Directing 3

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Subject guarantor

Štěpán PÁCL

Name of lecturer(s)

Štěpán PÁCL

Learning outcomes of the course unit

1. The ability to read and interpret a text and create a dramaturgic-directorial concept.
2. The ability to analyse a dramatic situation and the motivation for the behaviour of dramatic figures.
3. The ability to lead and motivate actors in a warm-up of the situation between director and actor.
4. The ability to create and organise a dramatic space.
5. The ability for scenic stylisation and diversification.
6. The ability for time-space expression of the sense of a dramatic situation using mis-en-scenes.
7. The ability to coordinate and control all elements of creative performances and their harmonisation in a single thematic whole.

Mode of study

Lectures, classes, course paper and its defense.

Prerequisites and co-requisites

1. Knowledge of theatre history and theatre types.
2. Good bearing in Czech and World drama literature.
3. Mastery of basic theatrology concepts.

Course contents

1. The performance objective and the dramaturgic-directorial concept.
2. A structural analysis of the dramatic situation and the motivation for the behaviour of dramatic figures.
3. Conventional and expressive behaviour and actions in a dramatic situation.
4. Scenic stylisation - its possibilities and drawbacks.
5. Creating and organising a dramatic space.
6. Fabulation between director and actor, warming up a situation and creating mis-en-scenes.
7. Performance as an entire structure and a specific system.

Syllabus:

Based on an analysis of the relevant dramatic material students are encouraged to create a dramaturgic directorial concept and to name the performance objective. The main starting point is in the first stage of study chiefly a practical structural analysis of the dramatic situation and its components. The analysis is understood to be the basis of scenic realisation, in which emphasis is placed chiefly on a clear and lucid time-space expression of the meaning of a dramatic situation using mis-en-scenes. The individual phases of a situation are accented, develped and diversified with regard to their thematic importance from the point of view of the whole. In the director's management of actors during the situation warm-up emphasis is placed on the motivation of the dramatic figures emerging from the relevant circumstances. Students also learn to create and organise a dramatic space as a hierarchic structure of thematic relations between individual elements in the stage space. During studies special emphasis is placed on developing coordination and the harmonisation of all elements creating a performance as a single thematic whole.

Recommended or required reading

Pavis, Patrice - Dictionary of the Theatre

Gordon, Robert - The purpose of playing: modern acting theories in perspective

Schechner, Richard - Performance theory [2005]

Bogart, Anne - A director prepares: seven essays on art and theatre

Čechov, Michail Alexandrovič - The path of the actor

Čechov, Michail Alexandrovič - To the actor: on the technique of acting

Donnellan, Declan - The actor and the target

Hauser, Frank; Reich, Russell - Notes on Directing: 130 Lessons in Leadership from the Director`s Chair

Gaskill, William - A Sense of direction

Krasner, David (ed.) - Method acting reconsidered: theory, practice, future

Lecoq, Jacques - The moving body: teaching creative theatre

Luere, Jeane - Playwright Versus Director: Authorial Intentions and Performance Interpretations

Hodge, Alison - Twentieth century actor training [2007]

Johnstone, Keith - IMPRO: improvisation and the Theatre

Merlin, Bella - Beyond Stanislavsky: the psycho-physical approach to actor training

Mitter, Shomit - Systems of Rehearsal. Stanislavsky, Brecht, Grotowski and Brook

Rudlin, John - Commedia dell´arte: an actor´s handbook

Rudlin, John; Crick, Olly - Commedia dell´arte: a handbook for troupes

Stanislavski, Constantin - An actor´s handbook: an alphabetical arrangement of concise statements on aspects of acting

Stanislavski, Constantin - An actor´s work: a student´s diary

Thomas, James Michael - Script analysis for actors, director and designers

Zarrilli, Phillip B. - Psychophysical acting: an intercultural approach after Stanislavski

Assessment methods and criteria

Required attendance in class and independent completion of the course paper. Grading originates in the submission and defense of the course paper and considers participation in class debates.

Schedule for winter semester 2018/2019:

• Week view
• List

Schedule for summer semester 2018/2019:

The schedule has not yet been prepared

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Directing and Dramaturgy for Dramatic Theatre (B.A.) (required main subject)