Theatre Studies
Questions?
Undergraduate Affairs
uenglish@uwo.ca
Program Director
Dr. Kim Solga
ksolga@uwo.ca
519.661.2111
Arts & Humanities Academic Counselling
arts@uwo.ca
519.661.3043
Theatre Studies Courses
featured courses
See Western Academic Timetable for course delivery details.
FALL/WINTER 2024-25 COURSES (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
1000 Level Courses
1020B - Performance Everywhere POPULAR!
This course introduces students to concepts in Theatre Studies. The course emphasizes hands-on and experiential learning. 0.5 course
Winter 2026 | 1020B / 001 | M. Kidnie | Syllabus |
2000-2999 Level Courses
2201F - Understanding Performance
This course will equip students with the primary tools necessary to conduct basic performance analysis. From costumes to lighting and sound effects to textual alterations, students will learn to analyze a production while exploring the social, political, and aesthetic meanings of the required texts. This year, we will be seeing The Sound of Music at the Grand Theatre in London and The Knight of the Burning Pestle at Western. 0.5 course
Fall 2025 | 2201F / 001 | M. Kidnie | Syllabus |
2205G - Forms and Genres: The Modern Context
This course traces developments in playwriting, acting, and playhouse design from the Restoration to the present day. This introductory course will explore the theatrical innovations and political interventions of the work of such dramatists as Aphra Behn, George Lillo, Ibsen, Brecht, Pinter, Caryl Churchill, and Sarah Kane. 0.5 course
Winter 2026 | 2205G / 001 | J. Devereux | Syllabus |
2212F - Adapting Across Page, Stage, and Screen (cross-listed with Film 2212F and English 2112F)
How does the shape an artwork takes contribute to its aesthetic and political power? When artworks flex across form and media how do their messages change? What did Marshall McLuhan mean when he said “the medium is the message”? How do genre and form shape social and political discourse? In this course, students explore these questions and more as they investigate texts that assume multiple cultural forms and represent a diversity of perspectives. 0.5 course
Fall 2025 | 2212F / 001 | B. Diemert | Syllabus |
3000-3999 Level Courses
3205F - History of Performance Theory
This course introduces students to major statements and treatises about theatre and performance from Plato and Aristotle to anti-theatrical positions of the Renaissance and late-nineteenth and twentieth-century thinkers such as Nietzsche, Stanislavski, Artaud, Brecht, and Brook. Students will also apply theories of practice to specific dramatic texts. 0.5 course
Fall 2025 | 3205F / 001 | M. Kidnie | Syllabus |
3211F - In Your Skin: Sexualities and Performance (cross-listed with GSWS 3345F)
The stage is where we come into being as someone, or something, new: nobody knows this better than those who identify as queer, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and trans. In this class we’ll explore the wide range of performance tools LGBTQ2IA+ folks use to embody the politics of becoming – from fantasia (Angels in America) to musicals (Fun Home), to verbatim theatre (Sunny Drake’s Child-ish), epistolary realism (Emma Donoghue’s I Know My Own Heart) … and much more. In keeping with this spirit of self-trans-formation, students will have the chance to use a range of assignment formats to react to, and be in conversation with, the works we read and see. Plus: artist visits guaranteed!
Course outline coming in August. Questions now? Email Professor Kim Solga at ksolga@uwo.ca. 0.5 course
Fall 2025 | 3211F / 001 | K. Solga | Syllabus |
3900G - Destination Theatre APPLICATION REQUIRED
This course provides students with the opportunity to develop their drama education more deeply through the experience of theatre abroad, in cities such as New York and London, England. Students' attendance at live performance will be complemented with daily lectures, and tours of theatres, archives, and relevant historical sites. See full course details. 0.5 course
Winter 2026 | 3900G / 001 | K. Solga | Syllabus |
3952G - Special Topics in Theatre Studies: Decolonial Shakespeares (cross-listed with English 3679G)
Topics vary. Course description tba. 0.5 course
Winter 2026 | 3952G / 001 | K. Solga | Syllabus |
Mark your calendars!
Elevate your university experience with our two exclusive courses offered every spring in collaboration with the renowned Stratford Festival!👇
Theatre Studies 3206F - Shakespeare in Performance and Theatre Studies 3207F - Voice and Text in the Theatre
These immersive courses run for two weeks during the Spring/Summer session, providing a unique blend of academic rigor and theatrical excellence. Enrollment is limited. Visit the course page for full details.
4000-4999 Level Courses
4216G - Reviewing Performance
This course explores the function of modern arts reviewing. We will study the form across several media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and think critically about the place of long-form review criticism in contemporary culture. Students should expect to write multiple reviews over the course of the semester. 0.5 course
Winter 2026 | 4216G / 001 | Instructor: tba | Syllabus |
4999E - Thesis Project
Individual instruction in the selection of a topic, preparation of materials, and creation of a thesis project with a focus on theatre or performance studies. The outcome may be a written piece of research or a performance-creation project. Students who wish to take this course must apply to the Program Director, Theatre Studies. This course is restricted to students with an 80% or above average and who have completed at least 1.0 course(s) from Theatre Studies 3000-4999 or approved substitutions. See Theatre Studies 4999E - Thesis Project for details. 1.0 course
Fall/Winter | 4999E / 001 | Various | See Theatre Studies 4999E - Thesis Project |
SPRING/SUMMER 2025 COURSES (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Intersession (June 2-14)
3206F - Shakespeare in Performance
An historical, theoretical, and analytical introduction to Shakespeare's plays in performance. This course focuses on specific problems related to past productions and to those in the current Stratford Festival season. Class usually meets for three hours a day, six afternoons a week (Mon-Sat, Sun off), and usually includes attendance at Shakespeare productions. THEATRE STUDIES 3206F RUNS CONCURRENTLY WITH THEATRE STUDIES 3207F. Intersession only. 0.5 course
Spring/Summer | 1 pm-4 pm | 3206F / 600 | Stratford Festival | M.J. Kidnie | Syllabus |
3207F - Voice and Text in the Theatre (co-requisite TS3206F)
A workshop in which students will experience, with simple, practical exercises, the ways in which Festival actors develop and maintain their voices and explore various aspects of the text they are performing. Class usually meets for three hours a day, six mornings a week (Mon-Sat, Sun off). Taught by Stratford Festival staff. THEATRE STUDIES 3207F RUNS CONCURRENTLY WITH THEATRE STUDIES 3206F. STUDENTS TAKING THEATRE STUDIES 3207F MUST ALSO BE REGISTERED IN THEATRE STUDIES 3206F. Intersession only. 0.5 course
Spring/Summer | 9 am-12 pm | 3207F / 600 | Stratford Festival | Instructor tba | Syllabus |
To request permission to enroll in the courses, please contact uenglish@uwo.ca.
Course listings are subject to change. See Western Academic Timetable for date, time, and location of specific courses. See Undergraduate Sessional Dates for more details and deadlines.