1. Home
  2. ENGL
  3. ENGL 303: A History of Drama—Part I: Early Stages (Rev. C7)

ENGL 303: A History of Drama—Part I: Early Stages (Rev. C7) Report a Broken Link

This course traces the history of Western theatre from its Greek origins to the beginning of the eighteenth century in England and France.

Act I: The Golden Age

“Theatre.” The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature, edited by M. C. Howatson, 3rd edition, Oxford UP, 2011, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199548545.001.0001/acref-9780199548545-e-2895.
Aeschylus. Agamemnon. Translated by Ian Johnston, johnstonia, March 2014, https://web.viu.ca/johnstoi/aeschylus/aeschylus_agamemnon.htm.
Case, Sue-Ellen. “Classic Drag: The Greek Creation of Female Parts.” Theatre Journal, vol. 37, no. 3, Oct. 1985, pp. 317–27. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3206851.
Sophocles. Oedipus, King of Thebes; translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes. Translated by Gilbert Murray, George Allen & Unwin, 1922. Project Gutenberg, 4 January 2021, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27673.
Euripides. Medea. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. I, translated by Edward P. Coleridge, George Bell and Sons, 1906. Perseus Digital Library, https://scaife.perseus.org/reader/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg003.perseus-eng2:0-1415. Accessed 7 April 2025.
Aristophanes. Lysistrata. Translated by Ian Johnston, johnstonia, n.d., https://web.viu.ca/johnstoi/aristophanes/lysistrata.htm. Accessed 7 April 2025.

Act II: Medieval Roots and Renaissance Flowerings

Anonymous. The Second Shepherds’ Pageant. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays, edited by A. C. Cawley, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1922, pp. 98–127. Internet Archive, 24 January 2017, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.458516/page/n97/mode/2up.
Anonymous. Everyman, 15th Century. Internet Medieval Source Book, edited by Paul Halsall, Fordham University, August 1998, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/everyman.asp.
Charnes, Linda, Dennis Kennedy, Richard Andrews, Linda Charnes, Victor Dixon, and Virginia Scott. “Early Modern Period in Europe (1500–1700).” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, edited by Dennis Kennedy, Oxford UP, 2005, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/acref-9780198601746-e-1190.
Marlowe, Christopher. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus; from the Quarto of 1604. Edited by Alexander Dyce. Project Gutenberg, 18 November 2023, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/779.
Wiggins, Martin. “Masque.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, edited by Dennis Kennedy, Oxford UP, 2005, https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/acref-9780198601746-e-2535.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library, https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-tempest/read. Accessed 1 April 2025.

Act III: Sentiment and Wit

Howarth, W. D. “Neoclassicism.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, edited by Dennis Kennedy, Oxford UP, 2005, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/acref-9780198601746-e-2835.
Racine, Jean. Phaedra. Translated by Robert Bruce Boswell. Project Gutenberg, 7 February 2013, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1977.
Molière. Tartuffe; or, The Hypocrite. Molière: The Affected Misses; Don Juan; Tartuffe; The Misanthrope; The Doctor by Compulsion; The Miser; The Tradesman Turned Gentleman; The Learned Ladies: A New Translation, the Verse Plays Being for the First Time Rendered into English Verse, translated by Curtis Hidden Page, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908. Project Gutenberg, 31 December 2020, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2027.
Maus, Katharine Eisaman. “‘Playhouse Flesh and Blood’: Sexual Ideology and the Restoration Actress.” ELH, vol. 46, no. 4, Winter 1979, pp. 595–617, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2872481.
Behn, Aphra. The Rover; or, The Banished Cavaliers. John Amery, 1677. Literature in Context: An Open Anthology, edited and annotated by John O'Brien, Sara Brunstetter, and University of Virginia ENEC 3400 students, 2016, https://anthology.lib.virginia.edu/work/Behn/behn-rover.
Farquhar, George. The Recruiting Officer: A Comedy in Five Acts. The Constant Couple: The Inconstant; The Recruiting Officer; The Beaux Stratagem, William Savage, 1808. Project Gutenberg, 28 April 2021, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37012.