DCU Home | Our Courses | Loop | Registry | Library | Search DCU
<< Back to Module List

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

All Module information is indicative, and this portal is an interim interface pending the full upgrade of Coursebuilder and subsequent integration to the new DCU Student Information System (DCU Key).

As such, this is a point in time view of data which will be refreshed periodically. Some fields/data may not yet be available pending the completion of the full Coursebuilder upgrade and integration project. We will post status updates as they become available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Irish Theatre
Module Code EL304 (ITS) / LIT1000 (Banner)
Faculty Humanities & Social Sciences School English
Module Co-ordinatorEugene McNulty
Module TeachersDarran McCann, Ellen Howley, Gearoid O'Flaherty
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
None
Description

This module examines the development of Irish drama and theatre practice from the eighteenth century to the present day. It is a course concerned with the interplay of text and performance, and with the ways in which theatre is shaped by the world around it. Through a number of interpretative lenses (concerned with nationalism, identity, class, gender, economics) students are introduced to the idea of a distinctly ‘Irish drama’ and the key critical narratives that have been borne of this idea.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the development of a distinctly Irish drama
2. Perform comparative and close analyses of a range of plays and theatrical styles
3. Discuss the significance of theatre in cultural and political terms
4. Relate Irish drama to historical developments
5. Examine the role of drama in exploring key issues such as gender, class, globalisation, postcolonialism.
6. Develop an understanding of performance praxis



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture21Lectures
Tutorial3Tutorials
Independent Study48Assigned Weekly Reading
Independent Study53Independent Learning Exam Preparation
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Sheridan and the idea of ‘Irish Theatre’

Boucicault and sensation drama

Political Melodrama

GB Shaw

Cultural nationalism and performance

Oscar Wilde – performing identity

Founding of the Abbey

Founding of the Ulster Literary Theatre

Early Yeats and Lady Gregory – performing myth

J.M. Synge and the peasant play

Sean O’Casey and the counter revival

Staging the North

Contemporary Irish drama

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayEssay25%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Christopher Morash: 0, A History of Irish Theatre 1601-2000,
  • Stephen Watt et al (eds.: 0, A Century of Irish Drama: Widening the Stage,
  • Desmond Slowey: 0, The Radicalisation of Irish Drama 1600-1900,
  • Eugene McNulty: 0, The Ulster Literary Theatre and the Northern Revival,
  • Christopher Murray: 0, Twentieth-century Irish Drama: mirror up to nation,
  • Lionel Pilkington: 0, Theatre and the State in Twentieth-Century Ireland,
  • Dermot Bolger (ed.): 0, Druids, Dudes, and Beauty Queens: the changing face of Irish theatre,
Other Resources

None

<< Back to Module List