Module: ACT4021-20 Introduction to Acting

Level: 4

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Kerry Irvine

Module Tutor Contact Details: k.irvine@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This 4-week module builds on the introductory work in module ACT4020 by introducing you to the notion of an acting process. This module aims to

• Foster the notion that as an actor you need to draw on a range of approaches to inform your personal acting process

• Engender the understanding that an acting process draws on your creative, analytical, critical, interpersonal, and physical skills

• Explore the key building blocks that underpin an actor’s performance

2.Outline syllabus

Having  developed your awareness of the practical skills and knowledge required to prepare your body and mindset to enable you to develop your acting, this module now introduces the process of acting, being the first of a series of building blocks that will shape the rest of the academic year. The focus in acting classes for this block will be object exercises as a means of preparing you for text work in later modules. Your body awareness will increase its focus on posture, but also think more about cardio and flexibility and begin to explore  space and objects, which voice work will consider how you make sound and consider how that links to text and the idea of how you voice words that are not your own. Play and improvisation will shift from games to more performative mode, such as working with text, not as text analysis, but knowing text and playing with text as a layer within performance. Contextual studies will build on notions of reflective practice while also exploring historical contexts and fundamental research processes.

3.Teaching and learning activities

In all your level 4 modules, you will be taught across a series of discipline classes that underpin your development as an actor. These classes include (but are not exclusive to) Acting, Context, Improvisation, Movement, Singing, Voice, etc.

For this module you will engage with practical classes and continue to develop your self-evaluation by moving from verbal to written forms, while you will also explore telling stories as a core element of performance.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: In-Class Story Presentation

• % Weighting: 80%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work

• Description: Self-Evaluation - 750 words

• % Weighting: 20%