New Writing, Politics and Performance in Contemporary British Theatre - AAALA036A

• Anglický název: New Writing, Politics and Performance in Contemporary British Theatre
• Zajišťuje: Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur (21-UALK)
• Fakulta: Filozofická fakulta
• Platnost: od 2025
• Semestr: zimní
• Body: 0
• E-Kredity: 5
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: zimní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: zimní s.:0/2, Z [HT]
• Počet míst: neurčen / 15 (neurčen)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Poznámka: předmět je možno zapsat mimo plán; povolen pro zápis po webu
• Garant: doc. Clare Wallace, M.A., Ph.D.
• Vyučující: doc. Clare Wallace, M.A., Ph.D.
• Třída: Exchange - 03.4 Photography, Cinematography; Exchange - 09.2 General and Comparative Literature
• Je korekvizitou pro: AAALA036B

Literatura

Primary

Scanned copies of all primary materials will be available on Moodle and some are available in the library.

 

Secondary (additional recommendations will be shared on the Moodle class site)

 

Ahmed, Sarah. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. London and New York: Routledge, 2004.

Angelaki, Vicky ed. Contemporary British Theatre: Breaking New Ground. Basingstoke: Palgrave 2013.

Aston, Elaine and Geraldine Harris eds. Feminist Futures? Theatre, Performance, Theory. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Billingham, Peter. At the Sharp End: Uncovering the Work of Five Leading Dramatists. London: Methuen, 2007.

Billington, Michael. State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945. London: Faber and Faber, 2006.

Buse, Peter. Drama + Theory: Critical Approaches to Modern British Drama. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001.

D’Monté, Rebecca and Graham Saunders eds. Cool Britannia? British Political Drama in the 1990s. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

De Vos Laurens and Graham Saunders eds Sarah Kane in Context. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2010.

Gottlieb, Vera and Colin Chambers, eds. Theatre in a Cool Climate. Oxford: Amber Lane, 1999.

Gregg, Melissa and Gregory J. Seigworth, eds. The Affect Theory Reader. Durham and London: Duke UP, 2010.

Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama 1890-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Innes, Christopher. Modern British Drama: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Knapp, Annelie et al. British Drama of the 1990s. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, 2002.

Kritzer, Amelia Howe. Political theatre in post-Thatcher Britain: New Writing, 1995-2005. Basingstoke: Palgrave 2008.

Leach, Robert. “The Short, Astonishing History of the National Theatre of Scotland.” New Theatre Quarterly 23.2 (May 2007): 171-183.

Massumi, Brian. Politics of Affect. Cambridge: Polity, 2015.

McGuigan, Jim. Neoliberal Culture. London: Palgrave, 2016.

Müller, Anja. “‘We are also Europe’: Staging Displacement in David Greig’s Europe.” Staging Displacement, Exile and Diaspora in Contemporary Drama in English. Ed. Christoph Houswitschka. Contemporary Drama in English 12. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2005. 151-168.

Rancière, Jacques. ‘The Ethical Turn of Aesthetics and Politics’ Critical Horizons 7 (2006): 1-20.

Rancière, Jacques. Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics, trans. by Steven Corcoran 2010; London: Bloomsbury, 2013.

Rebellato, Dan. Modern British Playwriting. The 2000s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. London: Methuen Drama, 2013.

Reinelt, Janelle G. “Performing Europe: Identity Formation for a ‘New’ Europe.” Theatre Journal 53.3 (2001): 365-87.

Ridout, Nicholas. Theatre & Ethics. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Saunders, Graham. “Love Me or Kill Me”: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2002.

Saunders, Graham. About Kane: The Playwright & the Work. London: Faber and Faber, 2007.

Shellard, Dominic. British Theatre since the War. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2000.

Sierz, Aleks. In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber, 2001.

Sierz, Aleks. Modern British Playwriting. The 1990s: Voices, Documents, New Interpretations. London: Methuen Drama, 2012.

Sierz, Aleks. Rewriting the Nation: British Theatre Today. London: Methuen, 2011.

Sierz, Aleks. The Theatre of Martin Crimp. London: Methuen Drama, 2006.

Stevenson, Randall. “Home International: The Compass of Scottish Theatre Criticism.” International Journal of Scottish Theatre 2.2 (2001) (online).

Urban, Ken. “An Ethics of Catastrophe: The Theatre of Sarah Kane,” Performing Arts Journal 23.3 (2001): 36-46.

Wald, Christina, Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia: Performative Maladies in Contemporary Anglophone Drama. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Wallace, Clare. “Dramas of Radical Alterity: Sarah Kane and Codes of Trauma for a Postmodern Age.” Extending the Code: New Forms of Dramatic and Theatrical Expression. Eds. Hans-Ulrich Moher and Kerstin Mächler. Contemporary Drama in English 11. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2004. 117-130.

Wallace, Clare. “Responsibility and Postmodernity: Mark Ravenhill and 1990s British Drama.” Theory and Practice in English Studies 4. Brno: Masaryk University, 2005. 269-275.

Wallace, Clare. Suspect Cultures: Narrative, Identity and Citation in 1990s New Drama. Prague: Litteraria, 2006.

Welton, Martin. Feeling Theatre. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012.

Zenzinger, Peter. “David Greig’s Scottish View of the ‘New’ Europe: A Study of Three Plays.” Literary Views on Post-Wall Europe: Essays in Honour of Uwe Böker. Ed. Christoph Houswitschka et al. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2005: 261-282.

Poslední úprava: Wallace Clare, doc., M.A., Ph.D. (13.09.2025)

Metody výuky

seminář

Course requirements:

 

Students are expected to attend classes. If you are absent for more than 20% of the total number of classes, you will not be entitled to the credit. In order to pass this class, you must capable of reading and discussing primary and secondary texts in English and be able to compose an academic research paper at the end of the course. If you have an Independent Study Plan, I need to know at the start of the semester.

 

Participation: 

Participation extends beyond mere attendance. Discussion questions for each will be posted on the course site. Students should come to class prepared to discuss these questions and the assigned reading more generally.  

 

Assignments:

Students will be required to submit 9 short responses to homework reading on Moodle. Student responses must be uploaded to the course site in advance of our discussion of the homework reading.

 

Essays:

Students will need to select a topic from the materials covered during the semester and to propose an argument-based research project on that topic.

 

All students should compose a paragraph length proposal outlining their topic and thesis statement/argument; length 150-200 words. A brief list of source materials in Chicago style (see course site for link) should also be included.

 

Deadline for proposals: Proposals must be uploaded on the course site by 18.00 on 19 December 2025.

 

·         Final essays for Credit (Záp.) for BA students should be 2500 words.

·         Final essays for Credit (Záp.) for MA students should be 3000 words.

·         Final essays for Grade (PP/ZK) for MA students should be 4500-5000 words.

 

NOTE: Erasmus students should be enrolled under the code finishing with E so that grades can be recorded (if that is what your home institution requires).

 

Deadline for essays: Essays should be uploaded on the course site by 18.00 on 30 January 2026. Extensions will only be granted for serious reasons. If you require an extension you need to write to me in advance and explain why you need more time.

 

Final essays should combine both close analysis of selected primary texts and secondary materials. Heavy reliance on the internet should be avoided. Please pay attention to correct citation procedures. Chicago format for citations and bibliographies is required (models can be found at the top of our course page, in the library, the departmental Study Guide and on the internet—See http://ualk.ff.cuni.cz/doc/essays.doc.

 

All papers should include:

 

• A title page (with your email address and if you are a visiting student the date by which you must have the credit)
• Numbered pages and double spacing
• Clearly marked paragraphs (either indent or leave a line)
• Properly formatted sources and bibliography. Guidelines for citation and bibliographic style are on the Departmental homepage.

ESSAYS THAT HAVE NO RESEARCH BASE OR FAIL TO CITE SOURCES TRANSPARENTLY AND APPROPRIATELY (i.e. are plagiarised) WILL NOT BE GRADED. Please do not offer AI generated essays.

 

Should an essay be unsatisfactory for reasons other than plagiarism, students have the opportunity to submit ONE rewrite on condition that the rewritten work is submitted with the marked original.

 

 

 

Grading Scheme
Attendance (expected, not graded)	Max 20% absence of total number of class hours
Participation in class	20%
Written Reviews/Responses (9)	36%
Final Essay proposal	5%
Final Essay	39%

 

 

Letter Grade	Percent (%)	Generally Accepted Meaning
A	96-100	Outstanding work
A-	90-95
B+	87-89	Good work, distinctly above average
B	83-86
B-	80-82
C+	77-79	Acceptable work
C	73-76
C-	70-72
D+	67-69	Work that is significantly below average
D	63-66
D-	60-62
F	0-59	Work that does not meet minimum standards for passing the course

 

 

Poslední úprava: Wallace Clare, doc., M.A., Ph.D. (13.09.2025)

Sylabus

This course is mainly for UALK MA students, however BA students not in their first year of studies and Erasmus students may join. Do note that the class requires fluency in English and active in class and some written participation.

It explores the wealth of new writing that has appeared on British stages from 1999 to the present. Our point of departure will be Aleks Sierz’ book In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today (2000) and some of the writers he discusses in relation to the theatre of provocation that hit the Anglophone theatre world in the mid-1990s. At the heart of the seminar will be the question of theatre’s relationship with the political, ethics, affect and spectatorship. Our readings will combine recent theoretical works on these issues with plays and performances from the period.

 

Schedule (subject to minor adjustments): 

Week 1 (1 Oct.)
Introduction: What is New Writing? Contexts for Contemporary British Theatre

Week 2 (8 Oct.)
Theatre, Politics, and Questions of Feeling: From Brecht to Rancière to Ahmed

Capital, Crisis, and Globalisation

Week 3 (15 Oct.)
Mark Ravenhill – Some Explicit Polaroids (1999), Pool (No Water) (2006)
Dennis Kelly – Love and Money (2006)

 

Ethics, History, and Violence

Week 4 (22 Oct.)
David Greig – Dunsinane (2010), The Events (2013)

Week 5 (29 Oct.)
Caryl Churchill – Far Away (2000), Escaped Alone (2016)

Dis-ease, Alienation, and Anxiety

Week 6 (5 Nov.)
Martin Crimp – Fewer Emergencies (2005), In the Republic of Happiness (2012)

Week 7 (12 Nov.)
debbie tucker green – generations (2005), ear for eye (2018)

Week 8 (19 Nov.)
Humanities Week – no class

Spectatorship and Experiment

Week 9 (26 Nov.)
Tim Crouch – The Author (2009); with Andy Smith – What Happens to Hope at the End of the Evening (2013)

Feminist Attachments

Week 10 (3 Dec.)
Alice Birch – Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (2016), Anatomy of a Suicide (2017)

Week 11 (10 Dec.)
Laura Wade – Home, I’m Darling (2018), Lucy Kirkwood – The Welkin (2020)

Energy, Ecology, and Sustainability

Week 12 (17 Dec.)
Ella Hickson – Oil (2016); Lucy Kirkwood – The Children (2016); Tim Crouch – Superglue (2022)

ESSAY PROPOSALS DUE by Friday 19 December at 18.00

Week 13 (7 Jan.)
Conclusion and Research Workshop – Reflections, connections, and essay discussions

Essays are due on Moodle by 18.00 on 30 January 2026.

 

Poslední úprava: Wallace Clare, doc., M.A., Ph.D. (15.09.2025)