Authorial Acting (B0215A310012)

Programme objectives

We are primarily concerned with the in-depth study of acting and authorship, and of their elements. In this effort, we perceive acting as the ability to act and perform (play), and authorship as an aptitude for original thinking and imagination.

We are further concerned with the study of the dramatic play as both the stimulus and objective of acting and authorship. We study the artificiality of these phenomena, because in artistic expression they are more evident and easier to grasp. At the same time, we study them with awareness not only of their aesthetic horizons, but also of their ethical, social, philosophical and psychological horizons.

In other words, we are concerned with the study of acting not in the sense of interpreting an assigned role, but in an authorial sense. This is to say that with respect to educating students we are explicitly concerned with cultivating creative personalities capable of standing behind their authorial achievements and of personally presenting and developing these achievements in a dialogue with the environment into which they enter – in both artistic and extra-artistic contexts.

The student must have sufficient stamina In order to engage in such creative activities, because existing in a common space places significant psychosomatic demands on every individual. For this reason, the study of Authorial Acting is based on acquiring experience in the main dimensions of human expression: voice, speech, movement, play and dialogical acting. The programme is thus focused on developing one’s own aptitudes for dramatic creativity and creation, and on the ability to be a partner. Its integrated disciplines are authorial reading and authorial presentation.

In selected psychosomatic disciplines, our students cover material similar to that learned by actors in so-called traditional theatre (in speech training one learns storytelling, fairy tales, short stories, verse, oration, etc.; in voice training one learns spoken and singing voice, songs, artistic song, duet, choir, recitative, etc.; in acting one learns monologue, dialogue, classical theatrical texts, directed improvisation, etc.), but here the emphasis is placed on psychosomatics (holism, individuation), a filiation with “real” action, the ability to bring these things to their original communicativeness and functionality.

Students gradually acquire stamina through a thorough experiential understanding of the psychosomatic disciplines and reflection on their issues. Students are first provided with an essential overview and then led to find a personal theme which they then capture on stage.

The theoretical subjects are selected so as to provide these skills with reflection and a broader horizon. Emphasis is also placed on transparency and public presentation (authorial reading and presentation, and the Autorská tvorba nablízko (“Authorial Creation Close-Up”) festival).

“Psychosomatic stamina begins to emerge gradually while studying the psychosomatic disciplines over the course of two, three or four years. This constitutes a certain maturity, preparedness, readiness and sometimes even a need, desire or urge to perform in public, to act, to behave, to experience directly, immediately, spontaneously, creatively and productively, freely and responsibly – and it provides key educational feedback.”

(Vyskočil, Ivan: Úvodem. In: Psychosomatický základ veřejného vystupování, jeho studium a výzkum, s. 7, Praha 2000)

Profile of a programme graduate

The programme graduate is able not only to control his or her means of expression – voice, speech, gesture, movement, body, etc. – at a good level of technical proficiency and in an instrumental manner, but also and in particular to perceive, experience and act with these means of expression psychosomatically (holistically), i.e. as if using a natural part of his or her personality, and in both artistic and extra-artistic areas.

The programme graduate is able to invent, develop and execute authorial ideas at the level of small and medium-sized productions, both individually and in collaboration with others. He or she is also competent to lead a creative team authorially.

The programme graduate is able to deliver a high-quality public performance in theatrical and broader cultural spheres, as well as other areas of public life.

The programme graduate is able to write his or her own authorial texts with scenic potency, especially in small and medium-sized works.

The programme graduate is able to work authorially with other texts and stimuli generally, and to become involved in publishing.

Graduates become the authors of their own projects of a theatrical, visual, literary or other nature, or work in the media sphere, in education or in assistive professions.

Rules and requirements for creating study plans

Brief description of the academic system:

Study plans are created in accordance with the AMU Attendance and Examination Regulations, which – on the basis of the specifics of higher education in art – define the main required subject within a typology of subjects. This constitutes the key artistic (or aptitude) subject of the profiling basis, which is always evaluated by committee and which cannot be assessed repeatedly.

A required component of all programmes of study is instruction on the theoretical and historical basis of the field in the form of required subjects. These subjects co-determine the graduate’s profile and are part of the state final examination.

Each study plan must also include instruction in a foreign language with a focus on the field and the option to select the language studied in a minimum extent of 6 ECTS credits per academic cycle. In the study plan, this is in the category of elective required subjects (“povinně volitelné předměty”, i.e. elective subjects from a required group of subjects).

The study plan shall also contain elective subjects in a very limited extent. Students have minimal opportunities to register for elective subjects, however, due to the high number of credit hours allocated to required subjects (“povinné předměty”) and to elective required subjects (“povinně volitelné předměty”, i.e. electives from a required group of subjects), particularly in the first and second programme years.

Description of the credit system:

Grades are awarded according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which was introduced on the basis of the 1999 Bologna Declaration with the goal of unifying and integrating the higher education systems in the European Union.

Within the scope of a three-year programme of study, the student will earn a total of 180 credits (c. 30 credits per semester, 60 credits per year) for completing individual subjects.

Subjects completed by examination are graded according to the following scale: A – excellent = 1, B – excellent minus = 1.5, C – very good = 2, D – very good minus = 2.5, E – good = 3, F – fail = 4. Other subjects are evaluated on a credit (“započteno”) / no credit (“nezapočteno”) basis; the two evaluation methods cannot be combined.

Extent of the instructional hour and other relevant information for creating study plans:

The standard duration of an instructional hour is 45 minutes. The basic organisational forms of instruction are the lecture, the seminar and the workshop.

Empirically based psychosomatic disciplines form the core of the study plan for the programme in Authorial Acting. They are supported by a range of basic theoretical and historiographic subjects which help situate empirical data into more general artificial, psychological, philosophical, pedagogical and mental contexts. This involves in-depth, continuous and long-term practical and theoretical learning and investigation. New trends such as comparative impulses are covered in particular in the form of short-term workshops, usually with guest lecturers.

General information about admission process

In general:

Good physical and mental aptitudes.

Good aptitudes of talent and personality, capable of further development and cultivation.

Need and ability to learn, to study and to participate in a common curriculum and work.

Active knowledge of English is expected.

In particular:

We examine the level of each applicant’s talent and aptitude for development in the basic psychosomatic disciplines, i.e. voice, speech and movement. We also examine the applicant’s ability to differentiate stage events, to act playfully and in coordination with others, to react authentically and to improvise (aptitudes for acting). Finally, the ability to formulate authorial ideas (authorial texts) is also important.

The simple sum of these skills does not guarantee an authorial personality, however, and therefore the entrance examination also includes an interview with the applicant to understand his or her motivation, cultural orientation and knowledge in art, philosophy and current events, as well as to ascertain his or her personality dispositions generally.

Entrance examinations usually consist of only one round.

Applicability to other types of academic programmes

Applicants are normally recruited from among graduates of preparatory high schools, secondary schools and higher vocational schools (or their foreign equivalents).

Graduates of the Bachelor’s programme can continue their studies in a Master’s programme in the same field: Authorial Acting or other specialisations in the dramatic arts at DAMU, AMU or other higher education institutions, in particular those with a focus on fine arts or humanities.

Parts of the state final examination and their contents

The state final examination for the Bachelor’s programme consists of the following separately graded parts:

1. Graduate presentation (creative performance)
2. Written Bachelor’s thesis and its oral defence
3. History and theory of authorial acting (oral examination)
4. History and theory of theatre (oral examination)

Overall grading of the state final examination: A – B – C – D – E – F

Overall result of studies: passed – failed

1. Graduate presentation

The graduating student shall create an authorial, communicative, compelling stage work of at least 30 minutes in duration, in which he or she integrates skills and experience acquired in individual subjects during the programme.

Grading: A – B – C – D – E – F

1. Written Bachelor’s thesis and its oral defence

At the end of his or her studies, the student shall write a theoretical work which is generally based on personal experience in the field.

Grading: A – B – C – D – E – F

1. History and theory of authorial acting (oral examination on the basis of a question drawn by lot)

The basic topics are drawn from the reflection on and theory of the psychosomatic disciplines (dialogical acting, authorial reading, training in voice, speech, movement, play and acting including the student’s own experience) and from related topics in psychology and philosophy.

Grading: A – B – C – D – E – F

Question topics:

1. Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner

Key terms: communication-dialogue, public solitude, the Inner Partner, corporeal (body) tension, gesture, voice, zero-point, impulses, perception, concentration, relaxed vs in tension, openness, inspiration, improvisation, psychosomatic approach, etc.

Recommended literature:

Artaud, Antonin: The Theater and Its Double. New York: Grove Press, 1997.

Berne, Eric: Games People Play. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2016.

Brook, Peter: The Empty Space. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Buber, Martin: I and Thou. Eastford: Martino Publishing, 2010.

Caillois, Roger: Man, Play and Games. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2001.

Donnellan, Declan: The Actor and the Target. London: Nick Hern Books, 2005.

Fink, Eugen: The Oasis of Happiness: Toward an Ontology of Play, Yale French Studies No. 41, Game, Play, Literature: Yale University Press, 1968, pp. 19–30.

Goffman, Erving: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, 1956.

Huizinga, Johan: Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Boston, MA: The Beacon Press, 1950 (first published 1944).

Vyskočil, Ivan and company: (Inter)acting with the Inner Partner. (Edited by Michal Čunderle and Alex Komlosi), Czech translated by Alexander Komlosi. Praha: Brkola, 2011.

Krajina osudu (The Landscape of a Life) – a portrait of Professor Ivan Vyskočil. Directed by Pavel Kolaja, 2009.

Introduction to Authorial Acting – Filr (Introduction to Authorial Acting).

Self-reflections from the Dialogical Acting during studies of each student.

1. Authorial Reading and Authorial Presentation

Authorial Reading:

In the subject Authorial Reading, the student reads his or her own text aloud in front of the class (group of people). The purpose is to authorise or verify the text, and thus the student must read clearly and comprehensibly. It should be possible to follow both the text and the reading so that all participants can really partake in the event as collaborators and co-players, not merely as listeners or consumers. Those who read do so as if the text was not theirs, as if they are actually seeing it for the first time. The reader should listen to himself or herself and try to follow the reading while at the same time reflecting on it and accepting it. Throughout the reading, a kind of feedback connection emerges both from the audience and the reader. A structured authorial reading thus originates as an action, event or play, and the reader develops the ability to express and understand his or her own theme, or a common theme.

Key terms: reading out loud, articulation, reflection, self-reflection, empathy, authorship, understanding, sense, experience from the Authorial Reading classes.

Authorial Presentation:

Ivan Vyskočil: Acting as a conscious creative act, behaviour and experience. The student draws on his or her experience from the psychosomatic disciplines at the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy (KATaP) and selects a topic that he or she finds interesting, wants to share and/or has some connection with. The foundation involves searching for a topic and an appropriate form in which to express it. The resulting output should not be merely a pursuit pro domo sua, but rather an attempt to say something and share it in a way that is comprehensible. According to the philosophy of the Department, authorial presentation is a “one (wo)man show”; there is one protagonist, preferably without any props or costume.

Key terms: authorial presentation vs authorial acting, authorial presentation vs dialogical acting with the inner partner, authorial presentation vs the other psychosomatic disciplines, acting vs authorial acting

1. Pedagogy of Speech and Voice

Speech:

Dealing with speech/speech acts – the word as a power and deed. Explanation of basic principles of psychosomatic “Speech as Active Communication” (image, consciousness, concentration, communication with the text, with oneself, with the audience).

Reflecting on the process of “Speech as Active Communication”, connections with other psychosomatic disciplines (mainly voice education and Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner).

Recommended literature:

Berry, Cicely: Voice and the Actor. New York: Wiley Publisihing, 1973.

Donnellan, Declan: The Actor and the Target. London: Nick Hern Books, 2005.

Gutekunst, Christina and Gillet, John: Voice into Acting. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.

Houseman, Barbara: Finding Your Voice. London: Nick Hern Books, 2002.

Ong, Walter J.: Orality and Literacy. The Technologizing of the Word. London, New York: Routledge, 2012.

Rodenburg, Patsy: The Actor Speaks. London: Methuen Drama, 1997.

Rodenburg, Patsy: The Need for Words: Voice and the Text. London: Methuen Drama, 2005.

Vyskočil, Ivan and company: (Inter)acting with the Inner Partner. (Edited by Michal Čunderle and Alex Komlosi), Czech translated by Alexander Komlosi. Praha: Brkola, 2011.

Voice:

1. Posture and body as an instrument of voice

Relaxation and activity, free body

Outer and inner space, gesture connected with voice

Examples from your own experience or the exercises you worked with

How you would lead the student to a proper understanding

1. Breathing

The breathing mechanism (chest and diaphragm)

Supports in the body

Examples from your own experience or the exercises you worked with

How you would lead the student to a proper understanding

1. Sound

Resonant spaces, resonant cavities

Supports in the body and breathing

Colour of voice and resonance

Work with imagination

Examples from your own experience or the exercises you worked with

How you would lead the student to a proper understanding

1. Staccato and legato in singing and speaking

Connection with breathing

Examples from your own experience or the exercises you worked with

How you would lead the student to a proper understanding

Recommended literature:

Seikel, John A. et al.: Anatomy & Physiology for Speech, Language, and Hearing. Clifton Park: Delmar-Cengage Learning, 2010.

Zinder, David G.: Body voice imagination image. London, New York: Routledge, 2009.

Davies, D. Garfield: Care of the Professional Voice: A Guide to Voice Management for Singers, Actors and Professional Voice Users. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Marafioti, P. Mario: Caruso’s Method of Voice Production: The Scientific Culture of the Voice. New York: Appleton-Century, 1937.

Linklater, Kristin: Freeing the Natural Voice. New York: Drama Book Publishers, 1976.

Houseman, Barbara: Finding Your Voice: A Step-by-Step Guide for Actors. London: Nick Hern Books, 2012.

Titze, Ingo R.: Principles of Voice Production. Iowa City: National Center for Voice and Speech, 2000.

Miller, Donald: Resonance in Singing: Voice Building through Acoustic Feedback. Princeton: Inside View Press, 2008.

Stebbins, Genevieve: Society gymnastics and voice-culture adapted from the Delsarte system. New York: Edgar S. Werner Publishing & Supply Co., 1888.

Rodenburg, Patsy: Speaking Shakespeare. London: Methuen 2002.

Rodenburg, Patsy: The Actor Speaks: Voice and the Performer. London: Methuen Drama, 2005.

Rodenburg, Patsy: The Need for Words: Voice and the Text. London: Methuen, 2005.

Salzman, Eric: The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Newham, Paul: Therapeutic Voicework: Principles and Practice for the Use of Singing as a Therapy. London, Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley, 1998.

Rodenburg, Patsy: The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice. London: Methuen, 1992.

Lewis, Dennis: The Tao of Natural Breathing for Health, Well-Being and Inner Growth: San Francisco: Mountain Wind Publishing, 1997.

Edgerton, Michael Edward: The 21st Century Voice: Contemporary and Traditional Extra-Normal Voice. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2004.

Alschitz, Jurij: Training Forever!. Malmö: Lund University, Malmö Theatre Academy, 2003.

Titze, Ingo R.: Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation. Iowa City: National Center for Voice and Speech, 2012.

Shewell, Christina: Voice Work: Art and Science in Changing Voices. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.

Martin, Jacqueline: Voice in Modern Theatre. London: Routledge, 1991.

Gutekunst, Christina: Voice into Acting: Integrating Voice and the Stanislavski Approach. London, New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2014.

Berry, Cicely: Voice and the Actor. New York: Wiley Publishing, 1973.

Berry, Cicely: Your Voice and How to Use It. London: Virgin Books, 2000.

Campo, Giuliano: Zygmunt Molik’s Voice and Body Work: The Legacy of Jerzy Grotowski. London, New York: Routledge, 2010.

Chapman, Janice L.: Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice. San Diego: Plural Pub., 2012.

Fields, Victor Alexander: Training the Singing Voice. 1947.

1. Pedagogy of Movement

The student names the main principles of the topics below and using the example of a specific exercise explains the main terms and pedagogical approaches based on his or her experience from the classes.

Training for Movement: themes inspired by J. Lecoq

• space and imaginary space

• emotions and colours

• animals

• clowns

• working with an object

Body in Motion:

• weight, centre, grounding – from the floor up to standing, supports for standing

• neutral position – tension vs suspense/relaxed position

• partnering – awareness, listening, impulses – giving, receiving and developing

• group work and energy – awareness, listening, impulses – giving, receiving and developing

Recommended literature:

Lecoq, Jacques: Theatre of Movement and Gesture.

Lecoq, Jacques: The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre.

Hodge, Alison, ed.: Twentieth Century Actor Training. Routledge, 2007.

Barba, E., Savarese, N. and col.: A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology. Routledge, 1999.

Zarrilli, P.: Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski. London: Routledge, 2009.

Newlove, Jean: Laban for Actors and Dancers. London: Routledge, 1993.

Albright, Ann C., ed.: Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2003.

Boorman, Joyce: Creative Dance in Grades Four to Six. Ontario: The Hunter Rose Company Limited, 1971.

Boorman, Joyce: Creative Dance in the First Three Grades. Ontario: The Hunter Rose Company Limited, 1969.

Long, Raymond: The Key Muscles of Yoga. Banfha Yoga Publications, 2006.

Long, Raymond: The Key Poses of Yoga. Banfha Yoga Publications, 2008.

Spier, Steven, ed.: William Forsythe and the Practice of Choreography: It Starts From Any Point. New York: Routledge, 2011.

Paxton, Steve: Gravity. Belgium: Graphius, 2018.

Burt, Ramsay: Judson Dance Theater: Performative Traces. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Buckwalter, Melinda: Composing While Dancing: An improviser’s Companion. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010.

Reeve, Justine: Dance Improvisations. USA: Human Kinetics, 2011.

Hartley, Linda: Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1995.

Franklin, Eric: Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance. USA: Human Kinetics, 1996.

Cohen, Bonnie Bainbridge: Sensing, Feeling, and Action. USA: Contact Editions 1993.

Steinman, Louise: The Knowing Body. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1986.

1. Pedagogy of Acting, Play and Partner Play

Key terms based on Jan Hančil’s Introduction to Authorial Acting:

Acting as behaviour.

Brecht Gestus and Psychological Gesture.

Embodied acting (body and the actor).

Imagination and acting.

Character, personality and mask.

The phenomenon of human play.

Recommended literature:

Alfreds, Mike: Different Every Night: Freeing the Actor. Nick Hern Books, 2007.

Barba, Eugenio, and Savarese, Nicola: A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology. London: Routledge, 2005.

Barnett, David: Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.

Silberman, Marc and Giles, Steve, eds.: Brecht on Theatre. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.

Brook, Peter: Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate (Reprint edition). Scribner, 1995.

Brook, Peter: There are No Secrets: Thoughts on Acting and Theatre. Bloomsbury, 2015.

Chekhov, Michael: To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting. 1952, 2014. (Namely, the chapter on psychological gesture.)

Donnellan, Declan: The Actor and the Target. Nick Hern Books, 2005.

Meisner, Sanford, Longwell, Dennis, et al.: Sanford Meisner on Acting. Vintage, 2012.

Merlin, Bella: The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit. Nick Hern Books, 2014.

Stanislavsky, Constantin: An Actor Prepares. 1936, subsequent editions.

Hodge, Alison: Actor Training (on Filr)

1. History and theory of theatre (oral examination on the basis of a question drawn by lot)

The student shall demonstrate his or her knowledge and orientation in the history and theory of theatre.

Grading: A – B – C – D – E – F

Topics of questions:

1A) Philosophical Foundations

1. Concept of play in Fink, Huizinga, Nietzsche, Gadamer and Winnicott
2. Relationship between playfulness and seriousness in Nietzsche, Huizinga, Fink, Gadamer and Winnicott
3. Transcendence and immanence as basic categories of philosophical thinking
4. What does it mean to take a philosophical stance and how philosophical stances can be at work in the arts
5. Different relationships of the body a mind in Plato, Descartes, Nietzsche and theories of performativity
6. Historicity versus spontaneity as a source of creative meaning
7. Dialogue and question of the other in M. Buber

Recommended literature:

Gadamer, H. G.: Truth and Method (second, revised edition, trans. revisions J. Weinsheimer and D. G. Marshall) New York: Continuum, 1995 (first published 1960).

Fink, E.: The Oasis of Happiness: Toward an Ontology of Play, Yale French Studies No. 41, Game, Play, Literature: Yale University Press, 1968.

Winnicott, D.: Playing and Reality. London and New York: Routledge, 2005 (first published 1971).

J. Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Boston, MA: The Beacon Press, 1950 (first published 1944).

Nietzsche, F.: Thus spoke Zarathustra, Dover, 1999.

Nietzsche, F.: Untimely Meditations, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Nietzsche, F.: The Birth of Tragedy, Penguin, 1993.

Buber, M.: I and Thou. Martino Publishing, 2010.

1B) Psychological Foundations

Play, Dialogical Acting with the Inner Partner, Authorial acting, Therapy, Auto-therapy, psychological approaches in connection to Dialogical Acting.

Empathy, authenticity, acceptance (congruence), the conscious, the unconscious, the collective unconscious, archetypes, the Self, the self-concept, self-acceptance, imagination, dreams, will (free will), thought and language, motivation, emotion

Psychoanalysis, Analytical Psychology (Jung: Psychological Types), Gestalt Psychology, Transactional Analysis, Psychodrama, Humanistic Psychology, Logotherapy and Existential Analysis

Recommended literature:

Introduction to authorial acting (on Filr)

S. Freud, C. G. Jung, C. R. Rogers, V. Frankl, F. Perls, E. Goffman, E. Berne, J. Piaget, O. Sacks

The topic is chosen according to the student’s individual interest.

2A) Anglophone Drama and Theatre

Students select one play and interpret it: its main motifs and themes, use of language and the context of the play (origin, politics, theatre context). They may also compare different plays with a focus on one topic.

The plays of William Shakespeare and their adaptations

Recommended literature:

W. Shakespeare: Hamlet x Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

W. Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear (x Peter Brook’s film adaptation King Lear), Macbeth (Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation Throne of Blood), Coriolanus (x Sophocles: Oedipus Rex, Passolini: Oedipus Rex), Richard III (x Lawrence Olivier adaptation and House of Cards series), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (x Neil Gailman adaptation The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country), The Tempest (x Peter Greenaway: Prospero’s Dream), The Merchant of Venice

Secondary literature:

Kott, Jan: Shakespeare Our Contemporary

Martin Procházka - History of Literary Criticism

The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and other critical essays in the DAMU library

Modern and contemporary drama (Irish, British, American and absurdist)

Recommended literature:

Synge, J. M.: The Playboy of the Western World

Parker, Steward: Pentecost, Northern Star

MacDonagh, Martin: The Lonesome West

Carr, Marina: By the Bog of Cats (x Euripides: Medea)

Ravenhill, Mark: Shopping and Fucking

Kane, Sarah: Phaedra’s Love (x Seneca: Phaedra)

Marber, Patrick: Closer

Penhall, Joe: Some Voices

Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Shepard, Sam: True West

Mamet, David: Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Duck Variations

Kushner, Tony: Angels in America

Theatre of the absurd

Recommended literature:

Beckett, Samuel: Waiting for Godot

Pinter, Harold: Plays Four

Stoppard, Tom: Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth

Secondary literature:

Pilný, Ondřej: Irony and Identity in Modern Irish Drama. Praha: Litteraria Pragensia, 2006.

Grene, Nicholas: The Politics of Irish Drama. Plays in Context from Boucicault to Friel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Dawe, Gerald, Johnston, Maria, and Wallace, Clare, eds.: Stewart Parker: Dramatis Personae and Other Writings. Prague: Litteraria Pragensia, 2008.

Urban, Ken: Cruel Britannia.

Roche, Anthony: Contemporary Irish Drama. Palgrave, 2009.

Sierz, Aleks: In-yer-face Theater: British Drama Today.

Saunders, Graham: Love Me or Kill me: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes. Manchester University Press, 2002.

Innes, Christopher: Modern British Drama: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge, 2002.

Mamet, David: Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama.

Demastes, William W.: Beyond Naturalism: A New Realism in American Theatre, New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Bigsby, C. W. E.: A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama: Volume 3, Beyond Broadway. Cambridge University Press, 1985.

Esslin, Martin: The Theatre of the Absurd. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.

2B) Highlights of Czech Theatre

Spice Merchant

Bakhtin, M.: Introduction to Francois Rabelais...

Comenius, J. A.: Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of Heart

Smetana, B. / Sabina, K.: The Bartered Bride

Mrštík, A., Mrštík, V.: Marysha

Čapek, K.: The Makropulos Case

Langer, F.: Periphery

Havel, V.: The Garden Party, The Memorandum, Audience, Largo Desolato, Temptation

Topol, J.: Cat on the Rails; Goodbye, Socrates!

Kundera, M.: Jacques and his Master

Goldflam, A.: The Usherette

Steigerwald, K.: Sorrow, sorrow...

Rychetsky, T.: The Innocent Are Innocent

Pitinsky, J. A.: A Little Room

Zelenka, P.: Tales of Common Insanity

Other academic duties

Second-year students (in both the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes) shall be fully responsible (under the supervision of the Department) for the organisation and dramaturgy of the annual Autorská tvorba nablízko (“Authorial Creation Close-Up”) festival, an open showcase of the most interesting works created and realised in the Department’s programmes, which are traditionally presented in both Czech and English versions.

The festival provides wider publicity for authorial experiments, works and stagings that have emerged from the Department. It includes workshops, which offer prospective students as well as the expert and general public practical exposure to the psychosomatic disciplines (dialogical acting, authorial reading, speech, voice, movement, etc.).

Characterisation of professional practice

Information on collaboration with practical experience relating to the programme of study:

Graduate presentations and other authorial presentations which emerge from the Department’s programmes are selectively performed even after graduation in public venues outside DAMU, including foreign venues. The festivals with which we regularly collaborate (through the lens of the year 2020) are: Kočí v Chotči (Choteč u Jičína), Horem Dolem (Provodov u Zlína), Cihlafest (Slapy), the Open Sunday platform staged by CreW collective, Po Pás (a series of authorial improvisational meetings with selected guests at Studio Alta), and others.

During the 2016–2020 period, for example, these included stagings of Play With Me (Margaret Hannon), The Art of Crying (Meghana Telang), and A Mountain Tale (Alex Asikainen).

Anticipated job placement for graduates (typical employment)

The programme is focused more broadly than on acting in the traditional sense of the word; it aims to cultivate self-confident, creative personalities, whose profiles and career paths can be – and tend to be – very diverse. Graduates of the Department often become authors of their own theatrical, graphic or literary projects, etc. They also work in the media sphere, publishing, education and the so-called assistive professions with diverse specialisations. They can and often do pursue subsequent studies, not only at the Department but in other fields as well.