Sample Syllabus

Class code
Instructor
Details
Class Details
FREN-UA 9868
COTTE Cécile
[email protected] ou [email protected]
Experimental theater workshop
Monday 10:30 – 12:30
Prerequisites
Class
Description
Students interested in theater.
This course allows students to discover “Theater of the absurd”, a theoretical and
practical approach to theater born of the complex historical, literary, and philosophical
context of the Second World War. We will analyze the characteristics of this type of
theater which continues to influence avant-garde themes and esthetics. Students will
perform excerpts from selected works with a focus on the absurdity of situations, destructuring language, and corporal expression. The approach of the course is
intellectual, physical and creative. Theater outings and projections will be included.
The principal works studied include: Ubu Roi d’Alfred Jarry, La Cantatrice Chauve
d’Eugène Ionesco and Huis Clos de Jean-Paul Sartre. Conducted in English.
There might be modifications
Desired
Outcomes
Assessment
Components
To understand and analyse the importance of a style of theatre that would prove - so wrote Esslin in
1961 - “to provide a new language, new ideas, new points of view and an entirely new and
invigorated philosophy, that would transform the modes of thought and sentiments of the wider
public.” To develop within the student a capacity for comic acting that is characteristic of a style of
vtheatre that refuses realism, characters and plot, where time itself is rendered absurd and where
the backdrop of the action is often satire of the bourgeoisie, of its rigid language and its small
worldview.
20 %, based on participation/ 30% based on oral presentations, written papers (elaborating upon
the themes of the texts studied)
Practical grade: 50%, based on a student’s acting, memorization of excerpts from chosen texts,
creativity and participation as well as on the final presentation of one or several scenes acted out in
public.
Required
Text(s)
Supplemental
Texts(s) (not
required to
purchase as
copies are in
NYU-L Library)
Ubu Roi d’Alfred Jarry
La Cantatrice Chauve d’Eugène Ionesco (The Bald Prima Donna)
Huis Clos de Jean-Paul Sartre ( No Exit)
The Maids and Deathwatch Genet
Caligula d’Albert Camus ( Caligula)/ Les Justes d’Albert Camus ( The Just Assassins)
Le roi se meurt d’Eugène Ionesco/ ( Exit the King)
En attendant Godot de Samuel Beckett/ ( Waiting for Godot) Haut les beaux jours (Happy Days) et
Fin de Partie de Samuel Beckett ( Endgame) Les Bonnes de Jean Genet (The Maids)
Additional
Required
Equipment
Session 1
01/18
DVD projection of filmed plays
General presentation/ Absurd theatre is characterized by its complete rupture from classical genres
such as drama or comedy. It is a genre that often discusses the absurdity of mankind and of life in
general, particularly in that life invariably leads towards death. (Historical, philosophical and literary
context). Introduction to Camus (1913-1960) and Sartre (1905-1980). Excerpts from plays read out
loud.
Session 2
01/25
Second half of the general presentation and excerpts of plays read in class (Sartre, Camus, Beckett,
Ionesco). The way in which the absurd is handled varies according to the author. -An existence
deprived of significance that displays the folly of a world in which humanity is losing itself (the tragedy
behind the comedy). -The absurdity of situations. -The destructuration of language. Roles of
composition…
Students should read the play Ubu Roi d’Alfred Jarry.
Session 3
02/01
Session 4
02/08
Introduction to Alfred Jarry ( 1873-1907) precursor of absurd theatre. Ubu Roi .
Genesis of the play Ubu Roi : The tragicomic play « les Polonais » written between 1885 and 1887 by
high schoolers at the lycée de Rennes
The sources : d’Ubu Roi : the tradition of figures who ridicule the satisfied bourgeois throughout the
second half of the 19th century (caricatures of King Louis Philippe). Observation of caricatures of
Daumier ( Les Poires)
Second part of Ubu Roi. Scenes of Ubu Roi acted out. Projection of excerpts of Ubu. The character: a
negative hero. Tyrant or anachist? If the world exists, then the world is nothing but a farce. Absence
of psychological depth demanded. Apology of puppets. Parody and grotesque. Other ancestors:
Arlequin, Sganarelle, Guignol, Punch (for the English)…..The influence of Jarry for surrealists.
Session 5
02/15
Third part of Ubu Roi.
A descendant of Ubu Roi: Berenger dans le Roi se meurt by Eugene Ionesco. Excertps of the play
read in class that highlight the figure of a despotic king who is both tragic and ridiculous. Like Ubu,
Berenger dans le Roi se meurt is a puppet of theatre, an imaginary being that exerts an imaginary
power over an imaginary kingdom from time immemorial. Excerpts analyzed and acted out.
Introduction to Eugène Ionesco, his affiliation with Alfred Jarry. Principal themes: conformisms and
dogmatisms, language, ideology, power, death, and the tragicomic of existential condition.
Session 6
02/22
The role of the king in absurd theatre.
Another descendant: the frightening Caligula by Albert Camus Excerpts of Caligula by Albert Camus
will be read in class.
Students should read La cantatrice chauve by Eugène Ionesco
Session 7
02/29
Mid-term : a paper on the figure of the king in the works of Jarry, Ionesco and Camus, as well as on the
student’s interpretation of La Cantatrice Chauve by Eugène Ionesco or scenes written by the students.
Scenes of La Cantatrice Chauve acted out.
Session 8
03/07
Absurd theatre invented not only a specific dramatic language but also a new way of using space and
decor. New performance conditions (abandonment of the “salle à l’italienne”) encouraged the
inventiveness of these avant-garde plays, characteristics of theatrical modernity...The influence of
surrealists on absurd theatre. Example: the influence of the painter De Chirico/ the metaphysical
interior on Ionesco. Destabilization of lines and forms. Projection of excerpts of films.
Session 9
03/14
Session 10
03/21
Session 11
04/01
Session 12
04/04
Session 13
04/11
Session 14
05/02
The loss of temporal points of reference and the onstage presence of bizarre or invasive objects
suggests a critique of a consumer society where abundance and emptiness reign at the same time
(characters from Samuel Beckett’s Fin de partie, buried in trash cans).
The progressive embedding in a pile of sand of Winnie, the heroine of Oh les beaux jours, figures her
slow death under the inexorable effect of time. Projection of excerpts of filmed plays.
Continuation of scenes acted out from La Cantatrice Chauve and/or Ubu Roi/ and/or Roi se meurt/
Discussion on the staging. Oral presentations
Continuation of scenes acted out. ( Huis Clos by Sartre)
Students should read the play Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre
Oral presentations on the different themes in Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre. Where is the absurd in the
play? Who are these characters? Time in Huis Clos…
Comparative study of the notion of time in the works of Sartre, Beckett and Ionesco. Excerpts acted
out.
Continuation of the analysis of Huis Clos by Sartre. Excerpts acted out. Oral presentations on the
author’s position taken based on the staging and characters.
Continuation of scenes acted out that students will have chosen and memorized for the end of the
semester presentations.
Rehearsal of scenes in preparation for the presentation.
Date to be defined for the presentation. Week of the 9th?
Your Instructor
Cécile Cotté : Professeur, comédienne, metteur en scène et auteur, diplômée de l’Ecole Internationale Jacques Lecoq. Etudes
théâtrales à l’Université de Censier à Paris. Elève de Daniel Mesguich à l’Ecole du Miroir. Elle crée la compagnie IO
Comédienne, joue au théâtre (Théâtre de la Bruyère, Théâtre Marigny, Théâtre Ouvert, Les Bouffes du Nord, Grande Halle de la
Villette…et en tournée en France et à l’étranger) avec Pierre Byland, Robert Hossein, Armando Llamas, Daniel Mesguich, Jean-Luc
Lagarce, Serge Valetti, Robert Cantarella, Michel Cerda, Stéphanie Loïk, Carlos Wittig, Philippe Minyana, Fredéric Réverrend, Isabelle
Famchon, Lucien Marchal, et à la radio (France Culture) avec André Velter et Jean-Baptiste Para.
Auteur : Elle a écrit cinq pièces dont Fossoyeurs diffusé sur France Culture et Le Piéton édité chez Compact ainsi que et de nombreuses
adaptations pour le théâtre qu’elle amises en scène
Metteur en scène. Elle a mis en scène une douzaine de spectacles (d’après Balzac, J.H Fabre, Copi….et différents auteurs africains et
malgaches) joués en France, et en Afrique (spectacle créé au Rwanda/ tournée en Europe). Elle en est aussi la conceptrice.
Elle dirige régulièrement des stages A la Maison du geste et l’image à Paris, à Singapour –en mission pour Cultures-France – à Butare
(Rwanda) au Centre Universitaire des Arts, à Vienne ( Autriche) et à Malte dans le cadre de rencontres européennes (EDERED)
Professeur à L’ESSEC depuis 2009. Elle donne un cours en anglais « Behaving in public. A training ». Elle enseignera aussi à Stanford
University(Paris) en 2015.
Professeur à New York University in France depuis 2002(( Acting french et experimental theater workshop.) A mis en scène de
nombreux spectacles qu’elle a conçus pour les étudiants de NYU: Purgatoire spectacle en hommage à Samuel Beckett, Simone de
Beauvoir, en hommage à Simone de Beauvoir, Requiem pour Ionesco en hommage à Eugène Ionesco, Parade Funèbre en hommage à
Jean Genet, L’œil qui voit, cabaret cubisto-dada, Haïti, un tableau vivant spectacle sur Haïti, Les dix mots préférés d’Albert Camus en
hommage à Albert Camus, Monsieur Jourdain d’après le Bourgeois gentilhomme de Molière. Spectacles joués à Paris (Cité
Universitaire/ Résidence Lucien Paye, Salle Adyar, Ambassade des Etats-Unis) ainsi qu’à New York (Maison Française, Wasserman
Center, et Kimmel Center)