THE ACTOR IN REHEARSAL 4 / SELF GENERATION - AMERICAN DEVISED PROJECT - 2023/4

Module Overview

Students will be expected to arrive on time and appropriately prepared for physical and vocal work. Research and preparation will be necessary in pursuit of some of the modules aims. Students are required to warm up and dress suitably for classes.

The Actor in Rehearsal offers an opportunity for integration of principles and skills from across the programme. Like a canvas the actor may use the rehearsal room to experiment with and apply their training in relation to different theatrical forms and rehearsal processes.

The work explored in Collaborative Principles and Embodied Voice and Movement 1 (Level 4) will provide you with the beginnings of process necessary for practical, embodied engagement with the module.

Building on the work of Collaborative Principles (Level 4) the student will deepen their relationship to collaboration, artistic autonomy and self-made work for the actor by exploring techniques of and taking stimulus from - adaptation, verbatim, non-fiction, fiction, Image, Sound, Object, A/V (Examples of possible content) to create an ensemble based, self-generated, devised work.

The source material / stimulus for creation will be founded in themes around America / American culture.

In the delivery of this module, GSA is guided by the UN's 17 Sustainable Development goals. We aim to promote good health and well-being by keeping to appropriate working hours and maintaining Equity-standard safe spaces. We encourage positive working ethics: collaboration, kindness, support, understanding, listening and integrity. We aim to recycle and repurpose sets, props and other production resources where possible, promoting a circular economy.

Module provider

Guildford School of Acting

Module Leader

BURDESS Dominic (GSA)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Summer research project – generation of material for the beginning of Term 1 Year 2 (Research / Interview) – Development of the working journal.


• Students will work with a Tutor/Director on the Creation and Rehearsal of a piece in collaboration with peers, light, sound, media and design. (Indicatiative)


• Stimulus / Source Material will be selected by the Tutor in consultation with the Programme Leader, to offer tailored challenges to the particular cohort.


• The focus of the module is on the process of the actor creator. A presentation of the piece at the end of the project is designed to offer a finishing point. However, it is important to note that the presentation is sharing of process and is not, at this stage of the programme, speparatly assesed.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate a growing understanding of embodied actor creator process in relation to rehearsal and self-generation.

The module is continually assessed through teaching block 1.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of continuous assessment of the research, preparation, devising, rehearsing and showing of self-made work.

Submission of the actors working journal – To be submitted at the end of week 9, Semester 1.

Formative assessment and feedback will be given through a session in the middle of teaching block 1. Formative feedback will also occur during practical sessions on a verbal basis. The feedback will usually be in a group context, but may sometimes happen one to one with the tutor.

Module aims

• Deepen understanding of the key principles of:
  - The Actor Creator.
  - Self-Generation.
  - Character.
  - Imagination and Play.
  - Narrative and Story-telling.
  - Ensemble / Breath / Group Impulse.
  - Trust.
  - Risk.
  - Form.
  through a range of experiential approaches.
  
• Deepen understanding of key principles and to provide students with key vocabulary and terminology of a range of collaborative and devised methodologies.
• Inspire an open, generous and playful approach to the practical and analytical tools of the actor creator.
• Deepen understanding of the working journal in relation to research, curation and documentation skills through the exploration of a range of collaborative and devised methodologies – With an emphasis on the actors’ journey towards embodiment and the living expression of knowledge.
• Reflect upon and document personal learning using the actors journal.
• Encourage the development of strategies for practical rehearsal exercises
• Engender trust in the ensemble and non-script-based texts as stimulus for the actor to create performance.
• To embed an understanding of artistic autonomy and resilience through critical processes
• Engender an appreciation of the uncertainty of knowledge

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to: Give a practical and theoretical understanding of the key concepts that underpin the acting training across the programme.

Place an emphasis on the practical development of embodied skills that are required for extended and best practice in the profession.

Enable students to acquire an open, generous, versatile actor creator process and integrate their knowledge across acting disciplines all of which lead on to a firm foundation moving toward the study at Level 6.

Through the studio / rehearsal context give students the chance to begin to integrate skills from other modules in Year 1/2 and to develop rehearsal room etiquette and approaches.

The learning and teaching methods include:

Practical, skills based and tutor led group sessions following traditional formats.

Visual, Audio and Kinaesthetic methods of learning – including use of VLE.

16 hours for a Week Intensive in Week 1 Teaching Block 1 (16hrs)

12 hours per week for 8 weeks (96hrs)

12 hours per week for 1 week in Week 11 Teaching Block 1 (12hrs)

26 hours for self-reflection, research, documentation and class preparation time.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ACT2024

Other information

GSA delivers its provision across three teaching blocks, within the University of Surrey’s existing semester structure.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.