Hi everyone

Next year the "aspects of genre" is changing in AS Lit coursework to comedy from tragedy. The Shakespeare section seems easy to cover - particularly as at the standardisation meeting I was told that a play with aspects of comedy - eg The Winter's Tale or Measure for Measure - would be fine. My difficulty is with the second text. I don't want to do a restoration comedy as students usually respond better to a modern play after Shakespeare. But I'm struggling to think of an option! So far I've considered

• A Chekov (The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / The Cherry Orchard)
• Arcadia (but I think this is too hard for AS students)
• Waiting for Godot (I'm reluctant...)

Does anyone have any other bright ideas??

We're going for Educating Rita. Lots of brilliant reasons:

• It's funny
• It gets the students to think about their own aspirations and frustrations
• It encourages reflection on teaching and learning
• You can get a reading club going with all the texts referred to (Ibsen, Howards End etc)
• It fits it well with comic theory (university as a green world, transformation, choice and freedom)

Just a thought!

Can I suggest the AQA Eng Lit B-2nd Ed (Nelson Thornes). There is a section, with suggestions, on the 'Dramatic Comedy' genre.

Our centre is also considering 'Educating Rita'

I went on a training course with the EMC and they recommended against Shakespeare problem plays and encouraged choosing a comedy that would allow students opportunities to explore the genre without having to also teach aspects of tragedy.

Ideas they suggested for non-Shakespeare were:

Abigail's Party

Jerusalem

The Importance of Being Earnest

The History Boys

The Real Inspector Hound

We are definitely doing Twelfth Night but then different teachers are selecting a range for the other text.

I agree, Educating Rita will be a superb text to cover...however-thinking of appropriate coursework  titles is something we are really struggling with.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

These were my ideas.

Thanks

Karoline