EA197-4-AU-SO:
Character
2023/24
East 15 Acting School
Southend Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 15 December 2023
15
24 March 2023
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA W494 Acting and Physical Theatre
This is a core module for first year students on the BA Physical Theatre programme. The course provides an initial training in acting theory, method and practice based on the ability to change, adapt, extend, perceive, accept and reject. Students look outside themselves, approaching firstly improvised situations and then scripted text in imaginative and collaborative ways. By the end of the course students will know how to start work on a play and will have begun collaborative text work. They will be able to begin to create a character from a text and to start the process of creating the world of the play.
Students will start with a series of small imagined situations gradually building into large group improvisations as they develop their ability to work together. They will learn how to improvise truthfully and to give and take with others.
Students will develop sight-reading skills by reading from a variety of plays. They will begin to understand how text and punctuation are used to make characters' voices come alive. They will learn how to 'lift the words off the page' to create the world of the play in an exciting and immediate manner. They will be encouraged to extend verbal skills and vocabulary through the discussion of texts. Texts studied will become more complex in form and cover a wider range of styles than those of the earlier part of the course, encouraging students to develop the ability to lift increasingly challenging language, both implied and written, and make it their own.
This module invites students to question why and how people do what they do. Students will begin to learn the scope and variety of experiences that affect human development. They will develop the ability to analyse character through observation and research. They will learn how to deliver a well-realised, detailed and believable characterisation and begin to understand how to use self as a basis for transformation to character.
To provide students with opportunities to learn:
- Sight-reading skills
- Textual analysis and discussion
- Objective self-assessment
- How to create a character
(a) from given circumstances
(b) from observation and selection outside of the classroom
- The importance of the ensemble
- To observe and understand aspects of human development
- To develop an appreciation of the complexity of human nature
- To develop short devised pieces based on processes of creating character.
Students will be able to demonstrate:
- Professional potential: range, focus, presence
- Commitment: energy, positive attitude, personal contribution
- Creative inventiveness: fresh responses, spontaneity in a range of experiences
- Flexibility & sensitivity to change: responsiveness to others and to direction
- Ensemble acting: adaptability, generosity, awareness of relationships
- Objective self-assessment: awareness of own strengths and weaknesses as an actor, ability to accept criticism and act upon it
- Research skills: objective observation, selection of appropriate material, accurate documentation
Learning and Teaching Methods
- Students work with tutors in small group practical classes
- Learning also takes place in workshops and rehearsals.
- Oral formative assessment and tutor feedback.
- Written formative assessment and tutor feedback report
- Improvisation and group discussion.
Students work with tutors in small group practical classes
Learning also takes place in workshops and rehearsals.
Oral formative assessment and tutor feedback.
Written formative assessment and tutor feedback report.
Improvisation and group discussion.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Mr Simon Hunt, email: huntsj@essex.ac.uk.
Simon Hunt and staff
01702 32 8319
No
No
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
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