Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Course Outline
Course Title: ENGE5230
Major Author (Shakespeare in Performance)
Course Catalog description:
This course will examine some of the enduring controversies in literary critical analyses of
Shakespeare’s plays, and explore the ways in which these might be addressed in performance. Students
will be provided with techniques of interpreting Shakespearean texts from both literary critical and
dramaturgical perspectives with a view to performing them in front of an audience. More particularly,
students will learn how to use movement, and vocal expressiveness to formulate different interpretations
of various key scenes and speeches from Shakespeare. By exploring key scenes from three of
Shakespeare’s plays, drawn from the genres of comedy and tragedy, students will achieve an
understanding of Shakespeare’s language, his modes of characterisation, his methods of creating
dramatic situations, and his representative themes. Students will also study the relationship of
Shakespeare’s scripts to their original Elizabethan and Jacobean performance contexts. Attention will
also be given to the performance history of Shakespearean drama and the continuing importance of that
drama in twentieth-first century world theatre. Note: Students need not have any prior experience of
acting or directing.
Learning outcomes:
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
1. Understand Shakespeare’s English, the nature of theatrical dramatic conventions in Western drama --
esp. during Shakespeare’s time, and the contexts of Elizabethan and Jacobean England (political,
religious, class and gender oriented, etc.) when Shakespeare wrote and his plays were first performed.
2. Analyse Shakespearean texts as performance texts in order to create and perform a character on
stage. use their voice and body to communicate to an audience and explore different ways of
performing scenes and speeches from Shakespeare.
3. Communicate effectively in English in the classroom seminar environment, as well as in more
challenging contexts, particularly in the context of class performances.
Course syllabus (Topics) Contents/ fundamental concepts
Shakespeare’s language Understanding Shakespeare’s dramatic language
Performance Skills and Theatrical Techniques; Use of poetic techniques such as metaphor and
Shakespeare’s dramaturgy imagery; interpreting and speaking Shakespearean
dramatic verse intelligibly and effectively
Key themes - Politics, religion, gender, social class, Creating a character and dramatic situation
national identity, etc. in early modern England through voice and movement; conveying feelings
and thoughts through words and gestures.
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Assessment scheme:
Task Description Weight
Performance Final performances before an audience: group performance 40%
(live); solo performance (electronically recorded)
Essay
A paper (4,000 words) on aspects of interpreting a 40%
Shakespeare play for performance
Participation
Students will be expected to participate in discussions and 10%
small performances in lectures / workshops
Performance Rationale
A rationale (500 words approx.) explaining your 10%
interpretation of the character(s)/scene(s) in your
performance.
Required readings:
Required Texts (two comedies and one tragedy); we will also explore some short excerpts from other
plays and a few Shakespeare sonnets. Note: The Shakespeare primary texts are all freely available
online.
- The Taming of the Shrew c. 1592-94)
- Twelfth Night (c. 1600-01)
- Hamlet (c. 1600-01)
There is one set secondary text: Emma Smith (2020) This is Shakespeare: How to Read the World’s
Greatest Playwright. London: Pelican Books. You will be able to purchase it in the CUHK University
Bookstore. There are also good movies of all of the major texts, which will help your understanding of
plot, character and dramatic language.
Feedback for evaluation:
Students can always contact the professor by email and expect their emails to be answered. The English
Department, under the auspices of the Arts Faculty, conducts a detailed course evaluation at the end of
the term.
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Academic honesty and plagiarism
Plagiarism is not an acceptable practice. Neither is the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce your
essay acceptable.
Copies of the two major essays need to be sent to Veriguide.
Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the
disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details
may be found at [Link]
With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of
these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures. For group projects, all students of the same group
should be asked to sign the declaration. For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document
that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be
issued by the system upon students’ uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without
the receipt will not be graded by teachers. Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted
via VeriGuide.
Professor/ Instructor: Mike Ingham
michaelanthonyingham@[Link]
Email:
mikeinghammike@[Link]
Departmental Grade Descriptors:
Grade A / Excellent : Outstanding performance on ALL learning outcomes.
Demonstrates the ability to synthesize and apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a manner that
would surpass the normal expectations at this level and typical of standards that may be common at higher
levels of study. The ‘A’ grade should be reserved for truly excellent work that exceeds the level expected for
the majority of students and are expected to be achieved only by a small minority
Grade A- / Very Good : Generally outstanding performance on ALMOST ALL learning outcomes.
Demonstrates the ability to synthesize and apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a manner that
would fully fulfill the normal expectations at this level and occasionally reaches standards that may be
common at higher levels of study.
Grade B+ / Good (Plus): HIGH performance on all learning outcomes, OR HIGH performance on some
learning outcomes which compensates WELL for slightly less satisfactory performance on others, resulting
in overall substantial performance.
Demonstrates the ability to apply WELL the principles or skills learned in the course in a comprehensive
manner that would sufficiently fulfill the normal expectations at this level WELL.
Grade B / Good: SUBSTANTIAL performance on all learning outcomes, OR SUBSTANTIAL performance
on some learning outcomes which compensates for slightly less satisfactory performance on others, resulting
in overall substantial performance.
Demonstrates the ability to apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a MORE
COMPREHENSIVE manner that would sufficiently fulfill the normal expectations at this level.
Grade B- / Good (Minus): GOOD performance on all learning outcomes, OR GOOD performance on some
learning outcomes which compensates for slightly less satisfactory performance on others, resulting in
overall substantial performance.
Demonstrates the ability to apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a COMPREHENSIVE
manner that would sufficiently fulfill the normal expectations at this level.
Grade C+ / Fair (Plus): VERY SATISFACTORY performance on the majority of learning outcomes.
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Course Planning Service, CLEAR, CUHK
Demonstrates the ability to apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a SOMEWHAT
SUSTAINED manner that would meet the basic requirement at this level.
Grade C / Fair : SATISFACTORY performance on the majority of learning outcomes.
Demonstrates the ability to partially apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a manner that
would meet the basic requirement at this level.
Grade C- / Fair (Minus): SOMEWHAT SATISFACTORY performance on A NUMBER OF learning
outcomes.
Demonstrates the ability to SOMEWHAT apply the principles or skills learned in the course in a manner that
would meet the BARE basic requirement at this level.
Grade D+ / Pass (Plus) : BARELY SATISFACTORY performance on a A FEW learning outcomes.
Addresses the course inadequately by meeting the basic requirement at this level only in some areas while
responding minimally with possibly tangential content in others.
Grade D / Pass: ALMOST BARELY satisfactory performance on VERY FEW learning outcomes.
Addresses the course inadequately by meeting the basic requirement at this level only in very few areas
while responding very minimally with possibly tangential content in others.
Grade F / Failure : Unsatisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, OR failure to meet
specified assessment requirements.
Fails to address the task and likely does not understand what the task requires. In other words, the work
completely misses the point.