116-028 European Spectacle 1918-1968

This subject is taught in English and is open to all second and third year arts students. European studies students wishing to enrol in this subject would normally have completed first year European studies, see Prerequisites.

A team-taught study of European cinema, theatre and 'performance art' during fifty years of intense political and social change, from 1920-1970. Students who complete this subject should be familiar with some of the major developments in dramatic and cinematic representation in Germany, France and Italy during the period under study, have an understanding of the role of small and large scale spectacle in political and cultural change in modern Europe, and be able to relate the films and plays studied to their broader and historical context. Students should acquire a basic understanding of theatrical performance and staging, and be familiar with some of the basic principles of cinematographic analysis. Where available, videotaped performances of plays are studied.

An essay and a classpaper totalling 4000 words.

• S Beckett, Krapp's Last Tape and Embers. Faber.
• B Brecht, The Threepenny Opera. Arcade Publishers.
• J Genet, The Blacks. Faber.
• E Ionesco, The Bald Prima Donna. Faber.
• L Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author. Penguin.
• P Weiss, The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton. Marion Boyars.