UNIT 12
Level 3 extended Diploma unit 12 & 13 project proposal
| Name: | Niamh Horan |
| Pathway: | Acting |
| Project title: | Our World is in colour |
Section 1: Rationale (approx. 150 words) |
| Over the past 11 units I have completed, my abilities as a performer have developed to such an extent that at the start of the course, I wouldn’t have imagined I’d be where I am now. Before the beginning of this course, I was foolishly under the impression that acting was knowing your lines and giving a good performance, which was what I always did, but now I know that isnt it. With research and a hunger for knowledge I realised that there is so much more to acting than meets the eye, there are numerous practitioners with different acting styles to choose or adapt from, and with this newfound knowledge I realised how important decision making is when it comes to acting, not just doing what is asked, a good performer goes deeper than the words on the page. This is why I am more than happy with our chosen performance, because it will allow me to put all these skills to use. We have previously done a fair amount of brechtian work and non naturalistic styles so I am excited to develop my naturalistic performance abilities. |
| Section 2: Project concept (approx. 200 words) |
| For our final project I want to challenge myself in ways I haven’t in my previous performances.The aim of our project is to deliver a successful performance that incorporates different elements of theatre and styles influenced by practitioners such as; Stanislavski, Brecht, Peter Brook and Artaud. In order to successfully perform and be influenced by these practitioners and their work I need to fully understand them and their work, which I will do by recalling relevant research that I have previously done on some of the practitioners and researching the ones I have no knowledge on. My own personal project concept I will be taking on is using naturalism to create my own character. I want to be assessed on creating a character and developing my OCD traits in that character. In doing this I will also be creating my own given circumstances by the backstory I have given my character I expect to create someone I fully believe in, I want to lose myself in my character, from the moments before I go on stage, until I take my final bow I want to be my character, I want to be Mallory. To achieve this it means that research on Stanislavski’s key themes and ideas will be necessary to my studies, as well as perhaps some work from Peter Brook. The research I do will contribute to my Logbook work and help me in delivering the best unit and performance I have done. I will also have an extra advantage with the play we are doing because we have access to the playwright, Derek Martin, who is our mentor and Director for this production. Meaning we have a primary source of information. |
| Section 3: Evaluation (approx. 150 words) |
| To help evaluate my unit 12 work and performance I will be keeping a logbook as a record of what we do in rehearsals, I will be setting myself SMART targets each week and will evaluate them at the end of the week, as well as discussing my opinions of the rehearsal process as an actor as I write about what we are doing. I will discuss how I feel about it as both my character and myself. As our main process for this performance is to create an entire character, I know I need to constantly think and relate things to my character’s feelings. I know logbooks shouldn’t just be a diary. It’s a reflection about my opinions and how I think about my character scenes as well as the production as a whole, in all honesty being able to show my journey. I anticipate that there will be problems I will have to solve or overcome, such as; It will take me longer to create a naturalistic character than I would like it too, because I have no previous experience in creating a character and my performance knowledge of it is limited. I also worry the audience might not understand the concept of the performance so I hope I can help give it more clarity with my character and I know I wont be able to do that unless I fully immerse myself into my character, as I have stated previously that I will be doing. A logbook is key and I don’t want it to bring my grade down. I will also be writing about what I need to do to make my work better based on what I’ve been given to do. I also plan to set myself targets for each scene, so I can reflect back when I next come to it. Since my project proposal is mostly about the creation of my character (and as I have identified what I need to research) I will incorporate my findings of Stanislavski and Peter Brooke in relation to naturalism and how it aids me in creating my own character. |
| Proposed research sources and bibliography (Harvard format) |
| Ates, A. (2018). The Definitive Guide to the Stanislavsky Acting Technique. [online] http://www.backstage.com. Available at: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/the-definitive-guide-to-the-stanislavsky-acting-technique-65716/ [Accessed 5 Apr. 2023]. StageMilk. (2017). What are Given Circumstances | Uta Hagen’s Acting Principles. [online] Available at: https://www.stagemilk.com/what-are-given-circumstances/#:~:text=Given%20circumstances%20are%20a%20set%20of%20dramaturgical%20tools [Accessed 23 Nov. 2022]. The British Library (2017). An introduction to Stanislavski. The British Library. [online] doi:https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/an-introduction-to-stanislavski. |
Niamh Horan Unit 12 