230039 Politics and Theatre (S) (WiSe 2013/2014)

Playwrights have always commented the social, ideological and political issues of their times in more or less direct ways. Considering that humans are always social beings (Aristotle's 'zoon politikon'), the political is involved in every performance of the human condition anyway. However, in different periods of theatre history, authors have used the semiotic potential of theatre in different ways to discuss political issues, sometimes voicing their own political agenda. In this seminar we will read, and compare, five theatre plays from different phases of British theatre history.

Literaturangaben

The plays are William Shakespeare: King Henry V (1599); Harold Pinter: The Hothouse (1958/1980); Joan Littlewood/Theatre Workshop: Oh, What a Lovely War (1961); David Edgar: Pentecost (1994); Howard Brenton, Anne Boleyn (2010). A reader containing all plays will be available at the beginning of the semester.