This course is an introduction to dramatic literature, principally in the Western tradition, from antiquity through the early twenty-first century. Part One of the course begins with an introduction to drama through three classic texts by Euripides, Zeami, and Shakespeare, followed by Goethe’s Faust and Büchner’s Woyzeck, two revolutionary plays that set the stage for modern drama. Part Two of the course focuses on the twentieth century. Beginning with Alfred Jarry’s scandalous and provocative Ubu Roi, we will move through the twentieth century with Bertolt Brecht’s and Margarete Steffin’s Life of Galileo and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The course concludes with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Suzan-Lori Parks’ The American Play, and Carol Churchill’s 2002 science fiction drama A Number.
- Teacher: GREGORY POLAKOFF