Classic Comedies of European Theatre

Patrick Baliani
WEDNESDAYS 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
January 25, February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, March 7, 21, 28, April 4, 2012
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Classic Comedies of European Theatre

Spring 2012
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WEDNESDAYS
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
January 25, February 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, March 7, 21, 28, April 4, 2012

Location: 

Main Campus

What makes comedy comedy? Does the comedic aesthetic evolve across cultural and temporal barriers? How do interpretation and performance affect our understanding of the works? What does it mean that comedy is deadly serious? These are a few of the questions to be raised in the exploration of one major comedy each week, by Aristophanes, Plautus, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Moliere, Wilde, Shaw, Coward, and Frayn. Historical, social,
political, and psychological contexts will also be addressed. Professional actors will perform key scenes, film clips will be screened, and short essays will supplement the play readings.

Required Reading: 

Barnet, Sylvan, Morton Berman, and William Burto, eds. Eight Great Comedies. Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN: 0-452-01170-1.

 

Plautus. Amphitryon and Two Other Plays. Ed. and trans.Lionel Casson. W. W. Norton & Company, 1971. ISBN :0-393-00601-8.

 

 

Coward, Noel. Three Plays: Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives. Vintage International Paperback, 1999. ISBN: 0-679-78179-X.

 

 

Frayn, Michael. Noises Off. Anchor Books, 2002. ISBN: 1-4000-3160-5.

 

Meet Your Professor

Associate Professor
Honors College

PATRICK BALIANI is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the UA Honors College and an acclaimed playwright. His teaching awards include the University of Arizona Foundation Leicester and Kathryn Sherrill Creative Teaching Award, the Honors College Five Star Faculty Award, the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Academic Preparation for Excellence in Teaching (APEX) Award. He has twice received the Humanities Seminars Superior Teaching Award. Patrick’s original plays have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Prescott, and Tucson. He has also translated, adapted, and produced classic works from the Italian, including Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and Dante’s Purgatorio. He was awarded the National Repertory Theatre Foundation National Play Award, the Arizona Theatre Company Genesis New Play Award, and has received fellowships and grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, and other arts organizations.     

  • Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award

Location

Poetry Center
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States
Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.

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