MATH 22
Stoppard and Go: Interpretation and Scenework for Three of Tom Stoppard's Plays Winter 2025

Class Details

Tom Stoppard has been cited as one of the greatest living playwrights, with numerous prestigious awards, frequent international productions of his extensive oeuvre, and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. “Stoppardian” has even become a term describing works that use wit and comedy while exploring philosophical concepts, succinctly expressing his interdisciplinary appeal. We will investigate three of Stoppard’s most prominent plays: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1967); Travesties (1975); and Arcadia (1993). The course will give students the chance to engage with the texts through discussion, collaborative scenework, and informal performances. Each play invites us to consider the past and the present anew through humor and unexpected juxtapositions: R&G reframes Shakespeare’s Hamlet through formerly minor characters; Travesties portrays the convergence in 1917 Zurich of Dada founder, Tristan Tzara, author James Joyce, and the communist revolutionary, Lenin; Arcadia explores the thorniness of attribution and biography in literature, scholarship and science. Intertwining themes of history, art, literature, politics, aesthetics, mathematics, and philosophy, these plays will amuse and challenge students of all academic backgrounds and will offer a rich launchpad for our discussion and workshop-focused class sessions. Brief supplementary readings will help ground students in the historic and literary setting of each play, while film viewings, in-class scene work, and informal performances will bring the language to life. No theatrical experience necessary, but workshopping and presenting scenes with and to classmates is a required component of this course.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: NA
Class#: 1183
Grading: pass/fail only
Requirements/Evaluation: Presentation(s); Other: participation in class discussion and workshopping scenes
Prerequisites: None
Enrollment Preferences: Preference will be given to juniors and seniors
Unit Notes: Amanda Bell Goldmakher is an arts educator and administrator who has worked at nonprofits in NYC, MA and DC, taught in the Education Department at the Clark Art Museum, and led local theater workshops and youth productions.
Materials/Lab Fee: $60
Attributes: EXPE Experiential Education Courses
SLFX Winter Study Self-Expression

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