Waiting for Godot. The Importance of Being Earnest. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Since Shakespeare's time, no period has produced more brilliant and various theatrical dramas in Great Britain than in the past 100 years. Professor Saccio has selected the major British playwrights of the past century to cover Wilde, Shaw, Coward, Beckett, Osborne, Pinter, Stoppard, Churchill, and Hare. Why this roster of modern British playwrights? As you'll discover while exploring their great works in these eight lectures, some of them celebrate (or satirize) elite manners, some explore the changes in a kingdom that once ruled a quarter of the globe, some assault the sociopolitical establishment, and some probe the Existential anxiety of the modern age. "Unlike other media, dramatic art occurs in a certain place in time; in the 'here and now,'" states Professor Saccio. You'll examine the role theater has played in British culture and society over the past 100 years. You'll witness the evolution of the stylistic conventions of the British play, from the genteel drawing-room comedies of the late 19th century to the radical political theater of the late 20th century. Throughout this brief survey of some of the great innovators of the dramatic arts of the modern era, you'll understand how and why modern British drama has changed so dramatically, and you'll realize the importance of the political and social context in which these works were written.
Modern British Drama
Examines the role theater has played in British culture and society over the past 100 years.
01: British Theater—1890–1990
We are introduced to the history and traditions of theater in Great Britain. Professor Saccio discusses the nature of dramatic art. We examine the origins of government involvement in theater and learn about the political framework in which playwrights have operated in the past 100 years.
02: Comedy of Manners—Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward
This lecture focuses on two of the most prominent British playwrights of the modern age—Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward. Although both came from middle-class backgrounds, their success and personae brought them into elite circles, and their plays reflect the lives and concerns of the upper class. Their plays both gently mock and loosely reflect the drawing room conversations and relationships of the idle rich.
03: George Bernard Shaw—Socialist and Prophet
George Bernard Shaw was one of the most important and prolific authors since Shakespeare. He used the stage as a forum for discussing social and political issues. As a Socialist he felt the root of all evil in society was the inequitable distribution of wealth; as a realist, he took issue with the prevailing "myths" of Victorian morality. He believed the desires and needs of individuals should be held more sacred than abstract moral imperatives imposed by society.
04: John Osborne Looks Back in Anger
Postwar Britain created an atmosphere ripe for dissatisfied young writers and audiences. This play is significant because it marked a turning point in dramatic expression and was epitomized by the archetypal "angry young man." Osborne's language broke literary conventions and expressed his generation's frustration with social conventions in English society.
05: Samuel Beckett Waits for Godot
Samuel Beckett is one of the most important authors in modern drama. His plays represent the drama of alienation represented by his "theater of the absurd" and his intensely minimalist style. The crux of absurdism is that no single system or formula fits or explains the inexplicable facts of our condition. In "Waiting for Godot", elements of set, plot, characters, and dialogue are handled in a way unlike anything that came before. The play is penetrating, powerful, and impossible to analyze in any linear, tidy, or lucid manner.
06: The Menace of Harold Pinter
This lecture focuses on Harold Pinter, one of the most prestigious English playwrights of the 1950s and 1960s. Pinter surrounds the stage with Beckett's void and blankness, but the action is realistic. Professor Saccio describes three Pinter plays, then focuses on "The Homecoming", first produced in 1965. This play is a powerful example of Pinter's use of defensive-aggressive behavior. Both Beckett and Pinter changed drama by what he omitted, but Pinter added a sense of foreboding about those things that were left out.
07: The Inventions of Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard is known as one of the most witty, inventive, and highbrow authors of modern British drama. His works may be defined as the "comedy of mental manners," full of literary and philosophical references. Characteristics of Stoppard's works include: complicated plots; clever parodies; word games and allusions; sight gags; and a constant concern with ideas. "Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead" is Stoppard's most famous work. By revisiting and manipulating central themes, characters, and dramatic devices, Stoppard creates a stimulating take on the grim absurdist drama.
08: Political Theater—Caryl Churchill and David Hare
Political theater is significant in modern British drama. Plays written to awaken the nation's conscience have become a central part of British culture. The model for 20th-century political drama was furnished in large part by the German Bertolt Brecht. Radical artists such as Caryl Churchill and David Hare focused the action of their plays on these issues and made bold statements about what was wrong with society. The proletarian drama, which grew out of fringe workshops in the 1970s, became a central part of the repertory of subsidized theater.
About
Dr. Peter Saccio is Leon D. Black Professor of Shakespearean Studies and Professor of English Emeritus at Dartmouth College. He also served as a visiting professor at Wesleyan University and at University College in London. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University.
At Dartmouth, Professor Saccio was honored with the J. Kenneth Huntington Memorial Award for Outstanding Teaching.
Professor Saccio is the author of Shakespeare's English Kings, which has become a classic in its field. He is also the editor of Thomas Middleton's comedy A Mad World, My Masters, for the Oxford Complete Works of Thomas Middleton.
Professor Saccio is also an accomplished actor and theatrical director. He directed productions of Twelfth Night, Macbeth, and Cymbeline, and devised and directed several programs of scenes from Shakespeare and from modern British drama. His acting credits include the Shakespearean roles of Casca, Angelo, Bassanio, and Henry IV, as well as various parts in the ancient and modern plays.
