Trinity College Dublin has an interesting curriculum for undergraduates. Those interested in directing must take a course that culminates in a ten-minute piece. If all goes well, the student advances to a course that culminates in a twenty-minute piece. If that goes well, the student gets to do one of the hour-long pieces I have been seeing in the past two weeks. It's a nice continuity and encourages students to develop a vision.
There is also a course on devising that culminates in a five minute performance. All term the students keep log books and devise a performance together. Not much theory, mostly practice. I saw a powerful piece that was movement to music (no dialogue) with four dancers featuring our man Barra and a gal who was going to volunteer at the conference but got ill. (Elizabeth is very sweet, too!)
I have been impressed with the work I have seen, particularly with the students who are clearly wrestling with a vision larger than staging a text. One student, Chris (who played Alan in Equus), did a beautiful piece (Wolfgang and Leah: you would've loved it!). He told me about it one evening and so I went to support him. It was great to be there, to validate the work they are doing. Gabry mentioned that more faculty should be going to the student performances; guess every theatre department wrestles with that issue.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment