Syllabus for HUM 4003 / ENGL 4333 / ENGL 5413: Study Away: Shakespeare 2009

This syllabus is subject to announced changes.

 

TERM: Last week of Summer Intersession 2009 (May 30-June 6, 2009)

 

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. John Mercer, Professor of English, Department of Languages and Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Northeastern State University

Mailing address: NSU-BA, 3100 E. New Orleans St., Broken Arrow, OK 74014

Office phone: 918-449-6541    Home phone: 918-745-2363    Cell phone: 918-576-4949      

E-mail: mercer25@cox.net or mercer@nsuok.edu  

Faculty Web site: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~mercer

Alternative path to Web site: www.nsuok.edu > Academics > Faculty Web sites > Mercer

 

GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT: Olaf Standley, NSU graduate student in English and  veteran of last year’s Study Away class 

Office phone (in NSU-BA library): 918-449-6458                    Cell phone: 918-851-3750

E-mail: pstandley07@yahoo.com or standleo@nsuok.edu

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: You will immerse yourself in plays by Shakespeare and other playwrights by reading the scripts in advance, seeing the plays in performances at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), discussing the plays before and after you see them, participating in OSF educational programs, reading and responding to published reviews of the plays, and writing a synthesis of what you have learned. The course will emphasize how theatre brings scripts to life on stage.   

 

EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES: In this course you will demonstrate your ability to

(1)   understand the scripts of plays you are about to see, including historical background and literary elements (such as plot, character, setting, and theme).  

(2)   explain how theatrical elements—such as casting, blocking, gestures, facial expressions, the spoken word, theatre architecture, design, set, stage properties, music, sound effects, and lighting—create the experience and meaning of stage productions.  

(3)   explain and support your own responses to and evaluations of the productions you see.

(4)   identify the changes necessary to adapt a narrative (e.g., Don Quixote) into a drama.    

(5)   synthesize what you have learned about plays by Shakespeare and other playwrights.

(6)   respond to theatre reviews of plays you have seen.

 

TEXTBOOKS AND ASSIGNED READINGS: Except as noted below, read the following six (6) texts in their entirety before we leave for Oregon.  Please bring your textbooks to Oregon. In our class discussions before and after we see the performances, you will need to demonstrate your knowledge of these texts. 

 

Equivocation.  By Bill Cain.  Play script to be published by Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Since we will not receive the script of this play before we see it in performance, do at least two (2) or three (3) hours of Internet research and reading on the following subjects, and come prepared to share what you have learned with the class (bring notes and/or printouts of your research):

  • Gunpowder Plot (see especially www.gunpowder-plot.org/index.asp)
    • King James I
    • Robert Cecil
    • Robert Catesby
    • Guy Fawkes
    • Father Henry Garnet
    • the Jesuits
    • Sir Edward Coke
    • Mark Nicholls’s book Investigating Gunpowder Plot
  • Equivocation  
    • The meaning of the word equivocation
    • Its association with Jesuits
  • The King’s Men (acting company)
  • Hamnet and Judith Shakespeare

 

Henry VIII.  Folger Library Ed. By Shakespeare. Ed. Werstine and Mowat. Washington Square Press, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7330-5.

Give special attention to “Shakespeare’s Theater.”

Undergraduates may omit “The Publication of Shakespeare’s Plays.”

All may omit “Further Reading.”

 

Macbeth.  Bantam Classic. By Shakespeare. Ed. Bevington and Kastan. Bantam, 2005.

ISBN-10: 0-553-21298-2.

Give special attention to “Macbeth on Stage” and “Macbeth on Screen” (or, if you have the 1988 edition, “Macbeth in Performance”).

Undergraduates may omit “Shakespeare’s Sources.”

All may omit “Further Reading.”

 

Don Quixote.  Abridged.  Signet Classics. By Cervantes.  Intro. and trans. Starkie.  New American Library (Penguin), 2003.  ISBN-13: 978-0-4515-2890-2

ALL students may omit Part II (pages 239-537).  Although I previously asked graduate students to read Part II, I have learned that OSF’s play adaptation of Don Quixote covers only Part I.  If you have already read Part II, please get in touch with me.

Graduate students should be especially prepared to discuss in class the content of the following pages assigned to you (note that, because we are no longer reading Part II, these are different from the pages previously assigned):

S. Barber: chapters I-VII, pages 1-49

D. Pendley: chapters VIII-XII, pages 49-96  

            T. Danley: chapters XIII- XV, pages 96-135

            J. Whitmer: chapters XVI-XIX, pages 135-182

            S. Hazen: chapters XX-XXIV, pages 182-238

           

Death and the King’s Horseman.  Norton Critical Edition. By Wole Soyinka. Ed. Gikandi.

Norton, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-0-3939-7761-5.

Undergraduates may omit all the readings that follow the play.

Graduates should read the entire casebook except for pages 74-88 (“Oba Waja” or “The King Is Dead”) and be especially prepared to discuss in class the content of the following pages assigned to you:

            S. Barber: 67-73, 89-112

            T. Danley: 113-38

            S. Hazen: 141-64

            D. Pendley: 164-87

            J. Whitmer: 187-222

 

Much Ado about Nothing.  Bantam Classic. By Shakespeare. Ed. Bevington and Kastan.  Bantam, 1988.  ISBN-10: 0-553-21301-6.

Give special attention to “Much Ado on Stage” and “Much Ado on Screen” (or, if you have the 1988 edition, “Much Ado in Performance”).

Undergraduates may omit “Shakespeare’s Sources.”

All may omit “Further Reading.”

 

AUDIO-VISUALS BEFORE DEPARTURE: Your study of the plays will be greatly enhanced if you can also listen to audio recordings and/or watch film adaptations of them before we leave for Oregon. The following materials are on reserve for seven-day checkout from the NSU-BA library:

  • Full-dramatized Arkangel audio recordings on CD of Henry VIII, Macbeth, and Much Ado about Nothing. 
  • Three different screen adaptations of Macbeth:

(1)   Directed by Roman Polanski (DVD)

(2)   Starring Jeremy Brett (DVD)

(3)   Royal Shakespeare Company version starring Ian McKellen and Judi Dench (VHS)

  • Kenneth Branagh’s film of Much Ado about Nothing (VHS). If you’ve never seen it, please try to watch this film.  I believe it’s the most beautiful film of a Shakespearean play ever made.  Watching it will give you an excellent understanding of the play.
  • 1972 MGM film Man of la Mancha, starring Peter O’ Toole and Sophia Loren (DVD).  The film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name; the musical is loosely based on Cervantes’ Don Quixote.  If you’ve never seen it, please try to watch Man of La Mancha. In class discussion, we will contrast it with OSF’s stage production of Don Quixote.

 

Similar items should be available at the NSU-Tahlequah library and other educational and public libraries.  The Tulsa City-County Library system has audio and video versions of all of Shakespeare’s plays, including all of the BBC Shakespeare Plays and two (2) different videos of Henry VIII.

 

CLASS SESSIONS:  For each of the six (6) plays included in the course, we will have a pre-performance discussion and a post-performance discussion, each lasting about 75 minutes. Before you leave for Oregon, you will receive by e-mail attachment discussion questions on these plays. Please bring these discussion questions to each class session, and be prepared to discuss the answers to the questions and to ask about the questions you can’t answer.    

 

(1)   Pre-performance discussions will focus on discussion of

a.       background information about the plays, including the supplementary readings in the textbooks.

b.      the scripts of the plays themselves, including important passages and/or scenes in the plays.  

c.       theatrical elements to look for in the OSF production of the plays.  

d.      your own questions and/or comments about the plays, supplementary readings, and/or audio-visuals relating to the plays.  So that you will be prepared to participate, bring your own questions and comments to each pre-performance discussion.    

 

(2)   Post-performance discussions will focus on discussion of

a.       the theatrical choices made in the productions.

b.      how theatrical elements of the productions serve to construct the experience and meaning of the plays for the audience. 

c.       your responses to and evaluations of the productions.  So that you will be prepared to participate, bring your own observations, questions, and/or comments to each post-performance discussion.

 

OSF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS: You will attend the following educational programs presented by actors, designers, and/or other professionals at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival:

(1)   Prologues: Two 30-minute introductory lectures to plays right before we see them: Equivocation and Death and the King’s Horseman

(2)   Discussions: Two 60-minute class discussions with an actor or other member of the OSF company

(3)   Backstage Tour: A guided tour of the theatres of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

 

NOTEBOOK:  To each class session, educational program, or performance, bring a small notebook (pocket-sized might be convenient) in which to write the following:

(1)    Your answers to discussion questions

(2)    Other questions, comments, and/or issues you want to bring up in pre-performance discussions

(3)    Your observations, questions, and/or responses for post-performance discussions

(4)    Your notes from class sessions and OSF educational programs, which should be especially helpful when you write your papers after returning to Oklahoma

 

DISABILITIES: If you have a disability and need special accommodations in this class, please let me know before we leave on the trip.

 

SCHEDULE OF CLASS ACTIVITIES: By e-mail attachment you have already received a tentative schedule as part of an informational document about the trip.  You can also access this document from my NSU faculty Web site.  By the beginning of the trip you will receive a revised schedule of activities.

 

PAPERS:  As soon as possible after you return to Oklahoma, while your memories, notes, and enthusiasm are fresh, write the following short papers, and submit them by e-mail attachment no later than midnight on Sunday, June 28, 2009.   For all papers, follow the instructions in the document “Computer Format and Manuscript Form,” accessible from the home page of my faculty Web site.

 

  • Paper 1: Read the script of Equivocation after you return home, and write a response to it.  Your response might include some of the following kinds of information:
    • How your experience of reading the script differs from that of seeing the play in performance
    • How your reading of the script causes you to understand or evaluate the play differently
    • What you learned about the play and/or the historical events in the play that you did not understand before reading it
    • How the script of the play relates to other plays you saw or things you learned in Ashland
    • How you evaluate the script and/or the historical revisionism it presents

Minimum length for all students: two (2) full pages

 

  • Paper 2: Locate, read, and write a response to at least two (2) professional theatre reviews of one (1) of the OSF Shakespearean productions you saw. Your response might include some of the following kinds of information:
    • How the reviews compare and/or contrast with each other
    • How the reviews agree and/or disagree with our class’s evaluation of the performance and/or understanding of the play in post-performance discussion
    • How the reviews agree and/or disagree with your own evaluation of the performance and/or understanding of the play
    • How the reviews help you better understand the play and/or the OSF performance

Include a bibliographical citation in MLA form and a link for each of the reviews to which you are responding. 

Minimum length for all students: two (2) full pages

 

  • Paper 3: Write a synthesis of what you learned in the course.  Do NOT organize your paper play by play, program by program, and/or class session by class session.  Rather, in each main point of your paper, integrate specific references to various plays, educational programs, and class discussions.  Main points, for example, might be devoted to what you learned about topics such as the following:
    • Historical information about Shakespeare’s life, times, and theatre
    • Shakespeare’s plays
    • Theatrical elements that contribute to the experience and meaning of stage productions
    • The operation of a modern theatre repertory company

Minimum length for undergraduate students: three (3) full pages

Minimum length for graduate students: five (5) full pages

 

COURSE GRADE:  Each of the following three (3) criteria counts for one-third of the final course grade:

(1)    Attendance: Because this class is based on experience and discussion, attendance is required at all performances, educational programs, and class sessions.  Absence from any of these activities will be reflected in your course grade.

(2)    Participation in class discussion: Active participation in class discussion is required.  Demonstrate your fulfillment of the EXPECTED COURSE OUTCOMES (see first page of syllabus) by the quality and quantity of your oral contributions in class.   

(3)    Papers: (See above.)

 

Grade scale:

A = 90-100%        Excellent, superior

B = 80-89%           Good, above average

C = 70-79%          Average, satisfactory

D = 60-69%          Below average, minimum pass

F = 0-59%             Unsatisfactory, failure