All Theatre & Film Courses

The course begins with Homer, in whom so many of the roots of Greek tragedy are to be found. Are Hector and Achilles 'tragic' characters in any sense? Does his poem The Iliad glorify war, or accentuate its human cost, or both? Then, several weeks will be spent on selected Greek tragedies such as Aeschylus' Oresteia, Euripides' Medea and Sophocles' Antigone and Oedipus the King. The similarities with English tragedy, and also the differences, will be an important focus. Is there such a thing as a Greek 'tragic hero', and if so how is he or she different from the English counterparts? (How much difference does the Greek preoccupation with houses, families, and cities make to the treatment of individuals?). The course moves toward a consideration of specific English tragedies, those for example, of Kyd, Shakespeare and Webster, to draw some conclusions about the nature of tragedy and the way English tragedy has grown out of a classical tradition.

Subject areas: Classical Sutdies, Literature, English and Theatre
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Shakespeare on Screen [Autumn]

Shakespeare, that great icon of high culture, has been frequently adopted into popular culture and there is now a rich history of Shakespeare on screen. This course will focus on some landmark productions based on Shakespeare’s work, including Olivier’s Hamlet and Polanski’s Macbeth. Students will also study the work of particular film directors (for example Welles, Zeffirelli, Kozintsev and Branagh), and trace the screen history of specific plays from the earliest offerings of silent cinema to the most recent box office hits or art-house movies.

Discussion will centre on screen adaptations of five selected texts, to discover how the film medium affects realisation of the original play, and to attempt an answer to the question: ‘Why film plays which were originally intended for live stage performance?

Subject areas: Film, English and Theatre
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Shakespeare in Performance [Autumn & Spring]

In the late twentieth century, a startling discovery was made in the ivory towers of Shakespeare scholarship: Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed in public playhouses, not to be read and discussed in colleges and schools!

This course takes a performance-focused approach: the plays for study will be decided by what is actually available to see at the Royal Shakespeare Theatres in Stratford, the Royal National Theatre in London, and theatres in the vicinity of Bath, so that students can see the set plays in performance. Only four plays will be studied so students will have time to learn about the plays’ critical reception and performance history as well as study them as literary texts.

The course is appropriate for those studying literature, theatre studies or social history and, while it presupposes no previous experience of drama, participants must have a genuine interest in theatre.

Subject areas: Theatre and English
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Mythologizing Shakespeare [Autumn & Spring]

Through study of five plays – The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Hamlet (*) – this course aims to provide an introduction to the study of Shakespeare as the great and enduring myth-maker. Each play will be examined in its social, literary and political context and be discussed from the point of view of the richness and complexity of its language, its characterization and dramatic quality. The state of each text will be considered, as well as the use Shakespeare made of his sources.

The course will include a field trip to see a production of a Shakespeare play by one of England’s premier acting companies, and give students the opportunity to study material in the Royal Shakespeare Company Archive in Stratford. A backstage tour of the RSC’s theatre in Stratford will also feature on the course.

(*) texts may vary from year to year.

Subject areas: English and Theatre
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Late Twentieth-Century British Drama: A Literature and Performance Course [Autumn and Spring]

This course approaches the study of dramatic texts from two perspectives: that of the scholarly reader/critic, and that of the actor/director.

Later twentieth-century British theatre is especially rich in the scope and variety of its texts and the course will reflect that richness. Five plays will be studied, chosen from the work of the leading playwrights Edward Bond, Howard Brenton, Caryl Churchill, David Storey, David Hare, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Willy Russell, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard.

Students will spend the first half of the semester examining the set plays as literary texts. In the second half, key scenes will be selected for intensive rehearsal in preparation for a final workshop performance to ASE staff and students in the last week of the semester. Students will be responsible for all aspects of production, apart from direction which will be undertaken by the course tutor.

The course is appropriate for both theatre and literature students and those who are majoring in other subjects but who have an interest in theatre.

NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ACTING IS REQUIRED..

Subject areas: Theatre and Film, English.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Mementoes: Reading, Writing and Remembering [Spring]

A man wakes in a motel room with only tattoos, some Polaroid photos and a few scribbled notes to tell him where he is and why he is there. A South American town is visited by a strange plague: no-one can sleep; people begin to forget how to do the simplest things. A woman steals a baby from a supermarket, convinced it is the child she lost long ago. In these episodes, taken from texts and movies studied on the course, we get a hint of the preoccupation with remembering and amnesia that characterises much modern writing.

Using theories of memory ancient and modern, we will trace this preoccupation through novels, films, plays and short stories of the twentieth century, including Christopher Nolan’s movie Memento, Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, and selected works by, amongst others, Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Penelope Lively.

The field trip takes us either to Bristol or London to see plays and films connected with the course.

Subject areas: English and Film
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Film Screenwriting [Autumn]

Short films are one of the most exciting creative forms of the twenty-first century, challenging writers to generate taut narratives, meticulous characterisation and innovative structures, all within a few minutes of viewing time. This course introduces students to imaginative, theoretical and practical elements of short film screenwriting, covering a range of styles and genres. Following the process of developing a screenwork from initial inspiration to final edit, the course will equip students with the skills required to write for the screen, including a working understanding of form, structure, theme, plot, and character as well as industry expectations for correct layout, treatments and pitches.

Classes will incorporate discussion of key issues, analysis of film and screenplay, and practical workshops. Students will be encouraged to become an active group of writers, critically appraising their own and others’ work and acting as imaginary producers, editors and actors in responding to ideas and scripts. The emphasis will lie in constant creative rethinking, drafting and editing. The course includes a study trip to the Watershed media centre in Bristol.

Subject areas: Creative Writing, English, Film.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Writing and the Body [Autumn]

What can we make of the differences in the ways men and women depict the body? Why is fear such a bodily experience in Gothic literature? Why is the body and fashionable dress so minutely described in realist and naturalistic fiction?

This course addresses recent developments in the study of the body and seeks to link them to the ways the body is represented in literature and on screen, from the nineteenth century to the present day. We will look at the role that the human body, and all that is associated with it, plays in narrative and poetic practice. Using the theories and ideas of Foucault and Judith Butler, we will examine texts by Horace Walpole, WM Thackeray, EM Forster, Jeanette Winterson, Chuck Palahniuk, and Brett Easton Ellis; and the movies Fight Club and The Pillow Book. There will also be opportunities to consider the representation of the body in medical writing, in horror films, in television series (including Sex and the City) and in erotic writing.

Subject areas: English, Women’s and Gender Studies.
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.

Theatre Royal Bath (internship) [Autumn & Spring]

Working a Theatre Royal event The Egg, the brand new theatre space at the Theatre Royal Bath, is dedicated exclusively to youth drama. Successful candidates for this internship will get to work with practitioners who produce young people’s theatre, run workshops and festivals and work actively with local schools and youth groups to engage children and young people in the running of the theatre. Applicants should therefore have particular interest in young people's theatre, and preferably knowledge and experience of either theatre design, backstage skills, working with young people, marketing or directing. Opportunities may also be available to work in the administration wing of the theatre, and to assist with productions in the theatre’s Main House or Ustinov Studio.

For general information on ASE Internships, please visit The Internship Programme.

Subject areas: Theatre, English and Business
Check with your home institution for specific information on fulfilment of major/course requirements.