Ateneo - UPO

Introduction to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream and Elizabethan Theatre

1) Midsummer Mischief: Four Radical New Plays, Oberon Books 2014 2) Rona Munro, The James Plays, Nick Hern 2014 3) Rebecca Bushnell, a cura di, A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The State of Play, Arden Shakespeare 2025 4) William Shakespeare, Sogno di una notte di mezz'estate. Testo inglese a fronte, trad. Fernando Cioni, BUR Rizzoli 2024

- Knowing the main characteristics of Elizabethan theatre and Shakespearean comedy in particular. - Learning to decode the multimodal languages of theatre, including non-verbal ones. Apply these tools to a performative reading of theatrical texts: the transition from text to stage.

B2 level

Lectures; practical exercises of textual and performative analysis.

Part of the examination may be carieed out through practical activities of rewriting and shortening of the text; performance analysis, including scenes, costumes and objects; directing assistance etc. in interaction with the TiLLiT English workshop, which will stage a student version of the Shakespearian play. Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via reference office consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities. Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

Written test in English and practical activities in interaction with the TiLLiT English theatre workshop; two memoirs (min. 4 pages) on shows indicated by the lecturer. Viewing and report on the TiLLiT English version of MND.

- Introduction to Elizabethan and Shakespearian Theatre - The genre of comedy: formal, linguistic and ideological characteristics - Reading, analysis and performance commentary of Midsummer Night's Dream using the annotated edition of BUR Rizzoli, which the student must purchase. INTEGRATION OF THE GENDER DIMENSION The gender dimension is one of the fundamental elements for analysing the chosen text and will be highlighted in class through the reading of critical essays that follow this approach.

- Ability to analyse dramatic texts in their performative and pragmatic, textual and extra-textual dimensions. - Ability to carry out a performative analysis of texts in English and Italian. - Ability to translate short dramatic excerpts, combining linguistic and performative competences. - Sensibility to the multimodality of the theatrical event both as a spectator and as a writer of spectator’s reports.