Subject Area: Theatre and Performance Studies
This course explores theories and practices of acting and performing in text and non-text based theatre. It focuses on the work of key actor trainers in twentieth-century Western theatre and the ways in which their approaches to training and public performance embody distinct responses to the pressing cultural and political issues of their day.
Trainers under consideration may include Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Brecht, Grotowski, and/or Boal. The course concludes with a consideration of how modern(ist) modes of acting have been modified and challenged by postmodern performers.
The course combines lecture and tutorial teaching with studio-based workshops, and culminates in a performance event that showcases each practitioner’s approach to rehearsal process.