The course will begin the study of Modern British Drama by analyzing its reactions to the two dominant theatrical forms at the turn of the 20th century: the long-established comedy of manners, and the new, revolutionary forms of Realism and Naturalism. From Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw in the early part of the 20th century, to Harold Pinter in the 1960s, to Sarah Kane and Caryl Churchill in the late 1990s, playwrights approached the theatre as a platform for social critique, cultural commentary, political satire, and celebration of the human spirit. The historical form of the comedy of manners, which portrays and parodies the etiquette and aesthetics of the upper classes, was a model that playwrights plundered and deconstructed, knowing that audiences would recognize the conventions and find titillation and humor in their being repurposed. Realism and naturalism, revolutionary in their focus on the interior of the domestic sphere, as well as the interior of the human mind, helped catalyze some audiences as social discussants, while others were shocked and dismayed at what they perceived as perverse. Drama has a long and fruitful history in Great Britain. The comedy of manners gave playwrights and the theatre-going public a mobile platform on which to develop their social voices, and Realism gave them the new style with which to accomplish this task. The social concern of British drama also finds expression in the development of verbatim theatre and documentary drama, as well as dramatic works that challenge the distinction between drama, theatre, and performance art. At the same time, the commercial success of drama in Great Britain has created theatre for world-wide audiences, while the West End and Broadway seem to lose their locality and morph into global spaces?especially considering the touring productions of high-profile musicals that find stages all over the world (including in Seoul right now)!