice. He is co-editor of a series on
contemporary
theatre for Manchester University Press; and has been Artistic Director of the
Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, and the Leicester Haymarket Theatre both of which
premiered many new plays by leading UK writers. He is in the process
of researching
a book I intend to write about the emergence of the new wave of
playwrights, especially
in Britain in the past ten years.