OVERVIEW

This course provides students with a basic knowledge of the history of Western Theater. The course aims at: 1) introducing students to the concepts of “Theater” and “Performing Arts”; 2) making students familiar with the most important forms and functions that theater has covered during history; 3) offering cues for a first analytic approach to contemporary theatre.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course provides students with a basis of knowledge on the history of the theater and performing arts. The aim is to connect knowledge of historical events to an understanding of the various forms, meanings and functions that “Theater” and “Spectacle” have taken in different times and places.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

- Ability to put a theatrical event its historical context (in relation to dramaturgy, space and acting) and to express it

- Ability to distinguish and analize, at a basic level, the different elements of a theatre performance

- Ability to describe, analize and interpret at a basic level contemporary theatre

- Ability to communicate the course content effectively in written and oral form, using textual and iconographic sources.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific requirements

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures with slide and film projections, made progressively available on Aulaweb, with contributions in the classroom from artists and performing arts professionals.

NB: Registration on Aulaweb is mandatory.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

After a brief theoretical introduction to the discipline and its foundations, the first two modules will address the major phenomena and moments in the History of Theatre and Performance in the Western world. The third module will feature a monographic in-depth study dedicated to the director and theorist Edward Gordon Craig (1872–1966), who revolutionised twentieth-century theatre.

NB: please refer to Aulaweb for updates and clarifications.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS - 6 CFU (= 40 hours class lessons)

1. Storia del teatro. Scena e spettacolo in Occidente, a cura di M. Cambiaghi, A. Egidio, I. Innamorati, A. Sapienza, Milano-Torino, Pearson, 2020
2. Notes and slides published on Aulaweb
3. Four plays to be read in full: Euripides, The Bacchae; Shakespeare, Hamlet; Ibsen, Rosmersholm; Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS - 9 CFU (= 60 hours class lessons)

Add to the bibliography for 6 CFU, the readings on Aulaweb and L. Mango, Edward Gordon Craig, Carocci, 2021.

Check Aulaweb for updates

Erasmus students with insufficient familiarity with Italian may arrange an alternative bibliography and sit the examination in a substitute language (English, French, German).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons will begin the week of 15 February 2027, according to the timetable.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Attending students may take the program for 6 CFU with two partial written tests, during the teaching period. The third module (for 9 CFU) will be taken with an oral exam. Not attending students will take an single oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Assessment focuses on students' ability to:

• present topics clearly and in a well-structured manner;
• problematise the concepts studied;
• argue in dialogue with the lecturer.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SLD) will find guidance on requesting services, compensatory tools, dispensatory measures, and specific aids in the document available at: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica

FURTHER INFORMATION

The following workshops are optional complementary activities for the course and allow students to earn credits under the "Other Credits" category:

• Laboratorio di Analisi dello spettacolo teatrale
• Laboratorio di Costruzione scenica
• Laboratorio di Teatro sociale “Anna Solaro” (in collaborazione con Teatro dell'Ortica) 
• Laboratorio di Promozione e comunicazione dello spettacolo dal vivo
• Laboratorio di Autoimprenditorialità e creazione d'impresa culturale (programme available on the website of the Degree Programme in Art History and Cultural Heritage)

Workshop programmes are published on the websites of the Degree Programmes in Letters and Modern Literature and Performance Studies.

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