Drama takes words and concepts very seriously – the theatrical tradition, at least within Western cultures, emerges from a strong tension (if not to say contradiction). For while we expect “theater” to be “performance,” i.e. display and movement of human bodies in space, “theater” is also supposed to be “literature,” i.e. something that can be articulated and condensed as written or printed words. While this course will pursue the tension between “performance” and “sexuality” along historical lines within the Western tradition since Greek Antiquity, it will also on non-European forms and conventions of performance and theatricality, and, finally, discuss the increasingly intense competition between Theater and other forms of performance and media, since the 19th century (such as sports, and, increasingly, film and television). Texts and traditions to be studied include: classical Japanese theater (Noh and Kabuki); the origin and history of ancient Greek tragedy and comedies; forms of medieval “theater” in their interaction with Christian rituals (and their countercultural horizons); the “classical” age of European theater: Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Molière.

GER: DB-Hum