Course Catalogue

An Dealbh-Chluich agus a' GhĂ idhlig bho 1790 GAELIC4045

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Humanities
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

This course offers students the opportunity to engage with the relatively abundant outputs of Scottish Gaelic playwrights and translators of plays into Gaelic from other languages as well as the growing secondary literature pertaining to the corpus. The course allows students to consider the theory and practice of a minority language on stage and, in particular, it provides a window onto Scottish Gaelic identity politics and revitalization efforts. The course surveys the major movements and associated time periods of Gaelic plays as follows: 1) Background of Gaelic Performance Culture and Precursors of the Gaelic Play; 2) First Gaelic on Stage; 3) Translation; 4) The Celtic Revival and Gaelic Plays; 5) Identify and Gaelic Plays 1920-1950;6) The Avant-Garde in Gaelic 1960s and 1970s; 7) A contemporary cosmopolitan Gaelic theatre?

Timetable

10x1hr lectures, 10x1 hr seminars over 10 weeks, as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the honours options for Celtic & Gaelic and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available in MyCampus.

Requirements of Entry

Available to students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Celtic & Gaelic, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Essay (2000 words) - 50%

■ Either Reflective diary (1500 words) OR Student-devised assessment (1500 words equivalent and which meets ILOs) - 50%

 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the written assessments, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

Course Aims

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with an overview of the extent, historical context and most important genres of the corpus of Scottish Gaelic drams from 1790 to the present day.

■ Introduce students to the ways in which a range of key analytical and theoretical tools used in theatre studies can be applied to the corpus and context of Scottish Gaelic Drama.

■ Encourage the development of critical thinking and some independent personal response in relation to the plays studied as well as fostering a range of other graduate attributes such as effective communication.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Outline the development and historical contexts of Scottish Gaelic playwriting since the eighteenth century until the present day.

■ Give a detailed account of a large number of primary Gaelic and bilingual Gaelic/English play texts

■ Discuss critically the ways in which Gaelic playwrights used the medium to engage with issues such as cultural change, politics and identify

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions