Modern and Contemporary Theatre

This subject explores the questions animating the major movements in 20th- and 21st-century theatre and performance. What does it mean to try to represent the world “as it really is”? Should the theatre entertain, educate, incite, reassure? How should it do these things? The diverse ways in which solutions to these problems have been pursued inform its conception and reception in any given historical context. We will examine key texts and practices in theatre and performance from the last 150 years, with particular attention paid to the ways in which theatre and performance has chosen (or been compelled) to respond to shifting social, political, and economic dynamics. While the syllabus is primarily organised chronologically, we will place equal emphasis on tracing themes and “problems” as they resurface in disparate geographical locations and historical periods.