THE ACTOR IN REHEARSAL / COLLABORATION WITHIN INDUSTRY - 2023/4

Module Overview

Students will be expected to arrive 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 appropriately for rehearsal.

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 Acting Fundamentals (Level 4/5), Collaborative Principles and Embodied Voice and Movement 1/2 will provide you with the beginnings of process necessary for practical, embodied engagement with the module.

Building on the work of The Actor in Rehearsal 5 (Level 5) the student will deepen their engagement with the relationship between technique, in the pursuit of strict form, style, genre and creative, emotional freedom – in relation to a full-time rehearsal process and series of performances.

Following two interdependent strands: The Actor in Rehearsal and Collaboration with-in Industry the student will, for the first time, experience a full rehearsal process leading to a series of in-house studio performances (usually, but not always, 3) whilst beginning to gain an understanding of the professional demands of being an actor. Strategies for a successful career will be addressed to lay the foundations for Collaboration within Industry at Level 6.

This rehearsal module offers the actor an opportunity to work with a tutor / director on scenes involving advanced text, genre, and style. The module takes a global perspective on potential repertoire.

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

ROUSE Dominic (GSA)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

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:

• Students will work with a Tutor/Director in full – time rehearsal and transition into performance.


• Plays will be selected and cast by the Tutor in consultation with the Programme Leader, to offer tailored challenges to the particulr cohort.


• The focus of the module is on actor process and the transition into performance within the context of good Industry practise.


• Master classes with industry professionals.


• Classes in audition preparation and technique.


• Tutorials to develop audition material.

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 process in relation to full – time rehearsal, performance and Industry practise.

A process for preparation and rehearsal.

Strategies for transition into performance.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Continuous assessment of preparation, process and full-time rehearsal and of performance.

Formative assessment and feedback will be given through a session in the middle of teaching block 3. 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:
  • Actor Process.
  • Character.
  • Imagination and Play.
  • Extreme Form
  • Space.
  • Time.
  • Action (Inner /Outer), Units of Action, Objective and Super-Objective. (Acting as Doing)
  • Risk.
  • Style / Genre.
  through a range of experiential rehearsal approaches.
  
• Inspire an open, generous and playful approach to the practical and analytical tools of the actor.
• Encourage the development of an embodied personal artistic process
• Deepen understanding of artistic autonomy and resilience through critical processes.
• Deepen understanding of research and text analysis skills through the exploration of a range of acting methodologies – With an emphasis on the actors’ journey towards embodiment and the living expression of knowledge. Enabling the student to take ownership for a specific role and its through line within the journey of a complete play.
• Develop imagination, sensation and a quality of immersion in the world of the play.
• Explore the nature of the relationship between the actor/individual and character
• Encourage the development of strategies for a full-time rehearsal process leading to performance.
• Encourage the development of an embodied personal artistic process.
• Deepen an understanding of what is required in the delivery of complex text, genre, style and advance the process of engaging with strict theatrical Form.
• Deepen understanding of artistic autonomy and resilience through critical processes.
• Extend and challenge the nature and level of the student's physical and emotional engagement with the work
• Practise a sound, working methodology that supports and develops a professional, disciplined and creative working process.
• Develop an understanding of professional codes of conduct.
• Begin preparation for career development
• Begin to introduce the student to the demands and expectations of industry professionals
• Develop preparation for industry engagement/collaboration.
• Develop an understanding of industry appropriate audition and interview practice.

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 rehearsal context give students the chance to integrate skills from across the programme and to develop rehearsal room etiquette and approaches.

Support students through a full-time rehearsal process that transitions into performance.

Develop the Actors process of preparation and rehearsal to involve repeat performances.

Give students a beginning of an understanding of the professional demands of being an actor.

Prepare students for entry into the acting profession.

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.

36 hours for Intensive master classes, tutorials and workshops

120 hours of practical workshops

30 hours of rehearsal and performance

114 hours for self-reflection, research, documentation and rehearsal 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: ACT2026

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.