Studying at York
Introduction to Performance - TFT00015C
- Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module summary
This module is designed to offer you an introduction to the practical skills – particularly in voice and movement – which will be fundamental to your workshop and rehearsal explorations across the next three years. You will arrive with a greatly diverse array of backgrounds in terms of practical work, so this is a “back-to-basics” programme, which ensures that you are all comfortably set on the road to acquiring the competence necessary for the challenges ahead. The practical workshops will combine general voice and movement training with work on or inspired by short sequences from a range of texts (plays, performances, images). A crucial objective of the workshops is to inculcate a spirit of team-working and problem-solving, the essential underpinning for successful practice in the ambitious projects which come later, especially towards the end of the second year and throughout the third year. In addition, lectures and workshops will begin to explore the diversity and wealth of theatre and performance theory and practice over the last hundred and fifty years. Throughout the module, you will explore a range of approaches to text in performance; rehearsal methodologies in theory and practice; and your capacity to describe and analyse what is seen in performance.
*Students will lose 3 marks per workshop, seminar or practical missed for this module.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
to introduce you to workshop practice and to train you in some fundamental vocal and physical skills;
to develop the collaborative, mutually supportive, pro-active, qualities indispensable to all successful theatrical practice;
to explore some key trainer/practitioner figures, their practice and philosophies, in the history of acting, actor training and directing since the late nineteenth century;
to link some of the propositions and training techniques developed by these key figures to the training work undertaken in the workshops, so as to provide a model for the ways in which the one can productively inform the other.
Module learning outcomes
an introductory training, via a programme of practical workshops, to some core vocal and physical skills fundamental to developing the expressivity necessary for successful participation in later practical projects on the programme;
an experience of the collaborative and pro-active skills indispensable to productive workshop and rehearsal exploration;
an introduction to the principles and practice of some key acting trainers/practitioners over the last hundred years;
an experience of the ways in which core training and rehearsal/production practice can be enhanced by intelligent absorption and application of training methods and rehearsal techniques developed by some key figures as, for instance, Michael Chekhov;
an experience of writing about acting theory, and relating that theory to specific issues encountered in the workshops.
Academic and graduate skills
work collaboratively, in a generous, inventive, and pro-active manner, against firm deadlines;
communicate practically and vividly, via the vocal and movement skills which the module teaches, ideas and perceptions about how a text might be interpreted and performed;
produce logical and well-structured arguments supported by relevant evidence;
communicate complex ideas effectively and to a high standard in writing, orally and through IT;
manage time effectively and meet deadlines in appropriate fashion.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 80 |
| Practical | 20 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Students will receive written feedback on all assessments and reassessments within 20 working days of your deadline.
Indicative reading
Reading for this module will vary, according to which approaches and plays are being taught, but the following general guides will be instructive:
Allain, P. and Harvie, J. (2005). The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hodge, A. (2010). Actor Training. Abingdon: Routledge.
Leach, R. (2004). Makers of Modern Theatre. Abingdon: Routledge.
Linklater, K. (2006). Freeing the Natural Voice. London: Nick Hern.
Murray, S. and Keefe, J. (2007). Physical Theatres: A Critical Introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.
Pickering, K. and Woolgar. M. (2009). Theatre Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.