F0507 Theatre in the Footsteps of Art: Pinter and Stoppard

The momentous artistic revolutions in the 20th century left the theatre behind. Despite early and sustained experimentation, the mainstream of theatrical production remained within the tradition of late 19th-century Realism. Confronting the gap between avant-garde art and comparatively conservative dramatic forms, playwrights like Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard have sought to bring the theatre up to date.\r\n

This course will explore these writers\' experimentation with the translation into the dramatic medium of ideas and forms found in the visual arts. Concepts used by art historians will be shown to provide invaluable tools for the analysis of the plays. Minimalism, hyper-realism, abstract painting, Dada and Surrealism are some of the artistic movements that have influenced the two playwrights we will read.

\r\n

The course will be based on close readings of the texts. I recommend that you read all the plays quickly (some of them are very short) before coming to Venice, so that preparing them for each class will be much easier. Due to their experimental nature, some of these texts may seem at first bizarre or difficult, but that is why we will be interpreting them in class. The following filmed productions of plays by Pinter will be screened and analyzed in class: Landscape, Betrayal, Party Time. Stoppard\'s Shakespeare in Love will be screened separately (time to be announced).

\r\nThere are no previous requirements for this course, except an interest in theatre and an open and inquisitive mind!