Representative performance in the Academic Theatre

Abstract

The dramatic performance which involves essential elements on the stage such as the actor's performance revolves around various important and influential aspects resulting from the whole human experiences, interactions, and life. All these elements try to identify and embody to reveal the various aspects of the actor whether intellectual, emotional, social, motivational …etc. through his bodily and phonetic abilities which are represented by movements, gestures, pauses, and systems which are compatible with the unified form of the character that is intended to be embodied depending on the text and the director's thought and according to classical and experimental methods employed in the dramatic performance.

     The art of acting is one of the essential arts of the stage which depends on two factors; the first is called the classical acting whereas the second is called the non-classical acting. They are also called imaginative system and technical system. This means that the actor introduces his performance either from within to without or vice versa. In the first case, the actor concentrates on the feelings of the role whereas in the second case, he reflects his own self to the audience so that he sees his self through the audience themselves. This is why Stanislavsky calls his system "internal" while Brecht calls his "external".

     The research contains four sections; the first involves the methodological framework and the problem of the research which is localized in the following enquiry: How to trace the classical and the experimental varieties in the academic dramatic performances? The importance of the research is revealed when it presents through its human relationships some most important and distinguished issues which the actor intends to convey via his expressionistic tools: his body and voice together. The aim of the research is derived which is to identify the acting performance in the academic dramatic performances. The limits are restricted to the dramatic performances presented in the College of Fine Arts / University of Babylon for the period (2003-2007). The section ends with the definition of the basic terms mentioned in the title of the research.

     The second section, the theoretical framework, consists of two parts; the first deals with the study of the types of the dramatic performances whereas the second deals with the study of the acting performance between amateurism and professionalism in academic theatre. The section ends with the results of the theoretical framework.

     The third section contains the procedures, the society, the sample, the tool, the method, the validity of the tool, and the statistical means of the research. Three dramatic performances have been chosen to be analyzed to identify the acting performance in the academic dramatic performances in Babylon.

     The fourth section introduces the results which the researcher has come up with; the most important of which are:

1. The scientific experience has a role in revealing the bodily performance which involves the motive and phonetic performance in the academic theatre.
2. Individual variations in the level of acting for the actor (the student) between amateurism and professionalism.
3. The common employment of the acting performance and the other performing techniques particularly the technique of "data show".
4. In the academic theatre, the actor depends in his performance on his strong inclination, talent, and ability away from subjectivity.

     The section also contains the conclusions and the bibliography.