This course explores various approaches to the staging of national identity and history in Britain from the sixteenth century to the present day. Students will study a range of dramatic works and examine evolving ideas of what can constitute a national stage or theatre. Subjects to be explored include ceremonial royal pageantry from Elizabethan England to televised coronations and investitures; the history of television, radio, and the BBC as a communal playhouse; arts festivals, national exhibitions, and the amateur pageant play; revisionist stagings of Shakespeare’s history plays; challenges to ideas of Britishness in England, Scotland, and Wales. (Offered in alternate years.)
This course explores various approaches to the staging of national identity and history in Britain from the sixteenth century to the present day. Students will study a range of dramatic works and examine evolving ideas of what can constitute a national stage or theatre. Subjects to be explored include ceremonial royal pageantry from Elizabethan England to televised coronations and investitures; the history of television, radio, and the BBC as a communal playhouse; arts festivals, national exhibitions, and the amateur pageant play; revisionist stagings of Shakespeare’s history plays; challenges to ideas of Britishness in England, Scotland, and Wales. (Offered in alternate years.)
