The latvian academy of culture

THE ACTOR OF THE DRAMA THEATRE

C

Choice	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Credit points	Lecturer
Acrobatics		32:2 T							32	2	Lect.O.Žitluhina
Fencing		32:2 T		32:2 T					64	4	Lect.V.Kupčs
Total		4		2						6

BA STUDY PROGRAMME Part A

Description of the Study Course

The Name of the Course: The Theory and Practice of the Art of Acting

The Scope of the Course: 1280 practical classes (6 hours of individual classes x 7 = 48 hours).

40 credit points. Type of Assessment: a test, an examination.

The Author of the Course: Prof. Edmunds Freibergs

Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: The suitability for the profession: stage attraction, physical abilities, voice material, an ear for music and a sense of rhythm and a lively imagination and others. Preliminary knowledge in the history of culture and other forms of art.
The Content of the Course: The objective of the course is the acquisition of the art of acting. The course gives the students theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the tasks of the art of acting. The training of the technique of the art of acting and the system of exercises and studies help to improve the actor’s professional characteristics (physical relaxation, stage attention, emotional memory, the contact with one’s partner and others).

Work at excerpts of drama of different times and genres trains the students’ skills to analyse one’s role in action, gives an understanding about the diversity of the actor’s means of expression acting in tragedy, comedy, situational comedy, farce, vaudeville and other genres.

Thematic Planning:

THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
TERM 1
Elements of the technique of the art of acting and their training. Elements of the technique of the art of acting: attention, partner contact, imagination, emotional memory, physical relaxation and others. All these elements are organically possessed by human nature. In life they exist in a joint system. Their research and training also take place in a complex way in the classes of the Art of Acting. One of the peculiarities of the creative process is that all the elements of activities characteristic of human nature are subjected to a specific training, i.e., they are developed deliberately.	1, 2	L8;P16
It is important that exercises should initiate the students’ into creative processes, train their imagination and an ability to believe the given conditions. For example, the exercises of physical relaxation – if I were a melting snow figure or if I were a burning candle.	3, 4, 5	L8;P26
The students develop their stage attention and an ability to evaluate organically the object of their attention in the exercises. The evaluation includes the development of emotional relations with the object of attention which become apparent in a specific activity.	6, 7, 8, 9	L18;P30
The most different types of contact are mastered in the exercises to feel the contact partner. A signal is given by both touching physically (with one’s hand) and eyes and sound thus achieving the desirable result from the partner. For example, the blind and his/her companion. The united system of training with its tasks arranged in a certain sequence prepares the students for the next stage of studies: studies-improvisations in pairs and groups.	10, 11	L4;P18
Studies-improvisations. Themes of studies: 1. Studies of the organic silence. Studies with the minimum application of the text. Animal studies. Studies of revived objects. Studies of life observations. Studies on the theme of paintings. When working with studies it is essential to reach an understanding about a logical, organic activity towards the achievement of one’s goals by searching answers to the following questions – What do I want to achieve? Why do I want it? (psychological substantiation) How can I achieve it? (means for the implementation of the task). The essence of the conflict of the study has to be identified precisely. The conflict becomes the basis of the process of the study. The students train one of the most essential elements of the art of acting in the studies – an active influence on the partner and precise evaluation of his/her activity. Thus the study becomes an original improvisation, it is a fight where results may not be foreseen beforehand. The one who can truly subdue one’s partner to one’s will wins this struggle. The students acquire an understanding about the true process of drama activities. When acting under the given conditions close attention is paid to the students’ psychophysical feel and physical activities as logical expressions of their inner activity. An improvised text is used in the studies creating an understanding about the organic creation process of the spoken word, the compliance of the text with the activity and its clearness of purpose. Thus the students become prepared for the next stage of studies: the work at drama and the author’s text.	12, 13, 14 15, 16	L24;P36