Build confidence in acting, speaking and performance, through practical workshops in improv, scene work, and storytelling
Module details
- Offered to Year 1 students
- Tuesdays, 16.00-18.00
- 8 weeks (autumn or spring term)
- Planned delivery: On campus (South Kensington)
- Non-credit only
Got any questions?
Contact the field leader:
Dr Michael Weatherburn
Ever wanted to try acting onstage or want to develop further? Want to be more confident speaking and presenting your ideas in public?
We’ll explore the basics of acting through theatre games, improv exercises, and scene study, helping you develop and learn to trust your expressive and storytelling instincts. In a supportive workshop environment, we will explore how voice, movement, character, dialogue and staging combine to bring a dramatic work to life.
At the end of the eight weeks, you will present a short scene rehearsed with your classmates and be able to apply your new skills to performances of all kinds, in and outside the theatre.
Information blocks
On successful completion of this module, you will be better prepared to:
- appreciate what makes a performance effective and use that knowledge to prepare performances of all kinds, in or outside theatrical contexts;
- display listening, intuitive, and teamwork skills through improvisation exercises, collaborative scene study, and rehearsal;
- be confident in public speaking and in using your voice and body for self-expression and storytelling;
- demonstrate reflective insight into your creative processes, articulating how rehearsal, experimentation and feedback shape your performance and communication.
- getting comfortable in your voice and body
- building a character
- scene study
- staging/ blocking
- who/ what makes a scene ‘work’?
- final scene rehearsals
Performance is best learnt by doing, so be prepared for a lot of activity! The learning process will be iterative: each session will revisit and build on the previous one’s activities, solidifying and expanding on your storytelling and expressive skills.
In the early weeks of the term, you will be asked to watch short, filmed performance clips online and briefly reflect on how the actors use various acting techniques to convey a character, and how their artistic choices contribute to the story. In later weeks, you will use this knowledge to stage and rehearse your own selected scene, as well as provide focused, informed peer-to-peer feedback on your classmates’ work.
Coursework: Four 100-200 word responses to short video prompts. (25%)
Practical: Participation in acting/improv exercises, plus observed in-class rehearsals of assigned group scenes, 15-20 minutes. (25%)
Practical: Final performance, chosen from a set list of scripts, 1-3 minutes in duration. (50%)
In the early weeks of the module, you will complete four short, reflective written tasks (100-200 words each) via the module VLE, in response to audiovisual materials (5-7 minutes per task) and written prompts from the module tutor provided online. 25% (summative) of grade.
25% (summative) of the module grade will be based on observations of your rehearsals throughout the module. Each group will also rehearse the scene and be given the opportunity to incorporate module tutor and peer feedback into the rehearsal in real time in the two weeks leading up to the final performance.
The final, summative assessment for this module will be a performance of a short scene of dialogue during the final week of the 8-week term, constituting 50% of the final mark.
In each assessment, you will be provided with details on how your work will be assessed.
- ECTS value: 0
- Requirements: You must be prepared to attend all classes and to spend about an hour a week preparing for each session
- This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 4 course. For an explanation of levels, view the Imperial Horizons Level Descriptors page.
Module materials
Additional reading materials for the module will be made available through the university's library system.