Module Details

Module Code: HIST H8014
Full Title: Irish Drama 1890-1990
Valid From:: Semester 1 - 2019/20 ( June 2019 )
Language of Instruction:English
Duration: 1 Semester
Credits:: 5
Module Owner:: Fiona Fearon
Departments: Unknown
Module Description: This module engages with Irish Drama and theatre as a site in which important public questions are addressed. Students will engage in an in depth analysis of different key playwrights and texts of the Irish canon, and explore how their work has reflected and engaged with Irish history and society, as well as developing a unique artistic language for Irish Drama.
 
Module Learning Outcome
On successful completion of this module the learner will be able to:
# Module Learning Outcome Description
MLO1 Evaluate the work of Irish playwrights with sophisticated understanding and wide appreciation.
MLO2 Analyse Irish Drama and practice from the Celtic Revival to the late twentieth century
MLO3 Theorise the role of theatre as a context for the discussion and development of perceptions of Irish identity.
MLO4 Critically appraise key texts of the Irish dramatic canon, from Yeats to Friel.
Pre-requisite learning
Module Recommendations
This is prior learning (or a practical skill) that is strongly recommended before enrolment in this module. You may enrol in this module if you have not acquired the recommended learning but you will have considerable difficulty in passing (i.e. achieving the learning outcomes of) the module. While the prior learning is expressed as named DkIT module(s) it also allows for learning (in another module or modules) which is equivalent to the learning specified in the named module(s).
No recommendations listed
 
Module Indicative Content
Origins and antecedents
Irishmen abroad: Melodrama and the plays of Boucicault and Whitbread;Oscar Wilde, comedy and controversy; George Bernard Shaw, Ibsen and political drama;
A Literary Inheritance - The National Theatre Society, a writer’s theatre?
The foundation of the Irish Literary Theatre and the National Theatre Society; perceptions of identity
The Canon in Irish Theatre
Yeats, Lady Gregory, Synge and O'Casey
The Invisible Gender: The representation of women's voices in Irish Drama
Lady Gregory, Dorothy Macardle, Teresa Devey,
Exiles and Rebels: The Second Wave of Irish Writers
Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Brian Friel, Tom Murphy, Thomas Kilroy, John. B. Keane
Articulating the North
Field Day and other experiments; Christina Reid, Steward Parker, Frank McGuinness
Key Plays to be studies might include:
Yeats and Lady Gregory, 'Cathleen ni Houlihan'; Synge, 'Playboy of the Western World'; O’Casey, 'The Plough and The Stars'; Teresa Devey, 'Katie Roche'; Beckett, 'Waiting for Godot'; Behan, 'The Quare Fellow'; J.B. Keane, 'Sive'; Friel, 'Philadelphia, Here I come!', 'Translations'; Parker, 'Pentecost'; Christina Reid, 'Tea in a China Cup'; McGuinness, 'Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme';
Module Assessment
Assessment Breakdown%
Course Work50.00%
Final Examination50.00%
Module Special Regulation
 

Assessments

Full-time

Course Work
Assessment Type Essay % of Total Mark 30
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing S1 Week 10 Learning Outcome 1,2,3,4
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
Students should complete an essay on themes and issues raised by the texts covered up to 1990; approx 1500 words
Assessment Type Reflective Journal % of Total Mark 20
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing S1 Week 14 Learning Outcome 2,4
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
Evaluate a number of key texts analysed in practical workshops.The log book should contain research, character study, and reflection on the process of text development; approx 1500 words
No Project
No Practical
Final Examination
Assessment Type Formal Exam % of Total Mark 50
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing End-of-Semester Learning Outcome 1,3
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
End-of-Semester Final Examination

Part-time

Course Work
Assessment Type Essay % of Total Mark 30
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing S1 Week 10 Learning Outcome 1,2,3,4
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
Students should complete an essay on themes and issues raised by the texts covered up to 1990; approx 2000 words
Assessment Type Reflective Journal % of Total Mark 20
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing S1 Week 14 Learning Outcome 2,4
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
Evaluate a number of key texts analysed in practical workshops.The log book should contain research, character study, and reflection on the process of text development; approx 2000 words
No Project
No Practical
Final Examination
Assessment Type Formal Exam % of Total Mark 50
Marks Out Of 0 Pass Mark 0
Timing End-of-Semester Learning Outcome 1,3
Duration in minutes 0
Assessment Description
End-of-Semester Final Examination
Reassessment Requirement
A repeat examination
Reassessment of this module will consist of a repeat examination. It is possible that there will also be a requirement to be reassessed in a coursework element.

DKIT reserves the right to alter the nature and timings of assessment

 

Module Workload

Workload: Full-time
Workload Type Contact Type Workload Description Frequency Average Weekly Learner Workload Hours
Practical Contact drama workshop Every Week 1.00 1
Lecture Contact No Description Every Week 2.00 2
Directed Reading Non Contact Students should read selected plays from the reading list Every Week 3.00 3
Independent Study Non Contact Students should engage with secondary reading on themes and issues addressed in lectures Every Week 3.00 3
Total Weekly Learner Workload 9.00
Total Weekly Contact Hours 3.00
Workload: Part-time
Workload Type Contact Type Workload Description Frequency Average Weekly Learner Workload Hours
Lecture Contact No Description Every Week 1.00 1
Practical Contact drama workshop Every Week 1.00 1
Directed Reading Non Contact Students should read selected plays from the reading list Every Week 4.00 4
Independent Study Non Contact Students should engage with secondary reading on themes and issues addressed in lectures Every Week 3.00 3
Total Weekly Learner Workload 9.00
Total Weekly Contact Hours 2.00
 
Module Resources
Recommended Book Resources
  • Kiberd, Declan. (1996), Inventing Ireland: The Literature of a Modern Nation: Literature of the Modern Nation, Vintage, London.
  • Murray, Christopher. (2000), Twentieth Century Irish Drama: Mirror Up to a Nation, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse.
Supplementary Book Resources
  • Grene, Nicholas. The Politics of Irish Drama, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
  • Leeny, Cathy. (2010), Cathy Leeny’s Irish Women Playwrights 1900-1939: Gender and Violence on Stage, Peter Lang, London.
  • Lonergan, Patrick. (2019), Irish Drama and Theatre Since 1950, Methuen, London.
  • Morash, Christopher. A History of Irish Theatre, 1601-2000, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
  • Pilkington, Lionel. Theatre and the state in twentieth-century Ireland: cultivating the people, (London and New York: Routledge, 2001).
  • Richards, Shaun (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-century Irish Drama, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
  • Roche, Anthony. Contemporary Irish Drama: From Beckett to McGuinness, (Dublin: Gill & MacMillan, 1994).
  • Schrank, Bernice and William W. Demastes, (ed.). Irish playwrights, 1880-1995: a research and production sourcebook, (Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1997).
  • Trotter, Mary. Ireland’s National Theatres: Political performance and the origins of the Irish dramatic Movement, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2001).
This module does not have any article/paper resources
Other Resources
  • http://www.irishplayography.com/.