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Subjects

Theatre-Making & Processes

Subject
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The creation of a performance involves a process informed by method, aesthetic choice and economic context, as well as practical aspects which have little to do with the writer, performer or director.

Acting subject list
Acting
Acting is the art of performing in theatre, especially using the actor’s voice and body. It is intentional, social and theatrical, and often aims to be mimetic – to copy a recognisable reality.
Animals subject list replace
Animals
The behaviour of animals on stage is difficult to control. Yet animals have often been used in performance, usually by artists keen to exploit these very qualities of surprise and unpredictability.
Devising list
Devising
Devising is a method of making performance that is not dominated by text, and includes the collaborative participation of the whole creative company in all stages and aspects of the creative process.
Directing subject list
Directing
Directors aim to find a dramaturgical and rhythmical shape to their work to cultivate focussed performers and a sense of shared purpose among the company, and to build a staging consistent with this.
Ensemble list view
Ensemble
An ensemble is a grouping of performers or theatre-makers, preferably with an extended professional commitment, working towards an individual performance or as part of an established company.
Improvisation list view
Improvisation
Improvisation is the spontaneous invention of performance. But while it specifies a particular form, elements of improvisation are intrinsic to all performance and the quality of liveness it produces.
Dramaturgy subject list view
Laboratory Theatre
Applied to theatre practice, the term ‘Laboratory’, commonly associated with Grotowski, is used to denote concentrated and consistent experiment as being at the root of the theatre-making process.
Masking list
Masking & Body Adornment
Masking or decorating the body has always featured in performance, from ancient rituals to Greek theatre, circus clowns and commedia dell’arte to the make-up that turns Broadway performers into cats.
Playwriting
Playwriting
The best and most general definition for playwriting is that it is form of preparation for performance. In certain contexts, recording, transcribing, and arranging are all playwriting of a kind.
Puppetry subject thumbnail
Puppetry
In performance, what separates puppets from art objects, or curios hung on a domestic or art gallery wall, is the puppeteer or performer’s ability to manipulate the object and thus bring it to ‘life’.
Rehearsal subject thumbnail
Rehearsal
The substance of rehearsal time is mainly contingent on the requirements made of actors: to learn lines; to enter into roles; to establish movements and interactions; to create the ‘world of a play’.
Text analysis subject list view
Text Analysis
The text is the actor’s starting and end point when creating a character, requiring a certain forensic analysis to transform the page into flesh-and-blood character. This process is often intuitive.
Theatre History
Theatre History
Theatre History aims to enlarge our understanding of theatre: the people, events and relationships involved in its development, the causes of change, and the ideas behind new forms of performance.
Song list
Voice
The voice – its use, production and health – is arguably the most vital aspect of the actor’s instrument. That the word ‘audience’ is used so commonly indicates the aural and oral signifiers involved.