I. General Information

1. Course Title:
The Theatre Experience-London

2. Course Prefix & Number:
THTR 1482

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits - Variable: 1-3

4. Course Description:

This course will examine the theatre-going experience, including audience etiquette, stage conventions, reading a play script, and analyzing a performance. The course will use a trip to London, England, as an applied field trip. Plays will be selected on the basis of the London theatre season offerings during the time of the trip. Travel expenses are extra. NOTE: This field trip is optional. Students who do not travel to London will be given an alternate research assignment with a play-going component.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

Reading College Level CLC or Reading College Level

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

III. Course Purpose

2. MN Transfer Curriculum (General Education) Courses - This course fulfills the following goal area(s) of the MN Transfer Curriculum:

• Goal 6 – Humanities and Fine Arts
• Goal 8 – Global Perspective

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate oral communication skills	Articulate an informed point of view about plays and productions.
Demonstrate written communication skills	Write a coherent analysis of a play script and/or theatre production of same.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Students will be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of critical standards to be applied to plays (MnTC Goal 6);
• Students will be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of critical standards to be applied to the live productions of plays (MnTC Goal 6);
• Students will be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge of the etiquette and practice of theatergoing (MnTC Goal 6);
• Students will develop an awareness of and appreciation for British culture (MnTC Goal 8);
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of cultural, social, religious, and linguistic differences (MnTC Goal 8);
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history and development of the London theatre based on cultural, economic, and technological developments in London society. (MnTC Goal 8)

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Critically assessing play scripts
2. Reading and interpreting stage directions
• Directions that describe action
• Directions that describe emotion and thought
• Directions that describe environment
3. Imagining the theatrical effect of sound and silence
• How sound effects are suggested in a play script
• The impact of sound effects to mood, thought, emotion, and meaning
• What isn’t being said---the meaning of silence in a play
4. Costume and identity: how costuming communicates
• Costuming as a reflection of individuality
• Costuming as a reflection of theme
• Costuming as a reflection of place and time
5. Identity and character: gathering clues of character from dialogue and behavior
• You are what you say you are: information from what a character says about themselves
• You are what others say you are: information from what other characters say
• Behavior as an indication of character trait, motive, intention, and desire
6. Irony and ambiguity: thematic elements of plays and their overall impact
• What a play’s title tells you about theme
• USe of irony: what is really meant vs. what is said or done?
• How does ambiguity affect the reader’s understanding of a play’s meaning?
7. Play Attendance
• Differences between play attendance and other forms of entertainment
• Devising a basic code of conduct for attending live theatre performances
• Researching productions, tickets, and venues
8. Critically assessing play productions
• Staging choices and the ways in which they communicate
• Use of theatre architecture as a means of communicating
• Use of theatre space as a means of communicating
• Rourth wall vs. presentational staging
9. Basics of design: sets, costumes, lighting, sound, make-up
• The designer’s process
• What makes for effective design
• Standards for critiquing designs
10. Basics of acting styles and presentational methods
• Basic approaches to a performance
• Key elements of effective acting
• Judging effective vs. ineffective acting
11. Impact of the director on a play production
• Role of the director
• The auteur vs. the staging director
• How to assess the impact of direction on a production
12. Assessing the entirety of the elements of a production
• Coherence in concept and execution
• Ensemble vs. star vehicle
13. Brief history of London theatre
• Establishment of the public theatre in Elizabethan era
• Puritanism and the Restoration
• Theatre prior to WWI
• Theatre between the wars
• WWII and its impact on London theatre
• Modern theatre in London
• The contemporary stage
14. Survey of cultural differences between England and U.S.
• Linguistic differences (two countries separated by a common language)
• Economic differences
• Daily life
• Societal norms
• Religious differences
• Political systems

2. Laboratory/Studio Sessions

Students who enroll in the course but do not take the trip to London will be given alternate assignments to complete Goal Area 8. These assignments will include, but not be limited to:

1. A research paper on the influence of shifts in British economic conditions on the London theatre; in particular, the reflecton of economic conditions in subject matter and theme of plays such as: John Osborne's 'Look Back in Anger,' Harold Pinter's 'The Caretaker,' Willy Russell's 'Blood Brothers', and Peter Nichols' 'The National Health.'

2. A research paper on the historical development of London theatre architecture, beginning with early public theatres (The Rose, The Globe, The Fortune), up through the modern era of theatre architecture.

3. A research paper on the basic societal systems of England, including: monetary system, political system, and major cultural influences. This paper would focus on contemporary systems only.