This module focuses on significant developments in Italian theatre over the twentieth century. Discussion explores the theatre devised by Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Luigi Pirandello, Dario Fo, Franca Rame and Dacia Maraini.The module traces the shifts in theatrical style and in the issues explored on the stage across this period. Texts studied range from early 20th challenges to the bourgeois drama of the late nineteenth century such as futurist and ‘grotesque’ drama, to political theatre of the 1960s and 70s, to contemporary reinterpretations of theatrical traditions. Students will be introduced to these forms of theatre in relation to their socio-cultural contexts and to the European background. You will explore the relationship between issues tackled, theatrical approach and contemporary events. You will also engage with relevant theoretical and critical approaches to theatre as a cultural medium. Where possible, plays will be studied in performance.