Course summary

The Foundation Year Acting has been designed to enable aspiring actors to develop their skill set and knowledge base through a programme of practice-based classes and theory-based seminars and lectures. The course aims to equip students with the necessary skills to perform both individually and as part of an ensemble. The Acting module covers a wide range of techniques that focus on building core skills. Students will be exposed to a range of dramatic texts during monologue and scene work and will be given opportunities to explore their creativity and adaptability in improvisation and devising lessons. The voice component of the Voice Movement module will help students to develop an unrestricted, well-placed and articulated voice, powered by the breath and free of habitual tension. Students will work with tutors to harness the potential of their own voice and explore the ways in which it can be used in response to a range of dramatic texts. The movement component will enable students to take responsibility for their own body through an informed and balanced approach to the physical demands of professional training. The risk of injury will thereby be reduced, providing a secure foundation for a professional career. Further to this, students will learn how to move freely and easily in a manner appropriate to the demands of the performance material and will learn how to assimilate basic choreographed steps. Students will develop their technique and contextualise what they have learned within rehearsal and performance settings during the Performance module. This module will require students to work collaboratively as well as on individual performance material. Collaboration is a key part of professional artistic life, and opportunities such as these represent valuable learning experiences which will prepare students for degree level training and beyond. In the Contextual Studies module, students will contextualise what they have learned during a series of seminars and lectures. Students will work both individually and in groups to: identify key practitioners and explore a range of dramatic texts; analyse current trends, and review potential career avenues. The assigned tasks will develop the students’ understanding of how they can use what they have learned in the theoretical classes to inform their practice.