This module introduces you to key works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, through the lens of dramatic experimentation. Early modern England saw an explosion in forms of entertainment, not all of which fit neatly into the genres of comedy, history and tragedy. We will look at the innovative staging methods of playwrights from Kyd to Shakespeare to Jonson, as they developed a dramatic syntax – both verbal and physical – with which to communicate with audiences. These audiences were very diverse, and so the module explores public playhouses like the Globe, royal entertainments and the so-called ‘private’ performance spaces of St Paul’s and the Blackfriars.

We will focus throughout on the variety and variability of performance conditions. What role did special effects play in Marlowe’s stagecraft? How did children’s playing companies change the theatrical scene? What made Shakespeare’s stake in the Globe theatre distinctive? Lectures will draw on archaeological finds at the Rose and the Curtain, as well as exploring non-dramatic entertainments such as bear-baiting and fencing. In these ways, you will be encouraged to think of dramatists collaborating and competing within a wider culture of experimentation.

• identify the culture of experimentation in early modern drama
• discuss the factors influencing dramatic production: economic, political, social, legal
• distinguish between the varied performance spaces of early modern London
• debate the relationship between particular authors and a wider literary culture
• evaluate Shakespeare within the larger networks of dramatic experimentation

This module will be delivered through a mixture of synchronous and asynchronous activities, as part of this programme’s blended provision, which will include on-campus and online teaching and support.

The precise mode of delivery and details – subject to Welsh Government and Public Health Wales guidance – of the teaching and support activities will be made available at the start of the semester via Learning Central.

Academic skills: the particular skills of the module involve reading and understanding how a literary genre (in this case, early modern drama) adapts to, negotiates with and transforms the culture from which it emerges. Analysis of the complex relationship between writing and performance in generating meaning will also be an important facet of this module. This requires careful scholarship, sensitivity to language through close reading and a broader historical awareness of social change.

Employability skills: these include the ability to synthesise information, participate in group-based discussion, to negotiate different and conflicting standpoints, to communicate ideas and to produce clear, informed arguments in a professional manner. Formative exercises draw on peer feedback to create collaborative and student-led research, encouraging skills of information collation, selection and synthesis. 

The methods of summative assessment for this module are detailed in the table below.

Formative work to be submitted before each summative assessment: you can choose between submitting, as appropriate, an essay plan/structure, synopses of essay topic options (if undecided) or sample paragraph/s; for creative assignments, you can submit working drafts of parts of your composition, as arranged with the workshop convenor.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:
As with School policy, failed or unsubmitted assessments can be retaken during the August resit period.

Indicative Syllabus:

• Prologue: Wooden Os to candlelit spaces
• Kyd at the Rose
• Generic experimentation
• Marlowe’s mighty line
• Stepping between worlds: Shakespeare and Metatheatre
• Children’s playing companies
• Entertaining London
• City Comedy
• The Globe experiment
• Epilogue: Unending experimentation