Module Information

Module Identifier
TP11220
Module Title
Acting: Process and Performance
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Dr Roger Owen
Semester
Semester 2
Exclusive (Any Acad Year)
TC11620 TC11620 is a Welsh version of the same module / Mae TC11620 yn fersiwn Gymraeg o'r un modiwl

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Portfolio  A Portfolio of critically-based reflective discussions of classwork and preparation for the Practical Examination 2000 Words  50%
Semester Exam Practical Examination  A practical examination in which students present a set text chosen from a list, followed by a brief contextual discussion. 20 Minutes  50%
Supplementary Assessment Portfolio  A Portfolio of critically-based reflective discussions of classwork and preparation for the Practical Examination 2000 Words  50%
Supplementary Exam Practical Examination  A practical examination in which students present a set text chosen from a list, followed by a brief contextual discussion. 20 Minutes  50%

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate a basic understanding and capacity to apply key principles of the acting methods and approaches explored on the module.

Demonstrate a basic ability to employ personal resources (physicality, vocality, sensory awareness/perception, experience, imagination) in performance.

Demonstrate a basic ability to employ situational resources (texts, images, objects, environments, scenarios) in performance.

Demonstrate a basic awareness of the critical discussion, contexts and terminology associated with the approaches to acting explored on the module.

Brief description

This module provides an exploration of a range of contemporary acting practices. Recognizing that contemporary actors are required to perform across a broad spectrum of types of theatre and performance the module explores the skills and processes involved in working with and on the self, in embodying alternative performance personae, in playing psychologically realist characters, in enacting tasks, and in working within images. Presented as a series of linked workshops the module provides students with a tool kit of principles and strategies as well as an understanding of the contexts within which these principles and strategies have been developed and used.

Aims

The aims of the module are:
  • To introduce theories and practices of acting and actor training.
  • To develop students’ use of personal physical and vocal resources in performance.
  • To develop a critical awareness of the work of the actor and the development of theories of acting.
  • To encourage students to develop a personal process of practical investigation.

Content

This module will be taught through a series of practical workshops led by departmental staff and visiting guest lecturers when available. Each workshop will involve substantial practical exploration combined with reflection on set readings and tasks.

Indicative Content:
The workshops will focus on the following:
• Introduction: What is the Work of the Actor?
• Space, Improvisation and Bricolage
• Stanislavskian Principles 1: Interpreting the Text
• Stanislavskian Principles 2: Building a Character
• Brechtian Principles 1: The Socialized Body
• Brechtian Principles 2: Text and Ethics
• Brechtian Principles 3: Gestus in Action
• Monologue Workshop 1
• Monologue Workshop 2

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Co-ordinating with others Practical classes demand the application of skills necessary to conduct successful collaborative activity. The Practical Examination relates directly to the development and employment of collaborative skills.
Creative Problem Solving Creative problem solving, outcome recognition, and the identification of appropriate strategies and procedures, are encouraged and assessed across the duration of the module.
Professional communication The development and use of communication skills are intrinsic to the students’ experience in this module. The individual student’s ability to articulate and communicate their ideas and opinions is developed and encouraged across all aspects of the module, and the assessment forms recognise effective communication across written, verbal and performative material.
Real world sense The module encourages the initial development of skills directly applicable to careers within cultural (particularly theatre/performance) industries. Further transferable skills (project planning and execution, the development of personal creative initiatives) are also developed through the completion of assessment tasks, though this does not of itself constitute an assessed element.
Subject Specific Skills See QAA Dance, Drama and Performance Subject Benchmark Statement (Version 2007). The following subject specific skills are developed and partly assessed: *engaging in performance and production, based on an acquisition and understanding of appropriate performance and production vocabularies, skills, structures and working methods *contributing to the production of performance *creating original work using the skills and crafts of performance making

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 4