Shakespeare and Early Modern Performance

3 units

Paired with Drama 347, Shakespeare Globe Program: Acting, this course uses the resources of London and the Globe Theatre as departure points for an examination of Shakespearean performance in its historical and cultural context. We pay close attention to the dramatic text: meter, style, metaphorical language, dramatic composition, rhetoric, genre, etc. We consider such topics as Shakespeare's playing spaces, the actor-audience relationship in the Globe Theatre, acting, movement, original rehearsal practices, the boy actor, costumes, sound, music, props, and the culture of the Bankside (bear-baiting, taverns, violence, prostitution, etc.)