| CODE | THS1040 | |||||||||||||||
| TITLE | History of the Actor: Pedagogy and Dramaturgy | |||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | |||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Theatre Studies | |||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is divided into two parts as follows: FIRST PART, THE LECTURES The 20th Century saw theatre's compass needle shift dramatically to its new North Pole: the Actor. Stanislavsky, Copeau, Meyerhold, Craig Brecht, Grotowski, Barba - the actor they envisage is no longer the actor who builds his baggage of tricks to bring them out as occasions arise; he is not "the actor who learns" but - "the actor who learns how to learn". The strange word "Actor training" (not "Student-Actor training"!) dawns. "Actor training" implies an actor's engagement for ongoing, lifelong research upon himself. A project slowly designs itself - that of shaping a new Human Being. SECOND PART, THE WORKSHOP Further insight into the performer's work comes from a practicum that affords a glimpse into Stanislavski's famous dictum: "The Work of the Actor upon Himself". The workshop gives students a corporeal sense of the implications Stanislavski's seminal words hold for the actor as actor and as human being. Groups for Human Encounters' Training System, designed in a 35-year long praxis, is constantly examined by the xHCA Brain Research Programme. Groups use their System's inbuilt techniques in seminars they give all over Europe. Starting from these comprehensive foundation exercises, the practicum provides a deep insight into what it means to meet a professional Training System. Setting out on a coherent route that sensitises participants to rhythm, equilibrium, and spatial dynamics, the workshop gives an insight of what it may mean for one to have a corporeal knowledge of the self-organisation of Energy. Reading List: Compulsory K Stanislavski: (1) My Life in Art (Trans Ivanov-Mumijev) (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, undated); (2) The Bolshoi Lectures (this has some translation problems); Shakespeare's Collaborators - an article by E G Craig; J J Schranz - Never on a Sunday (sections) (Malta, GHE, 2001) For the Workshop: - J J Schranz - Presence (a conference paper) - J J Schranz - Nomads of the Possible (a conference paper) - F Camilleri - Facing the Sun, in ID-Descartes Recommended: - Alle origini della danza moderna - E Casini Ropa, Il Mulino (Bologna) 1990 - Hermann Hesse's novel, The Glass Bead Game, is strongly recommended as a "preparation of the mind" for the Workshop. - J J Schranz - The Performer as Act of Faith (Malta, GHE, 2007) Other material may be prescribed in specific lectures/tutorials & in relation to students' assignment choices. Note: When this part of this study unit, with the special permission of the lecturer, is taken on its own by students whose area of study is not Theatre Studies, it will be registered as THS 1140 Techniques of Working upon Oneself (2 credits) assessed by participation and assignment/s. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Practical | |||||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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