Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

A Patriot For Men: The Politics Of Masculinity In John Osborne's "A Patriot For Me", Joshua Kelly

All Master's Theses

By applying David Savran’s scholarship on the politics of masculinity to John Osborne’s play A Patriot for Me (1965), I demonstrate that Osborne exemplified contradictory sexual politics in the play, and was criticized as homophobic and praised as revolutionary in similarly contradictory original reviews. I argue that play very much typifies the heteronormative politics of masculinity by placing a dominant homosexual (Redl) as protagonist, and inverts the positions of the period woman and the staged effeminate man. Redl is historically represented as a heroic homosexual, but is actually a heteronormative object. I provide evidence for this interpretation by employing Savran …

The Performance Of Melancholy: Understanding The Humours Through Burton, Jonson, And Shakespeare, Lindsey N. Betts

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis aims to explore the relationships between dramatic texts and the Elizabethan topic of the humours. It covers Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Jonson's plays Every Man Out of His Humour and Every Man in His Humour, and Shakespeare's plays Hamlet and As You Like It. Each of these works provides a glimpse into society and its opinions specifically on melancholy, from its most basic and complex definitions to how it is perceived and addressed.

The Filial Dagger: The Case Of Hal And Henry Iv In 1 & 2 Henry Iv And The Famovs Victories, Kristin M.S. Bezio

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

English culture and politics in the last decade of the sixteenth century were both patriarchal and patrilineal, in spite of— or, perhaps, in part, because of—the so-called bastard queen sitting on the throne. The prevailing political questions of the day concerned Elizabeth’s successor and the fate of the nation that, so many believed, hung precariously in the balance. Questions of legality, legitimacy, and fitness formed the crux of these debates, but almost all claimants attempted to justify their right by tracing their bloodlines back to either Henry VII or Edward III, the respective patriarchs of the Tudor dynasty and the …

Decayed Drama, Increased Inclusivity: Beckett’S Theater In The 1960s, Ryan Diller

The Expositor: A Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities

No abstract provided.

The Choreopolitics Of Liberation And Decolonization, Harrison M. Goodall Iii

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines dance as a means of social and political revolt in the AIDS epidemic. The course of the AIDS epidemic within the United States was inexorably shaped by the way dancers and choreographers used their art form to rebel against concepts of masculinity, sexuality and disease transmission. Through confronting their audiences with the reality of their loss and humanizing themselves and their loved ones that passed away, dancers were able to change the image of the epidemic and push for necessary political and social reform. This paper also analyzes the ways that norms of masculinity and the stigma …

The Naïve Ingénue, The Plucky Everyman's Hero, And The Ingénue Gone Awry: The Satirical Deconstruction Of Theatrical Character Tropes In Urinetown: The Musical, Victoria Montecillo

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis looks to explore Urinetown: The Musical through a critical and theoretical framework, analyzing the show's presentation and deconstruction of theatrical character tropes through musical satire. Using the theories of theatre theorists such as Bertolt Brecht, Peter Brook, and Augusto Boal, this thesis discusses the use of theatre as a device for political and social commentary. Additionally, this thesis focuses more specifically on the show's character of Penelope Pennywise as a new kind of character in the theatre: an "ingénue gone awry," within the context of approaching a performance of the character in a performance of the musical.

"Can We Do A Happy Musical Next Time?": Navigating Brechtian Tradition And Satirical Comedy Through Hope's Eyes In Urinetown: The Musical, Katherine B. Marcus Reker

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis proposes a critical study of the theoretical framework of Urinetown, asking the question of whether or not the show is truly a “Brechtian musical,” utilizing the tenets and beliefs of Bertolt Brecht. Set in a quirky, Gotham-like town where you have “to pay to pee” due to a severe drought, Urinetown follows a cast of absurdist characters as they navigate a society plagued by the perils of big business, ecological devastation, and the inequalities of capitalism. While the show appears to make a relevant social commentary, supporting a righteous rebellion to overthrow the evil Urine Good Company, in …

John Byrne's The Slab Boys: Technicolored Hell-Hole In A Town Called Malice, William Donaldson

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents a detailed discussion and appreciation of the Slab Boys tetralogy, a sequence of four plays by the Scottish playwright and painter John Byrne, beginning with The Slab Boys (1978), focused on a group of apprentices in the color-mixing room of a Paisley carpet-factory in the 1950s, and then tracing the divergence of their lives through three later plays, The Loveliest Night of the Year (1979, later titled Cuttin' A Rug), Still Life (1982), and Nova Scotia (2008); examines Byrne's characterization, "excoriatingly destructive wit," and "rambunctiously demotic language"; analyzes the tetralogy's continuing major themes of the relation between art …

"Pitiful Creature Of Darkness": The Subhuman And The Superhuman In The Phantom Of The Opera, Jessica Sternfeld

Music Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"This chapter focuses on The Phantom of the Opera, the megamusical that perhaps most boldly faces the idea of disability head-on, as it stars a character whose face, as one journalist described it, looks 'like melted cheese' (Smith, 1995). The musical's approach to the Phantom's disability is remarkably layered and inconsistent; the Phantom is portrayed in numerous ways (monster, criminal, genius, god, ghost) and his physical disability blurs regularly with his 'soul;' which is where numerous characters locate the origin of his problems. His face and its famous mask covering are both feared and thrilled over, but with a reassuring …

Living Between The Lines: Intersectionality And Self-Actualization In Shakespeare's Plays, Morgan L. Green

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

More than four hundred years after his death Shakespeare is still the most performed playwright in the English-Speaking World, and even in some cultures vastly different from Shakespeare’s England. Theatre companies continue to make him relevant by exploring new themes and tailoring the productions to the social mores of contemporary audiences. One particular theme being examined more and more by both scholars and theatre artists is diversity and the role of identity in Shakespeare’s works. Three works in which this can be easily examined are Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello with particular attention paid to …

Drama Has Issues: A Brief Retrospective On The American Theatre Critic In New York From 1925 To Present, Teresa M. Kilzi

HIM 1990-2015

Theatre criticism has evolved with the advancement of technology and the decline of print journalism. As consumers are given increasing agency by which they can filter the news and reporting they read and occasionally replace it with their own, the idea that a sole voice on a certain topic brandishes more dominance over it than the masses of people involved in its creation and sustainment becomes progressively absurd. Conversely, however, readers rely on theatre critics to make theatergoing decisions for them explicitly because critics are supposed experts on the subject and their opinions are to be respected and observed accordingly. …

Exploring Literary Characters In Classroom Performance, Gerald Lee Ratliff

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Original classroom exercises are an invaluable instructional tool to actively engage students in analysis and performance of dramatic and non-dramatic literary texts. The basic principle of classroom performance emphasizes a critical and creative teaching perspective that stimulates student responses to the aesthetic, emotional and intellectual content of a literary text. Selected exercises that promote a more theatrical impulse in the study and performance of literary texts present meaningful opportunities for students to give vocal and physical visualization to the actions, attitudes and emotions of literary characters and, ultimately, enriches the classroom learning experience.

Review Of Peggy Thompson, (Ed). Beyond Sense And Sensibility: Moral Formation And The Literary Imagination From Johnson To Wordsworth, Elizabeth A. Dolan

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

Fresh Shakespeare From The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner

Faculty Publications

Some critics have argued against the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's contemporary English translation project, but Daniel Pollack-Pelzner argues it's part of the process of keeping Shakespeare alive.

2015 Cave Run Storytelling Festival Poster, Cave Run Storytelling Festival Committee (Morehead, Ky.), Morehead Tourism Commission (Morehead, Ky.)

Cave Run Storytelling Festival Posters

Promotional development poster for the Cave Run Storytelling Festival held on September 25 to September 26, 2015. Those performing included: Spencer Bohren, Regi Carpenter, Peter S. Cook, David Novak, Donald Davis, Dolores Hydock, Susan O'Halloran, and Mary Hamilton.

Dramaturgos Catalanes: Un Nuevo Cosmopolitismo, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Las giras y traducciones, normalmente de manera conjunta, han servido como barómetros de la vitalidad de la escena del teatro catalán. En Cataluña la movilidad es sinónimo habitual del prestigio, y el éxito en el teatro se mide de manera frecuente en función de su alcance y reputación internacionales. Además, para los dramaturgos que escriben en catalán, siempre conscientes de la precaria situación de su lengua e identidad cultural, su paradójica posición política de distancia y proximidad en relación con España ha podido acentuar el anhelo de pertenecer a una mayor esfera global.

The Many Faces Of Cleopatra: How Performance And Characterization Change Cleopatra In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Legend Of Good Women," William Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra, And John Dryden's All For Love; Or, The World Well Lost, Rebecca Piazzoni Chatham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Dryden presented the character of Cleopatra differently, through both the written language of their pieces and their own and others’ performances of her, in order to meet the demands of their respective audiences and performance conditions. Chaucer, in “The Legend of Cleopatra,” portrays and performs Cleopatra comically. Shakespeare, in his Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, characterizes Cleopatra as a complex woman. In All for Love; or, The World Well Lost, Dryden characterizes Cleopatra as sentimental, but the performance of her on stage by female actresses added depth to the role. For Chaucer and Dryden, …

Dramatizing Power And Resistance: Images Of Women In Pakistani And Indian Alternative Theater, Sobia Mubarak

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Pakistani and Indian plays that illustrate the nexus of power relations that operate in Pakistan and India to disempower women and the way women resist by creating dialogic spaces or fissures in the exploitative system. I have selected plays by Ajoka Theater in Pakistan and plays dealing with the similar thematic concerns by notable Indian playwrights to explore common grounds and points of departure. I have chosen four images of women depicting diverse modes of oppression associated with women’s bodies that are dealt with in these plays.

Chapter 1 examines Barri/The Acquittal by Ajoka theater, and Mother …

The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Daniel Gordon

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

The Merry Wives of Windsor A story of LUST, GREED, and DIRTY LAUNDRY
By William Shakespeare, adapted by Daniel Gordon.

Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor uses more prose than any of his other plays, for indeed, these characters are simple folk. His setting of the countryside of Windsor also offers clues to how I might interpret this play for a South Carolina audience. To reinforce the tight-knit community or provincial common folk that is wary of outsiders, I set this production in a southern trailer park. The script and rhythms fit remarkably well with a southern twang. Knowing the …

Ophelia And The Feminine Construct, Lilly E. Romestant

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Shakespeare's celebrated tragic masterpiece, Hamlet, one of the most controversial and seminal characters, Ophelia, continues to have a heavy influence on contemporary culture today in some unexpected ways. Her prevalence in mainstream media––including film, literature, drama, and music homages––validates not only her importance now but also reimagines and reinforces her parallel importance at the time of her debut in 1603. Her association with global teenage culture, suicide, and mental illness, puts her in the unique position of being heralded, generation after generation, as an icon of depression in female youth. This can be both positive and negative, as …

"Debate: Millennials Don't Stand A Chance" Devised, Documentary And Immersive Theatre: The Story Of Everymillennial, Sean R. Byrne

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This thesis aims to discover how communitas can be created through theatrical performances by blurring the line between audience and performer as well as performer and character. The topic of the Millennial generation is used as a thematic element in performance to emphasize the creation of community. A theatrical form will be introduced, called the “Living Biography:” a method of devising based on devising, documentary, and immersive theatre. This form will be shown as one possible option in creating communitas in a performance. While other forms of audience inclusion are frequently used, it will be argued that the “Living Biography” …

A New Tradition : Understanding Othello Through The Performance Of Emilia., Megg Ward

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

L’Anar I Venir Dels Dramaturgs Catalans: Un Nou Cosmopolitisme, Sharon G. Feldman

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

La conjunció entre viatges i traducció ha estat un baròmetre habitual de la vitalitat del panorama teatral català. A Catalunya la mobilitat acostuma a ser sinònim de prestigi, i l'èxit en teatre sovint es mesura en funció de l'abast i el reconeixement internacionals. A més a més, en el cas dels dramaturgs que escriuen en català, sempre conscients de la precària situació de la seva llengua i la seva identiat cultural, la posició paradoxal tant de distància com de proximitat política que mantenen amb Espanya n'ha accentuat, potser, l'anhel de pertànyer a una efera global més gran.

Review Of Barbara K. Seeber, Jane Austen And Animals, Lucinda Cole

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

In this review of Barbara K. Seeber's Jane Austen and Animals (Ashgate, 2013) Lucinda Cole summarizes this foundational book and emphasizes the role of animal studies scholars in linking feminism and environmental issues.

Review Of Helen E.M. Brooks, Actresses, Gender, And The Eighteenth-Century Stage: Playing Women, Leslie Ritchie

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

No abstract provided.

The Puzzling Origin Of The Acquaintance Between Charlotte Lennox And Thomas Birch, Patricia L. Hamilton

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

Scholars have puzzled over the origin of the relationship between Charlotte Lennox and Thomas Birch. That the two shared a cordial professional relationship in 1759 is not surprising, but it is unclear how and when Birch obtained the poem "The Dream, an ode by Miss Ramsey of 15" (ca. 1744-45) for his manuscript collection. Possibly Edward Cave, publisher of The Gentleman’s Magazine, or other professional associates such as Samuel Johnson or Samuel Richardson supplied it. But archival evidence indicates that Lady Isabella Finch, Lennox’s earliest patroness, was in contact with Birch in 1749, raising the question of whether she …

Mansfield Park Comes To Life: Teaching And Staging Elizabeth Inchbald’S Lovers’ Vows In An Austen Course, Misty Krueger

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640–1830

This essay discusses how I incorporated readers theatre into a senior seminar on Jane Austen and her contemporaries. The article recounts how my students read Elizabeth Inchbald’s 1798 drama, Lovers’ Vows, and Austen’s 1814 novel, Mansfield Park, and then were inspired at the end of the seminar to take part in a readers theatre production of the play. In order to set up this pedagogical example, the essay addresses the theatrical episode of Mansfield Park, the controversies surrounding Lovers’ Vows, and the ways in which I edited the play and prepared students to create a “little …

Notes On How To Rework A Ph.D. Dissertation For Publication As A Book, Steven Tötösy De Zepetnek

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Living By The Code: Authority In Gerard Stembridge's The Gay Detective, Kathleen A. Heininge

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Irish drama has few representations of police officers as anything but a trope for authority, tending to avoid any substantive character development. Likewise, it has few representations of homosexual characters, and when such representations do exist they are often caricatures. Reductive portrayals of police often arise from the complex relationship the Irish have with authority and with the legal system. But one of the few exceptions to this trend, and the only play to tackle the representation of a police officer and a homosexual at once, is Gerard Stembridge’s play The Gay Detective (1996). The play offers up the character …

They Said, She Said: Making The Case For Rape In Fuenteovejuna, Stacey L. Parker Aronson

Spanish Publications

Despite the allegations of a number of literary critics to the contrary, textual and cultural evidence exists in Lope’s Fuenteovejuna to suggest that Laurencia was indeed raped. First, a consideration of her physical appearance is in order. Second, an overlooked comment by Jacinta evidences Laurencia’s rape. Third, the quality attributed to Laurencia, namely her virtue, should be understood within its socio-historical context during the early modern period, its understanding superseding an exclusively sexual meaning. Finally, this drama can be considered in light of its adherence to and subversion of what Wendy S. Hesford terms “rape scripts.”