About Acting Studies, BA (Hons) - at Trinity College Dublin
This course is designed to train actors for the professional theatre. While it pays particular attention to the Irish theatre tradition, the training is accomplished in the context of world theatre practice. The course takes the approach of an acting conservatory, with a small core team of staff teaching a small group of students (about 12 each year) who receive individual monitoring of their progress throughout their training. The methods and approaches used during training are derived from the key practitioners of the modern period, including Lecoq, Laban, Meyerhold, Feldenkrais, Cicely Berry, Roy Hart, Kristin Linklater, Peter Brook, Grotowski, Mnouchkine, and Michael Chekhov, as well as Brecht and Stanislavsky.
Course contentThe course develops and extends acting skills through acting classes, improvisation, scene study, text work, script analysis, voice, movement, and the production of full-length plays. It also places the work of the actor in the wider context of theatre as a cultural practice, through a series of classes in which literary, historical and sociological aspects of drama, theatre and performance are examined. Students also receive introductory training in stage management, lighting, sound, set construction, costume and front-of-house activities.
In the first two years, students study acting, improvisation, voice, singing, movement, dance, and text speaking, and also attend lectures in theatre history, performance analysis, and non-Western theatre. The second year includes a small-scale production, usually based on ensemble practice. The emphasis of this first part of the training is on exploration - of self, body, voice and of the different approaches to theatre. It is a time for testing and experimenting. The final year is given over chiefly to three productions mounted at a professional level in the Samuel Beckett Theatre with professional directors. In addition, students attend workshop classes and lectures in contemporary Irish theatre. They prepare a formal audition showcase for theatrical agents, casting directors and theatre directors, which is performed at the Abbey Theatre and at a major theatre in London. Throughout the course, students can expect to be in classes or rehearsals on a full-time basis.
