Meta theatre

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4012322FNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

English

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Janine Hauthal (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

11 contact hours Lecture
11 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
75 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course gives a critical introduction to the phenomenon of metatheatre as a theoretical and practical reflection on the dramatic genre and the medium of the theatre (text). Adopting a literary historical and theoretical perspective, it examines self-reflexivity in drama and theatre, focussing in particular on contemporary reflections of genre and medium in postdramatic theatre and postdramatic theatre texts.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Hamlet, Shakespeare, William, 2de, W. W. Norton & Company, 9780393640106, 2019
Handbook (Required) : The skin of Our Teeth, In Our Town and other plays 93-178, Wilder Thornton, Penguin, 9780141184586, 2000
Handbook (Required) : Theatremachine, Müller, Heiner, Faber & Faber, London, 9780571175284, 1998
Handbook (Required) : Sarah Kane 'Crave', Complete Plays, introduced by David Greig 153-201, Kane, Sarah, Methuen, London, 9780413742605, 2001
Handbook (Required) : Jackie, We Are Proud to Presen a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwerst Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915, Sibblies Drury, Bloomsbury, 97814725-85097, 2014
Handbook (Required) : A Piece of Work, Dorsen Annie, Ugly Duckling, 9781937027636, 2017
Digital course material (Required) : In addition, students will be asked to watch the recordings of three theatre performances (by Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Annie Dorsen and Milo Rau) in preparation for class. Access to the recordings will be made available through Canvas.

Additional info

The course starts with a survey of metatheatre’s development through the past two millennia. Students will then be introduced to different theoretical approaches to metadrama which they are subsequently invited to discuss and apply to plays and theatre productions ranging from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600) to Milo Rau’s La Reprise – Histoire(s) du théâtre (I) (2018).

This course is taught in English. Assignments can be written in either English or, Dutch

Additional recommended reading:

Abel, Lionel. Tragedy and Metatheatre: Essays on Dramatic Form, edited and with an introduction by Martin Puchner. New York/London: Holmes & Meier, 2003 [1963]. [VUB library: 820 H 5 ABEL 2003]

Barnett, David. “When Is a Play Not a Drama? Two Examples of Postdramatic Theatre Texts.” New Theatre Quarterly 24.1 (2008): 14-23. [PDF on Canvas]

Hauthal, Janine. Metadrama und Theatralität: Gattungs- und Medienreflexion in zeitgenössischen englischen Theatertexten. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2009. [VUB library: 820 H 5 HAUT 2009]

Hornby, Richard. Drama, Metadrama, and Perception. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 1986. [VUB library: on order]

Jarcho, Julia. Writing and the Modern: Theater beyond Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2017. [VUB library: 792 G JARC 2017]

Lehmann, Hans-Thies. Postdramatisches Theater: Ein Essay. Frankfurt/M.: Verlag der Autoren, 2001 [1999]. [VUB library: 830 H 5 LEHM 2001] (English translation: Postdramatic Theatre, translated and with an introduction by Karen Jürs-Munby. London/New York: Routledge. https://monoskop.org/images/2/2d/Lehmann_Hans-Thies_Postdramatic_Theatre.pdf)

Poschmann, Gerda. Der nicht mehr dramatische Theatertext: Aktuelle Bühnenstücke und ihre dramaturgische Analyse. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1997. [VUB library: 830 H 5 POSC 97]

Puchner, Martin. Stage-Fright: Modernism, Anti-Theatricality, and Drama. Baltimore/London: The Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. [VUB library: 820 H 5 PUCH 2002]

Schmeling, Manfred. Métathéâtre et intertexte: Aspects du théâtre dans le théâtre. Paris: Lettres Modernes, 1982. [VUB library: 840 H 5 SCHM 82]

Swyzen, Claire, and Kurt Vanhoutte. Het Statuut van de tekst in het postdramatische theater. UP Antwerp/ Academic and Scientific Publishers, 2011.

Worthen, W. B. Print and the Poetics of Modern Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005. [VUB library: 820 H 5 WORT 2005]

Additional secondary sources will be provided via Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Students can understand and explain various forms of medium- and genre-related self-reflexivity in plays and theatre productions from 1600 to the present. In particular, they will gain a solid knowledge of how postdramatic theatre and postdramatic theatre texts reflect on the conventions of the dramatic genre. Students can critically assess both the primary material covered in this course and the scholarly work devoted to it. Students can formulate an original research project in which one (or several) dimension(s) of self-reflexivity are raised and illustrated, from a conceptual, historical and/or performance-oriented angle.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 20% of the final mark.
PRAC Practical Assignment determines 30% of the final mark.
SELF Paper determines 50% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral Examination with a relative weight of 20 which comprises 20% of the final mark.

Note: Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 20% of the final mark.
Note: Oral exam with short presentation, primarily defence of research paper

Within the PRAC Practical Assignment category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Daily work_presentation with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Note: Oral presentation (in group) or written exercise(s) (in group) with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 20% of the final mark and Active participation in class with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 10% of the final mark.
Note: Permanent evaluation

Within the SELF Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Paper with a relative weight of 50 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Note: Paper with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 50% of the final mark.
Note: Research paper

Additional info regarding evaluation

Students are encouraged to take advantage of the interactive tools at their disposal on the e-learning platform CANVAS. Together with their contributions to in-class discussions this will constitute the participatory grade (10%). A second course requirement pertains to an oral presentation (in group) or written exercise(s) (in group) (20%), in which students will practice applying and critically assessing an aspect of the theoretical framework to the course material. Thirdly, students will be asked to write a 3,000 to 5,000-word research paper (50%) that addresses one (or several) dimension(s) of self-reflexivity in a play or theatre production of their own choice (a list with recommendations will be provided in class) by critically engaging with the scholarly work devoted to it. Based on this paper, students will be asked to prepare a 5-minute individual presentation at the oral exam (20%), so as to orally defend their research paper.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context