EA148-4-FY-SO:
The Craft of Drama
2025/26
East 15 Acting School
Southend Campus
Full Year
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Thursday 02 October 2025
Friday 26 June 2026
15
31 July 2025
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA W900 Creative Producing (Theatre and Short Film),
BA W900MV Creative Producing (Theatre and Short Film)
This module offers students an introduction to the craft of acting and to the language, tools, and techniques used by and with actors. Students will engage with key theorists and practitioners who have shaped contemporary actor training and develop familiarity with Stanislavsky’s approach to acting, which includes ‘units’ and ‘objectives’, Patsy Rodenberg’s ‘circles of energy’, and Michael Chekov’s ‘characteristics’, ‘centres’, ‘imagination’, and ‘atmospheres’. Students will learn how to understand and ‘action’ texts, and will progress their learning through focused work on monologues, duologues, and ensemble scenes.
The aims of this module are:
- To equip students with basic acting skills.
- To develop students’ knowledge of the terminology and techniques used by actors and directors.
- To provide practical experience of taking direction as an actor through hands-on learning.
- To build student confidence in working with actors in readiness for second-year training in directing.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Understand how to action a text.
- Explain techniques for embodying character.
- Display awareness of how to listen, respond, and be present in character.
- Develop experience of taking direction as an actor.
- Understand how to give direction to an actor as a director.
- Develop familiarity with methods for improvisation and play.
- Develop skills for devising based on character.
- Knowledge of how to work with backstory, character development, and given circumstances as an actor.
Indicative Syllabus
- The relationship between the actor and director; giving and receiving direction;
- Units, and objectives (Stanislavski);
- Circles of attention (Stanislavski); circles of energy (Rodenberg);
- Actioning the text
- Dramaturgy of the actor (backstory, character development, given circumnstances);
- Improvisation and devising in character
- Physicalising and voicing character.
The Craft of Drama will be taught through whole group workshops and independent study tasks. Students will undertake practical groupwork and individual exercises.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
No
No
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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