POSTCOLONIAL DRAMA:THE CANON & ITS OTHER

This class is a close reading of postcolonial plays, both as they form a recognizable canon, and as counters to it. Through a grounding in postcolonial theory, students will explore how the colonial encounter leaves a lasting impact on language and performance. How do these playwrights tackle questions of authenticity, influence, inspiration and agency? What stories do they adapt, translate or reimagine? Also, we read in equal measure male and female playwrights, attending to the ways in which power and authority are negotiated by them. This class looks both at plays that are seminal to postcolonial writing and also newer ones that unsettle the position of the greats. Do we then understand postcolonialism as a historically bound literary trend or an ongoing process of exploration? Fundamentally we ask, in our efforts to decolonize the theatre, how do we find new ways or reading?  Course fulfills lecture/seminar in drama studies, theatre studies, performance studies requirement for Theatre major.