Non-permissible combination with “ENGL1066 Introduction to modern drama”:
Students who have passed “ENGL1066 Introduction to modern drama” (List B) in 2025-26 are not allowed to take “DRTP1000 Introduction to drama, theatre and performance studies” from 2026-27 onwards.
The course introduces students to key characteristics of drama, theatre and performance studies. Using a diverse range of plays and productions, students will develop skills in analysing, critiquing, and enacting dramatic texts. Students will learn about a wide range of dramatic and theatrical conventions, theories, movements and contexts, from traditional dramas and Naturalism to contemporary physical theatre and site-specific performances. The course will deepen students’ understanding of the play texts as well as their practical implementation in performance settings.
- Understand the role of theatre in society, its distinctive function and communal significance, and the transformative power of performance
- Use critical vocabularies to analyse dramatic texts, and reflect on readings and activities
- Apply knowledge of drama's structure, conventions, and contexts in written and performed tasks, critically analysing speech or performance elements
- Understand the intricacies of acting, scenography and technical arts, theatre language, spatial aesthetics, and the collaborative process
- Theatre history and historiography
- Ancient Greek theatre
- Comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy
- Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, Surrealism
- Avant-garde and experimental theatre
The sessions will consist of lectures, group discussions, performance/drama workshops and student-led presentations.
- Participation (15%)
- Response papers (30%)
- Mid-term exam (20%)
- Final monologue or group project (35%)
Plays and performances to be studied may include Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, Sarah Kane’s Blasted, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton: An American Musical.
Please refer to Christopher Balme’s The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies (2008), and for practice-based workshops, we will use Paul Elsam’s Acting Characters: 20 Essential Steps from Rehearsal to Performance (Methuen Drama, 2011).