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The Actor's Body: Intercultural Theories and Practices

Module description

This module explores histories and practices of actor training and how these approaches relate to specific performance traditions, with a particular focus on the body of the performer.

The module asks and addresses the following questions through both theory and practice:

• What is the ‘work’ of the actor?
• How have culturally/historically specific understandings of the body of the actor, from both western and non-western contexts, informed this ‘work’?
• How have different approaches to training informed the actor’s work?
• What theoretical tools and keywords are most useful to help us understand this ‘work’?

How are training processes taught and ‘translated’ and what effect might this have on the ‘work’ of the performer?Incoming international students and Exeter students from other disciplines welcome, subject to availability. In addition to students of drama, performance or theatre studies, this module will engage the interest of students with a background in philosophy, anthropology, English, film and modern languages.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to:

• Explore, understand and historicise selected intercultural (western and non-western) theories, paradigms, and practices, of actor/performer training and performance
• Develop the ability to sustain independent research and enquiry in relation to focused research questions

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Articulate selected aspects of the history, principles, and theories/paradigms of actor training, performance process, and aesthetics verbally, through practice and in writing
• 2. Articulate selected western and non-western principles, concepts, structures, and aesthetics of performance verbally, through practice and in writing.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Utilise research tools and to translate theory into practice to a high level
• 4. Apply a wide range of library and IT skills in detailed independent research
• 5. Contribute research to small groups in effective presentations, to evaluate visual evidence and to develop advanced confidence in the ability to analyse, critique and manipulate complex material.
• 6. Engage critically and analytically with physical discipline; the development of thoughtful creative processes, understanding of physicalisation in performance and the capacity to articulate that understanding in appropriate ways
• 7. Engage critically and analytically from different theoretic perspectives, to explore theoretical concerns through practice, and vice versa, and to synthesise findings in practical and written tasks. The ability to interpret research into physical practice and vice versa

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Develop advanced personal research skills using personal initiative; to set personal objectives that are linked to a sense of challenge and extending boundaries and to identify and evaluate personal learning strategies that are self-critical as much as self-reflective
• 9. Develop group cooperation skills, including the ability to give and receive constructive critical feedback, and to improve communication skills and advanced analytic abilities in discussions
• 10. Develop advanced confidence in performance skills and public presentation, in a variety of situations and/or with a variety of audiences, both of dramatic practice and researched material
• 11. Collaborate in various groups and group sizes, to learn elements of teamwork and presentation, to negotiate and manage conflict when appropriate and to demonstrate leadership skills when appropriate
• 12. Balance between self-direction and collaborative work; to adapt and design working methods for each new situation, self-management, collaborative working skills, problem solving, critical analysis and valuing own and others' ideas and beliefs

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

•  An introduction to key concerns of the module - performer training, interculturalism and globalisation and how an understanding of the actor’s body and the work of the actor underpins these concerns
• Keywords in relation to training and performance – such as consciousness, imagination, emotion, imagination and psychophysical in theory and practice Paradigms of the body in  selected approaches to non-western performer training and acting, and the aesthetic principles informing these traditions.
• An exploration of the way key contemporary practitioners, companies, or traditions/movements have employed and utilised particular paradigms of the body in relation to their own performance practice as actors, performers, directors, choreographers and/or performance-makers.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bharucha, Rustom (2000) The Politics of Cultural Practice: Thinking Through Theatre in an Age of Globalization, London: Athlone Press.
• Camilleri, Frank (2019) Performer Training Reconfigured: Post-Psychophysical Perspectives for the 21^st Century, London: Methuen.
• Colin, Noyale and Stefanie Sachsenmaier (eds.) (2016) Collaboration in performance practice: premises, workings and failures,Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Evans, M (2019) Performance, Movement and the Body, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hodge, Ali (2010) Actor Training, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
• Stanislavski, C, (2008) An Actor’s Work, trans. J.Benedetti. London: Routledge.
• Young, Harvey (2013) Theatre and Race, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Zarrilli, Phillip, Jerri Daboo and Rebecca Loukes (2013) Acting: Psychophysical Phenomenon and Process, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11175

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Material from Exeter Digital Archives https://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/drama/research/projects/eda/

Key words search

acting, body, intercultural, performer training, imagination, emotion