This study guide for drama & theater will cover A Doll's House, Mother Courage, and The Love Suicides at Amijima. The Taming of the Shrew will be included in our film unit. The Japanese play Shintoku-Maru and August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean will not be included on the final--unless you'd like to mention them in the extra credit section! 
The picture above is from the now defunct Boston Shakespeare Company's 1984 production that starred the 4'9" actor Linda Hunt as Mother Courage. One of my former professors has argued that Ms. Hunt's Mother Courage is among the best portrayals of that role (other than Helene Weigel's, of course!). Below is an undated picture of Ms. Weigel in this role:
I've also highlighted the midterm study guide because that entry contains information about the difference between drama and theater *and* some historical background about A Doll's House.
To begin with...here is a review of A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen's "problem play" from 1879. It was originally written in Norwegian although it was soon translated into other languages including English. At the time it was first performed, A Doll's House was controversial, especially because of its ending! The play is set at Christmastime in Norway (Oslo?). The characters are Nora Helmer, a youngish woman whom no one takes seriously; her husband, Torvald, a lawyer who has finally been hired to manage the National Bank; Krogstad, a bank employee who has lent Nora money and whom Torvald is about to fire; Mrs. Linde, Nora's school friend who is about to be hired by Torvald; and Doctor Rank, a dying friend of the family who confesses his love for Nora. Nora and Torvald have three children. Nora borrowed money so that Torvald (who was then ill) could travel to Italy's warmer climate. However, as Torvald refused to borrow money, she forged her dying father's signature so that she could borrow money from Krogstad. (In the 19th century, a woman could not borrow money on her own; furthermore, very much unlike today, her husband was generally awarded custody of their children--if their marriage dissolved.) The play begins as Krogstad threatens to blackmail Nora.
The 20th century German playwright Bertolt Brecht's work can be considered in opposition to the previous generation's plays (like A Doll's House) that are well-made, are very much suited to the proscenium stage with its fourth wall, and have consistent characters with back stories and motivation that we can discuss. (Note that Ibsen's advocates in English included the failed playwright and ground-breaking novelist Henry James.) On the other hand, Mother Courage takes place over twelve years (1624 to 1636) as Anna Fierling (aka Mother Courage) tries to hold her family together and profit from the war, selling food, drink, clothes, and ammunition to both sides. At one point, as the Catholics overcome the Protestant forces, Mother Courage, her family, and their hangers-on change religions. Mother Courage's family is made up of Eilif, who joins the Protestant army despite her protests; Swiss Cheese, who is killed while his mother haggles over the means to pay a bribe; and Katrin, the mute daughter who is raped and later sacrifices herself to warn villagers of an approaching army. The hangers-on include Mother Courage's two suitors, a Protestant chaplain and a cook (who tries to convince her to abandon war profiteering and help him run a tavern in Utrecht, away from the battlefield), and Yvette, a prostitute whose red shoes are stolen by Katrin. Mother Courage and Her Children (the full name of the play) was written in 1939 when the playwright was in exile from Nazi Germany. (Brecht was a Communist and known for his politicized theater.) Ideally, the audience is discouraged from sympathizing with Mother Courage and the other characters, and actors are expected to be critical observers of their characters' actions. Practically, this approach may have made this play difficult to stage although this is probably not the only factor. Other plays by Brecht include The Threepenny Opera and The Good Woman of Setzuan. As in The Threepenny Opera, the characters of Mother Courage (except for Katrin, of course) often break into songs intended to comment on the play's action. Can you imagine Nora and Torvald breaking into song like that?! OTOH, as I mentioned in class, an actor who has done well with roles like Chicago's Mama Morton, Velma, or Roxie probably could do well with the role of Mother Courage!
With the unit's final play, The Love Suicides at Amijima, we move back in time to 1720 and to a very different theater. The playwright Chikamatzu Monzaemon wrote this play for the bunraku theater, a Japanese theater that relies on puppets and a chanting narrator. However, as has been noted, the play was also performed in the kabuki theater by human (male) actors. From 1629 until very recently, women were not allowed to act in kabuki. The Love Suicides at Amijima tells the story of Koharu, a young prostitute, and her lover Jihei, a married man, youngish father, and struggling paper merchant. Because they cannot be together, the lovers commit suicide at a Buddhist temple. Jihei's wife (and cousin) Osan is surprisingly accepting of her husband's involvement with Koharu, but her family tries to break up the love affair. At one point, Jihei's brother disguises himself as a samurai and pretends to be Koharu's customer.
Here is a picture of The Love Suicides at Amijima
The picture below is a close-up of bunraku, a puppet theater for which The Love Suicides at Amijira was originally written:
Below is a picture of images from Kabuki theater:
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