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 theatre, dance, and live art productions 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 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.

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 an OPEN BOOK written exam lasting for two hours.
Students need to answer two questions referring to the texts and videos listed for the course (see moodle). Each answer should be approximately 5000 character spaces included long.
References to other subject areas are particularly appreciated. To pass the exam students must answer both questions.

The course will be held in person (except for the missed classes which will be delivered online). All classes include powerpoints and videos projection.

Italian

written