HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY THEATRE

This course is part of the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Performing Arts Management that aims to provide basic knowledge to work in the field of cultural heritage as a specialist in the conservation and management of artistic heritage. The course provides a basic knowledge of contemporary theatre history (19th, 20th and 21st centuries), the workings of the various models of representation of a theater piece, and the principal theories governing their production and reception.

Students will be able to situate a theatre show and a performance in the wider context of arts and cultural heritage. During the course, they will learn how to critically approach a theater performance, how to take notes both from the lessons and from the referral texts to fix the main concepts and develop their analysis and synthesis skills. Finally, students will be able to consciously use specialist vocabulary. The written exam will give students the opportunity to verify the knowledge they have acquired and their ability to contextualize it by relating it to what they have learned throughout the entire curriculum.

A good reading knowledge of English is required to understand some of the required texts and excerpts from the dance shows examined in class.

The course provides students with a basic knowledge of the history of theatre from the end of the 19th century to the present day, with particular attention to the theories of acting and the birth and development of directing. Students will be confronted with a wide range of theatrical theories and performance practices starting from a selection of video-recordings of theatre shows to analyze different genres, production processes and the mechanisms that regulate the reception of the audience. The specific terminology needed to understand the texts under scrutiny will be introduced and examined in class. For students unable to attend, the program is the same but a meeting with the professor is strongly recommended to discuss the referral texts and to understand how to prepare for the final exam.

Luigi Allegri, L'artificio e l'emozione. L'attore nel teatro del Novecento, Roma, Laterza, 2009.

Valentina Valentini, Teatro contemporaneo 1989-2019, Roma, Carocci, 2020.

A selection of essays and videos is suggested on moodle (the password will be provided via email by Prof. Franco).

The final exam is the same for both attending and non-attending students and consists of a written test structured around three open questions based on the referral texts and videos of the course. The exam lasts for two hours. The questions must be combined with answers of different lengths: one of about 10 lines, one of 15 lines, and one, which requires more contextualization of 25 lines. Students can decide for themselves which question to match to each suggested size. References to other subject areas are particularly appreciated. All questions must be answered to pass the test. No use of notes or books or digital devices is allowed during the exam.

The course will be held in blended mode with 50% of the lessons online and 50% live and will be supported by the e-learning platform of the university (moodle.unive.it). The projection of videos and commented powerpoints will be provided for each lesson.

Italian

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development