Acting Skills

How will I learn?

Details of the learning and teaching methods for each unit of this module are given within each relevant section.

How will I be assessed?

Details of the assessment methods for each unit of this module are given within each relevant section. The cumulative marks of each unit form the total mark for ‘Acting’ which forms 30% of the final mark for the MA.

UNITS OF ACTING:

Tutors: Simone Coxall/Richard Neale, Kate Maravan and visiting tutors Contact hours: 117 Timetable: 3 x 1.5 hr classes per week, Autumn 4 then 5 x 1.5 hr classes per week, Spring

Outline

You are expected to interrogate your acting process based on your relationship with conscious and sub-conscious response, and to develop your use of self to explore notions of character. As part of this interrogation you will explore a number of methodologies and practitioners, including Meisner, Bogart/Landau’s Viewpoints, Nikolai Demidov, Maria Knebel’s Active Analysis and Rudolf Laban, centered around a core Stanislavskian approach to acting. Subject areas covered include:

• Impulse & Reaction • Emotional Availability • Objectives, Obstacles & Given Circumstances • Imagination • Improvisation • Working Outside of Habitual Patterns • Notions of Character

What will I be expected to achieve?

On successful completion of this unit of the module you will be expected to be able to:

Skills • employ tools to evaluate and assess a given text and to create clear and helpful structures for playing that text in an appropriate manner as defined by your, or your director’s, choices • create a fully embodied role which may lie outside of your habitual patterns • respond ‘truthfully’ to stimulus generated from the circumstances of the play and your acting partners

Knowledge and understanding • develop and value a deeper and compassionate understanding of self and your habitual patterns to make effective choices within your process • understand that ‘acting is reacting’ and based on action or ‘doing’ Values and Attitudes • work with trust, generosity, openness and resilience as a collaborative performer within an inclusive ensemble • value the working environment as a professional space in which you may work playfully and freely to take creative risks • discover autonomy over your process so that you may apply yourself independently to explore creativity, rigour, adaptability and specificity within your work

How will I learn?

Some of this unit of the Acting module is taught within a workshop environment to facilitate the maximum amount of individual experiential learning as possible. You will develop your learning through individual participation as well as peer observation and analysis. You will also take part in group discussions of research, observations and connections to previous work. Many sessions have a combination of these methods.

How will I be assessed?

The assessment within this unit is predominantly based on your engagement with process as opposed to assessment of a singular performance. You will be formatively assessed throughout the module in relation to the assessment criteria for the module. The mark awarded for Acting Skills forms 30% of the mark for the Acting module.

What will the assessors be looking for?

Assessment Criteria:

• Ability to analyse text for objectives, counter-objectives/obstacles, given circumstances, units • Discovery of sub-conscious generation of sensation and behaviour through focusing attention on ‘the other’ or ‘target’ • Playing the text moment to moment, allowing appropriate impulse to be articulated • Using different tools to embody possible non-habitual versions of self • Using different versions of self to ‘play the game’, thus allowing you to explore different ways to spontaneously engage with Thinking, Feeling, Intuiting & Doing • Structuring of clear and appropriate choices in your work to follow a score as determined by your own creative process and any given direction • Working with openness and trust of self • Working with openness and trust towards the ensemble • Engaging in the work with a professionalism which is revealed through attendance, timekeeping, focus, preparation & readiness, enthusiasm