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80606-01 - Seminar: Political Aesthetics and the British Stage, 1965-Present (3 KP)
| Semester | Herbstsemester 2026 |
| Angebotsmuster | einmalig |
| Dozierende | Thomas Manson (thomas.manson@unibas.ch, BeurteilerIn) |
| Inhalt | In November 1965, the Royal Court staged Edward Bond’s play "Saved" for a private audience after being refused a licence by the theatre censor. Its remorseless depiction of life on a London council estate – not least the infamous scene in which a baby is stoned to death – reshaped the landscape of British theatre, and became a defining moment in the campaign to abolish theatre censorship. Bond’s play can therefore be understood as a turning point: at once deeply indebted to the ‘kitchen-sink’ realism of its post-war predecessors, whilst also anticipating a generation of British playwrights whose works rethink the political possibilities of theatrical form. Starting with Bond, our seminar will consider what it means for theatre to be ‘political’. Among the writers who followed him in the 1970s and 1980s, we will discuss the innovative feminist dramaturgies of Caryl Churchill, as well as the ‘Theatre of Catastrophe’ developed and theorized by Howard Barker, whose deeply ambiguous plays resist the political didacticism associated with his Marxist contemporaries. The so-called ‘in-yer-face’ theatre of the 1990s – emblematized by Sarah Kane’s "Blasted" (1995) – will return us to the horrors found in Bond, encouraging us to consider the political and ethical efficacy of violence on stage. We will then arrive at our present moment, considering plays which interrogate race, migration and identity in the face of a changing Britain. Over the course of the semester, students will combine close readings of our chosen dramatic works – as well as the essays and manifestoes that frequently accompanied them – with theoretical texts in the tradition of political aesthetics, and will develop a deep understanding of the social, political and institutional contexts in which these plays were first written and performed. |
| Lernziele | Students will gain an understanding of key critical and methodological approaches to British theatre (with a clear emphasis on political aesthetics), refining their analytical skills as well as their ability to apply theory and wider historical sources to the texts in question. |
| Literatur | All texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Bemerkungen | For those who are interested, there will also be the opportunity to explore these texts through practice. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Teilnahmevoraussetzungen | This seminar is for BA students on the advanced level who have completed ALL three introductory modules (including the proseminar papers). |
| Anmeldung zur Lehrveranstaltung | In order to attend this course, please sign-up both via services.unibas.ch and by sending an email to thomas.manson@unibas.ch. Places are limited to 25. |
| Unterrichtssprache | Englisch |
| Einsatz digitaler Medien | Online-Angebot obligatorisch |
| Intervall | Wochentag | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Dienstag | 16.15-18.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Einzeltermine
| Datum | Zeit | Raum |
|---|---|---|
| Dienstag 15.09.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 22.09.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 29.09.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 06.10.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 13.10.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 20.10.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 27.10.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 03.11.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 10.11.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 17.11.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 24.11.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 01.12.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 08.12.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Dienstag 15.12.2026 | 16.15-18.00 Uhr | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Module |
Modul: Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor Studienfach: Englisch) |
| Prüfung | Lehrveranst.-begleitend |
| Hinweise zur Prüfung | Active participation and oral presentation. |
| An-/Abmeldung zur Prüfung | Anmelden: Belegen; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Wiederholungsprüfung | keine Wiederholungsprüfung |
| Skala | Pass / Fail |
| Belegen bei Nichtbestehen | nicht wiederholbar |
| Zuständige Fakultät | Philosophisch-Historische Fakultät, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Anbietende Organisationseinheit | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |