Theatrical Plots in a Spectacular Setting

Abstract

Palazzo del Bo is an impressive historical building that hosts part of the University of Padua. At the Bo, you may walk through the huge Sala dei Quaranta [Room of the Forty], so called because of the portraits of forty famous foreign students, such as Copernicus, who attended courses at this prestigious university. Then, you can stop before the podium from which Galileo Galilei used to teach math and physics between 1592 and 1610. Finally, you may enter the Teatro anatomico [Anatomic theater], the first place in the world where students of medicine could carry out research on dissected bodies: the anatomic table is still there, surrounded by six circular wooden tiers of three hundred seats. This was the spectacular scenario of the international seminar Plot me no plots: theatre in university language teaching (Padua, October 14-15, 2011),1 an inspiring opportunity to compare research findings, methods, and pedagogical perspectives with a very special group of colleagues teaching foreign languages through drama and theater in a number of countries across the world. 2 The materials presented were varied as the audience had the opportunity to listen to lectures, watch clips in several languages from actual play productions, and discuss or practice ...