DRAM 301: Theories of Theatre I

We had an excellent discussion of Artaud last class, so instead of holding another class on Artaud, I am offering the following videos that you can watch on your own time. There will be no class this Tuesday, November 18.

1. Spurt of Blood: Edited version of a production of Artaud’s “Spurt of Blood” on YouTube

2. The Plague: the video discussed in class, available on VHS from Carol Anne. You can borrow it and watch it in the department (by the Living Theatre) 27 min long.

3. The following page from Richard Drain’s book on 20th century theatre explains Artaud’s concept of ‘cruelty’ quite economically: Drain/Artaud

4. Finally, if you’re curious about the man himself, you can watch a clip of him acting in a silent film. The film is The Passion of Joan of Arc by Dreyer (it’s famous in film history). Unfortunately I can only find of clip of the film that is shown in another film by Jean Luc Godard (also famous), but this fact makes it kind of metatheatrical/self-conscious: The Passion of Joanne of Arc

Enjoy! See you Thursday Nov 20.

Here is the document on integrating quotations in an essay:

Composition Lesson (Nov 11)

Links to the Improv Everywhere ‘missions’ shown in class:
Frozen Grand Central (on YouTube)
No Shirts (on YouTube)

Forum Theatre example:
A Lost Heritage: Canada’s Residential Schools (CBC report)

An excellent, concise set of notes about Forum theatre and other exercises by Boal:
Augusto Boal’s Forum Theatre for Teachers

Please note that the schedule for our last classes has changed slightly. The Schedule page is now current.