Assessment Pattern

This module introduces students to techniques and practise of performing in a text-based theatre production under direction.  Work in this module will build upon the knowledges developed from earlier modules in the year.  Students will become familiar with working practices in rehearsal, preparation and performance.  All students will rehearse and perform at least one character from the selected text(s), and contribute to the collective effort of mounting a theatrical production.  To these ends, the module will consist of workshops, rehearsals, discussions, and independent work wherein students (either individually or in groups) prepare their roles and the production as a whole.  The module thus provides one model of working under direction to inform future performance projects, while also encouraging independent creativity and initiative. 

       To create a theatre performance (or performances) in which students develop character and situation in response to individual creative exploration, direction and production constraints (c, e, f, g)
 
To enable students to develop and demonstrate knowledge of text, character, performance style and the requirements of and imperatives in staging a text (b,e)

On completion of this module students should be able to

Demonstrate personal responsibility and adaptability to facilitate directorial requirements of staging a dramatic text in a production context (A2, D2, D3, D4)

Present a character in a dramatic context that shows retention of informed understanding through research and a rehearsal period (A1, A2, D1)

In this module, students will be directed in a performance of one or more playtexts.  This will require students to be familiar with the text(s) and appropriate contexts; and to be familiar with and engage in the style of the performance and the approach of the project.

The module will involve students identifying their character within the whole text and revealing informed understandings of their character through discussion, rehearsal, and performance.

Workshops/performances

• Sessions may involve the following:

   

• Supervised and unsupervised rehearsals

   

• Director’s notes to both class and individual

   

• Workshops

   

• Presentations

   

• Specialist masterclasses

   

Required:

Stanislavski, C, Building a Character. London: Methuen Drama, 1998.

Suzuki, Tadashi.  The Way of Acting.  Trans. J. Thomas Rimer.  New York : Theatre Communications Group, 1986.

Recommended: (Bogart, 2007) (Boleslavsky, 2003) (Stanislavski, 1998; Stanislavsky and Hapgood, 1967, 1968; Zarrilli, 2002)

kuhns, roach,  (Roach, 1993) (Kuhns, 1997) (Bruno, 2002; Graham and Hoggett, 2009; Heddon and Milling, 2006; Hill and Paris, 2001; Kaye, 2000; Kelleher and Ridout, 2006)

Bogart, A, And then, you act : making art in an unpredictable world. Abingdon, [England] ; New York: Routledge, 2007.

Boleslavsky, R, Acting: The first six lessons. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Brook, Peter.  The Empty Space.  New York: Atheneum, 1968.

Bruno, G, Atlas of emotion : journeys in art, architecture, and film. New York: Verso, 2002.

Heddon, D and Milling, J, Devising Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Kaye, N, Site-Specific  Art: Performance, Place and Documentation. London: Routledge, 2000.

Roach, J R, The player's passion : studies in the science of acting. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993.

Stanislavsky, K S and Hapgood, E R, An Actor prepares ... Translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood. pp. 284. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1967.

Stanislavsky, K S and Hapgood, E R, Creating a role. Translated by Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood. pp. 220. New English Library: London, 1968.

Zarrilli, P, ed. 2002. Acting Reconsidered: Theories and Practices London: Routledge.