Module description
This module explores the relationship between performance events (both inside and outside the theatre) and philosophical ideas of identity, ethics, and politics. The emphasis is not on the way that philosophy can explain performance, or vice versa, but instead on the ways in which the two are inter- related. For this reason, as much significance will be given to performances and their documentation as to philosophical or political tracts.
Across the module, we will follow a very broad historical trajectory, beginning with Plato’s anti-theatricalism and ending with the ‘relational aesthetics’ of contemporary Western art. You will have the opportunity to read three canonical works of the Western dramatic canon, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, King Lear by William Shakespeare and The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht. But in each instance the discussion that ensues from these texts will be less about their literary merits and more about their potential for practices and politics.
Along the way we will address questions of acting and mimesis, phenomenology, the transcendence of representation, and the particular role of the spectator/witness. Throughout the module, the recurring emphasis will be on the relationship between these ideas and the problematic idea of ‘the political’: in what ways does performance allow us to rethink the possibilities of ethics and politics?
Assessment details
Coursework
1 x 4,000 word research paper (100% of final mark)
Teaching pattern
Two hour seminar, weekly; film screenings, performance and site visits, selected weeks
Suggested reading list
Ideal reading prior to this course would be: Stern, Tom. Philosophy and Theatre. London: Routledge, 2013.