Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Text in English and Korean. Includes bibliographical references.

The licentiate thesis focuses on young people’s dramatisation and reflections on the reception of theatre in schools as part of aesthetic learning processes. Its main objective is to describe and analyse how theatre can be used in teaching as a means to create meaning and knowledge in practice. The theatre’s relation to the Swedish subject is discussed from different aspects. The empiric survey was conducted at three 6–9 schools in the south of Sweden, referred to in the study as Österskolan, Norrskolan and Söderskolan. The survey is designed as a multiple case study. Two cases consist of individual classes with supplementary work based on the students’ reception of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the other two on stage productions that include acting. The material consists of video recordings of teaching processes, rehearsals and performances; notes from observations, interviews with teachers and pupils, a questionnaire regarding theatre habits, as well as documents such as theatre programmes and home pages. The cases are contrasted in order to extend the analysis, distinguish between mutual and contrasting patterns, and to some extent also to explain concepts used for description and analysis. The thesis aims to answer the following questions: • What is required in order for theatre to create meaning and knowledge in practice within a school’s framework? • How do form, content and use, and also production, reception and reflection cooperate in various media in the aesthetic learning processes and what didactical potential is the result of this cooperation? The result of the survey shows that a teacher’s patterns for verbal and physical interaction and his or her media specific competence strongly influence the terms for the aesthetic learning processes. The nature of the theatre culture’s meeting with the school culture at the individual school determines the possibilities for the participation in creation of meaning and knowledge in practice that are offered to pupils. Financial conditions, support from the school management, collaboration between subjects, functioning rooms, and the school’s gender practice are other important factors. The conditions for the theatre’s creation of meaning and knowledge differ significantly between the three schools included in this study. At Österskolan the theatre culture is a fairly unfamiliar element in the school culture. The teacher who supervises the supplementary work for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, however, possesses good media specific competence in the theatrical field and is able to generate possibilities for reflections on experience pedagogy based on the theatrical performance and actual participation in the theatrical practice for the pupils. For a number of years, the theatre culture at Norrskolan has been included in an integrated part of the school culture. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes the basis for verbal, dialogue-oriented discussions in the classroom. The pupils’ performance at the school strengthens the school culture and the pupils learn how to cooperate and take responsibility. The cultural profile at Söderskolan collaborates with professional cultural workers and regional cultural institutes in a theatrical project that invites both schools and the general public. In this case, all media is integrated in the creation of meaning and there is great didactical potential. In the intended doctoral thesis the analysis of the terms and the design of the aesthetic learning processes will be further discussed. / <p>Licentiatavhandling i litteraturvetenskap: alternativet Svenska med didaktisk inriktning.</p>

This dissertation examines the role of aesthetic activity in the pursuit of political agency in readings of several of Shakespeare’s plays, including Hamlet (1600), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595), The Tempest (1610), the history plays of the second tetralogy (1595-9), Julius Caesar (1599), and Coriolanus (1605). I demonstrate how Shakespeare models political subjectivity—the capacity for individuals to participate meaningfully in the political realm—as necessitating active aesthetic agency. This aesthetic agency entails the fashioning of artistically conceived public personae that potential political subjects enact in the public sphere and the critical engagement of the aesthetic and political discourses of the subjects’ culture in a self-reflective and appropriative manner. Furthermore, these subjects should be wary auditors of the texts and personae they encounter within the public sphere in order to avoid internalizing constraining ideologies that reify their identities into forms less conducive to the pursuit of liberty and social mobility. Early modern audiences could discover several models for doing so in Shakespeare’s works. For example, Hamlet posits a model of Machiavellian theatricality that masks the Prince's interiority as he resists the biopolitical force and disciplinary discourses of Claudius's Denmark. Julius Caesar and Coriolanus advance a model of citizenship through the plays’ nameless plebeians in which rhetoric offers the means to participate in Rome’s political culture, and Shakespeare’s England for audiences, while authorities manipulate citizen opinion by molding the popularity of public figures. Public, artistic ability affords potential political subjects ways of not only framing their participation in their culture but also ways of conceiving of their identities and relationships to society that may defy normative notions of membership in the community.

The Swedish Midsummer event has been organized and celebrated for several years in Tobetsu inJ apan, especially since the establishment of a sister city relationship with Leksand in Sweden. Yet, there is little to no data or literature on the event as to why Japanese residents chooses to involve the culture of Sweden by organizing such an event annually and what the residents actually perceive of the event This research explores the Swedish Midsummer event in Tobetsu more closely in the formof a case study which involves the organizers and residents. By conducting semi-structured interviews it was clear that the organizers want to highlight the relationship with Sweden, to enable cultural interaction as well as attracting more people to the town due to its decreasing and aging residents. However, some of the residents find the event disturbing while others enjoy it to some degree. As a case study on Tobetsu, this research demonstrates the utilization of a sister city relationship in order to differentiate the town and to nurture the relationship with the other town, in this case being Leksand, on a local level by contextualizing it in a yearly cultural event. The findings of this case study along with the theoretical framework highlights the importance of involving the residents in the organization of the event in order to succeed and reach the goals of Midsummer. In the future, there exists an interesting notion of following up this research, in order to investigate whether the goals of organizing Midsummer in Tobetsu have been fulfilled or not and if and/or how the residents have been involved in the organization process.

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Many scholars who study Plato and Shakespeare together focus only on erotic love between lovers or nonsexual love between others. A closer study of A Midsummer Night’s Dream shows that Shakespeare uses Plato’s concepts of the soul in addition to the Forms, the guide, as well as staging the varieties of love that can exist between two individuals and the dangers of loving the physical more than the mind. Shakespeare takes these ideas embedded in Symposium and Phaedrus and not only crafts his play accordingly, but also creates his own versions through his unique interpretations. These alterations appear reflected in the play’s sequence of events, the characters’ actions, and the merging of the faerie and human realms. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

From July 1, 1934, to November 1, 1968, the Production Code Administration (PCA) oversaw the creation of American motion pictures, in order to improve Hollywood’s moral standing. To assist in this endeavor, the studios produced film adaptations of classic literature, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. In the first two years of the Code’s inception, two Shakespearean films were produced by major studios: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) and Romeo and Juliet (1936). But were these classic adaptations able to avoid the censorship that other films endured? With the use of archived collections, film viewings, and an in-depth analysis of the plays, multiple versions of the scripts, and other available surviving documents, I was able to see how these productions were affected by the enforcement of film censorship and what it said about the position of Shakespeare’s work in society. A Midsummer Night’s Dream tended to use self-regulation, so as to avoid the censorship of the PCA. However, the film did not escape without some required changes. In spite of the filmmakers’ efforts, there were a few textual changes and the fairy costumes required revisions to meet the PCA’s standards. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, the PCA was far more involved in all stages of the film’s production. There were many documented text changes and even a case in which the censors objected to how the actors and director executed a scene on film. The motion picture was created as if it were of the greatest importance by all involved. And, as it were, the existing archives paint a picture of a production that was a sort of battleground in a sociopolitical war between the censors and the filmmakers. As both films arrived on the international stage, this sociopolitical campaigning did not end. During international distribution, the films were each accepted, rejected, and forced to endure further censorship, in order to become acceptable for public screening. This censorship often relayed a message about the location’s societal views and its contrast to American society.

In our lives we will have to make hundreds upon thousands of choices. The effects of these choices will follow us with varying intervals; some effects may be brief while others may literally last a lifetime. In these moments that we are forced to chose, it ultimately comes down to two options, what we should do, and what we want to do. Essentially, it is a choice between the head and the heart. Playwrights depend on these moments of choice, for it is the basis of almost all plays. At some point, the protagonist must make a choice, even if the choice is not to choose. In the early part of the 20th Century, a religious philosopher by the name of Aleister Crowley helped to define these choices, or as he referred to them, Wills. In essence, he stated that everyone has a True Will and a conscious will, and the path that you will ultimately follow is contingent on the choices you make in your life. Following your True Will, the path of the heart will lead you to a sense of Nirvana, while following your conscious will, the path of the head leads to a life unfulfilled. While some called him demonic (he occasionally referred to himself as The Beast With Two Backs) others saw him as a sage someone to esoterically explain the chaotic and industrial world of the early 1900 s. Aleister Crowley seemed to be one of those few men that you either loved, or hated, or hated to love. At the dawn of the 20th Century, he was an English philosopher and religious guru that made a call to arms to the general populous to start living a better life. His theories will be explained fully in Chapter One, but ultimately he wanted everyone to achieve their True Will and leave their conscious wills by the wayside. He felt that this process could be achieved through what he referred to as his theorems on magick. It is unknown exactly how the idea came to him to add the k to the original magic; however speculation reveals he might have taken from the original Greek word magikE. Contrary to the modern definition of magic (the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand), Crowley felt that his magick was significantly more complex. Pulling on philosophies from the Egyptians and the Celts along with basic Buddhist principles, he defined his magick within his twenty-eight theorems . Ultimately, he philosophized that magick was a way to enlighten a person, or, for the purposes of this thesis a character s True Will4 and to avoid following their conscious will. In layman s terms, Crowley saw it as an argument between the head (conscious will) and the heart (True Will). While the main focus of this thesis is on the tension and outcome of the decision of a character to follow their True Will or their conscious will, it is impossible to talk about these two concepts without discussing, at least in part, magick. Crowley saw magick as the practice and process to achieve True Will. This study, therefore, involves both homonyms, magic and magick. By applying this process as defined by Crowley in his self-named theorems to plays and musicals that have been defined as strictly magic, I am looking for not only the exact moment in which the main protagonists in each play define and execute their decision to follow their True or conscious Wills, but also to critically examine their journey to that fatal decision. I describe it as such because I feel that a characters fate may truly depend on the choice that they make. These philosophies are not new to the philosophical world. Other theorists such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and their relation to Crowley s theories will be discussed later; however I felt that because Crowley is the one who his responsible for rejuvenating the word magick from the Greeks in the 20th Century, I should be able to use his theories as a modern lens to examine A Midsummer Nights Dream, Marisol, and Wicked. I plan to take plays that cross both genre and era and consider not only (1) what can be illuminated using this Crowlean lens , but I also to highlight (2) any universal truths, by which I mean any ideological or philosophical ideas that appear in all three plays, that can be found in works as diverse as the ones that I have chosen. While their connection to True Will may be tangential in nature, if there are things in common in these plays that are brought to light using Crowley s lens, then I feel it is worth noting. By examining these two factors I will be able to see if critics have accurately defined these plays. My goal is to add the Crowlean lens to the already existing approaches to critically examining a theatrical piece. This lens, as defined before, is simply taking Crowley s concepts of True Will and conscious will and their link to the progression of magick within a character to illuminate the characters choices leading up to their breaking point in which they must ask themselves Do I chose what I should do, or what I want to do? The three plays I chose were done for specific reasons. The basic criterion was to choose on a basis of (1) chronology, (2) genre, (3) and magical reference5. I took three plays that entertained the religious, philosophical, and fantastical nature of what I felt best applied to Crowley s theories. Keeping in mind that Crowley interpreted his magick as a philosophy, a religion, and a way of life to ultimately achieving True Will, I felt it pertinent to explore these aspects of each play as well. In the musical Wicked, the philosophical nature of the piece asks the question Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? This question can be answered through a variety of subjects. By exploring these issues within the context of its main character, Elphaba, (pronounced EL-fa-ba), and a variety of themes throughout this musical (including behavior, appearance, deception, honesty, courage and labeling) we find that True Will and conscious will in the land of Oz are flowering. Defining our True Will, according to Crowley, takes constant affirmations and diligent calculations of our feelings and utilizing those to aid in making the right choice for that specific moment6. In this fashion, Marisol marries the idea of what the author calls magical realism in a post-apocalyptic New York City with a fervent religiosity all while underscoring the political nature of the 1980s indigent cleanup initiated by then mayor Ed Koch. Through the character of Marisol Perez, we find that not only is the choice between True Will and conscious confusing, but it can be potentially lethal. Within the structure of this play is also where Crowley s spiritual views on True Will and conscious will become highlighted. The Lovers (Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander) in Shakespeare s fantastical A Midsummer Night s Dream is the perfect backdrop to explore Crowley s more eccentric philosophies on magick and how these philosophies relate to True and conscious will. In essence, I plan to not only explore the choices that these four individuals make due to acts of both types of magic(k), but their ultimate consequences as well. It also must be noted that during the process of this thesis, the one overarching theme throughout all three plays dealt with Crowley s theory of self-preservation. I feel that this is innately tied into the idea of True Will. By achieving True Will, we are inherently attempting to make the best choices for ourselves. This inherently keeps alive the innate human instinct of survival. At the end of this thesis, I hope to defend that Crowley s concepts of True Will and conscious will, when applied in tandem with Crowley s concepts of magick, can be a valid lens to examine theatrical works, old and new alike.

In this study of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure I argue that the surface plots of these comedies point us to a philosophic understanding seldom discussed in either contemporary public discourse or in Shakespearean scholarship. The comedies usually involve questions arising from the conflict between the enforcement of law (whether just or not) and the private longings (whether noble or base) of citizens whose yearnings for happiness tend to be sub- or even supra-political. No regime, it appears, is able to respond to the whole variety of circumstances that it may be called upon to judge. Even the best written laws meet with occasional exceptions and these ulterior instances must be judged by something other than a legal code. When these extra-legal instances do arise, political communities become aware of their reliance on a kind of political judgment that is usually unnoticed in the day-to-day affairs of public life. Further, it is evident that the characters who are able to exercise this political judgment, are the very characters whose presence averts a potentially tragic situation and makes a comedy possible. By presenting examples of how moral and political problems are dealt with by the prudent use of wisdom, Shakespeare is pointing the reader to a standard of judgment that transcends any particular (or actual) political arrangement. Once we see the importance of the prudent use of such a standard, we are in a position to judge what this philosophic wisdom consists of and where it is to be acquired. It is just such an education with which Shakespeare intends to aid his readers.