Spring 2025
Prereq: none
Units: 3-0-9 HASS-H, CI-H
This subject contextualizes Shakespeare’s major comedies within a broader framework that includes so-called “problem” plays as well as city comedies by one or more of Shakespeare’s contemporaries. We will ground our readings in performance and so the comedies will be paired with filmic realizations that will also allow us to consider how the plays must be changed and re-interpreted so as to travel across temporal, geographical, and cultural boundaries. Works studied include Twelfth Night (and Some Like It Hot); Taming of the Shrew (and 10 Things I Hate About You); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, and A Comedy of Errors. [Pre-1900]