Guide in PDF format

Important notice

The course guide is provisional.

The PDF version of the course guide may take a few days to become available in the DDD.

Directors and Stage Designers Laboratory II

Code: 44824
Credits: 6

2026/2027

Degree programme	Type	Course
Theatre Studies	OP	1

Contact lecturer

Name :: Jordi Prat Coll
Email :: jordi.prat.coll@uab.cat

Teaching staff (external to UAB)

: Jordi Prat i Coll

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

This subject presupposes a certain level of knowledge and previous experience (see requirements for access to the Master).

Objectives

The general objective of the subject is to provide students with advanced conceptual and methodological references that serve for research

and creative practice linked to the direction of performers and theatrical staging.

Learning outcomes

CA16 (Distinguish the use of diverse languages depending on the speaker (scenographer, actor, lighting technician, costume designer) without losing sight of the overall definition of mise-en-scène.) Distinguish the use of diverse languages depending on the speaker (scenographer, actor, lighting technician, costume designer) without losing sight of the overall definition of mise-en-scène.
KA26 (Determine and define the main methodolgoies and techniques involved in directing actors and their relationship with the aesthetic definition of mise-en-scène.) Determine and define the main methodolgoies and techniques involved in directing actors and their relationship with the aesthetic definition of mise-en-scène.
KA27 (Identify practical research methods in the field of directing actors according to the conceptual paradigms typical of this field.) Identify practical research methods in the field of directing actors according to the conceptual paradigms typical of this field.
SA24 (Experience various methodologies related to mise-en-scène and directing actors, comparing results based on style.) Experience various methodologies related to mise-en-scène and directing actors, comparing results based on style.

Staging. Staging based on a theatrical text. Ecosystem of codes that determine its specificity. The language of staging as a communicative system and the parameters that structure it.

2. Direction of performers. Recognition of the main methodologies and techniques of directing performers and their relationship with the aesthetic definition of staging. Brief historical overview of this field.

3. Methods of analysis and knowledge. Review of the basic concepts of the analysis of the dramatic text to become a spectacular text. Documentation and contextualisation. Circumstances, situation, dramatic action. Analysis and decomposition of the action. Approach to character typology and degrees of character reality. Approach to genres from the point of view of interpretation. Approach to European and local tradition. Defining a “spine” between the concepts of staging and directing actors.

4. The process of analysing the action. Methods from internal to external, from external to internal or performative. Action and activity. Text and subtext. Introduction to the basic concepts for the analysis of elementary communicative action under a codified view. Knowledge of basic elements such as given circumstances, conflict, cause, situation, stimulus, target, desire line, or movement. Actantial model. Spine concept.

5. Ability to generate gaze. Ability to determine internal communication codes and external communication codes; and diegetic overlaps. Ability to obtain through the direction of interpreters reception of complex emotions. Knowledge of emotions.

6. Definition of theatrical place. Dramatic space, scenic space and scenography. Definition of sound space. Definition of lighting space. Choreography. Costume design... Determining performer-spectator nets.

7. Expressiveness of the performer. Expressive use of voice and body. Internal tempo-rhythm and external tempo-rhythm. Aesthetics of acting expression in relation to staging. The performer beyond the character.

8. The direction of actors as a working hypothesis and as a process. Definition of the project and practical experimentation based on specific texts. How does the work of the performers alter the project and the meaning of the staging? The stage director's capacity for observation, discernment and modification. The ‘spectacular’ creation as a present here and now.

Learning activities and methodology

Title	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Lectures; resolution of exercises; practical exercices in class	30	1.2	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24
Cooperative, individual and group learning	60	2.4	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24
Preparation of exercicses, readings, viewing of references	60	2.4	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24

The dynamics of the laboratory are based on the recognition of the role of reflection on practice.

The course is structured as follows:

1. Theoretical-practical introduction: a tour of the various systems and theories in order to specify a specific use of the language of directing performers based on the consideration of the performance as a complex system of communication.

Discussion of the evolution of the concepts of stage direction and the direction of performers, paying attention to their historical and stylistic evolution. Each section of knowledge will be accompanied by practical recognition exercises.

At the beginning of the course, students will receive a detailed schedule of the development of the programme and the exercises involved.

2. Two main texts will be used. Both will be determined by the teacher. The first will serve as a model and the second will be the main study text for the students. From this, group project work will be carried out: active analysis of the text and sketching of the broad outlines of a general staging project that must allow the concrete project of working with the performers to be contextualised.

3. Practical work with professional actors: the process of working with actors will begin with a practical demonstration by the teacher of the use of the concepts and techniques studied, paying special attention to establishing a creative relationship with the performers. Understood as a micro-laboratory.

In a second practical phase, each group will have a specific working time, established according to the number of groups, with professional interpreters that will allow them to experience how they have to communicate their project to them, to check if it is well defined and if it produces the desired creative result in the dynamics of the beginning of a process of research and rehearsal. In this second phase of practical work, the teacher will supervise the process and relate the practical work to the concepts, tools and methodologies studied. In this second phase of practical work, the teacher will supervise the process and relate the practical work to the concepts, tools and methodologies studied. This would be the laboratory part, open to multiple sensibilities and possibilities.

Observation: 15 minutes of a class within the timetable established by the centre or by the degree programme will be set aside for students to fill in the evaluation surveys on the performance of the teaching staff and the evaluation of the subject or module.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title	Weight	Learning outcomes
Presentations in class and submission of reports and papers	50%	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24
Attendance and participation in the class	20%	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24
Tutorials	30%	CA16, KA26, KA27, SA24

This subject does not have a single assessment.

Continuous assessment:

A. Practical exercises.

1. Elaboration of an actor's direction project, elaborated in a group, based on a second material provided by the teacher, which will have to be worked on, corrected and improved during the rehearsals with the performers. (50%).

2.Specific questions regarding the scenic perspective on content developed throughout the course. (30%).

3. Personal re-elaboration of the project depending on the practice: formulation of hypotheses for research and further development of the creative process. (20%)

B. General aspects:

-Attendance (minimum to be evaluated: 80%), follow-up and participation in the course.

- Practical and time management skills. Analysis, project management of performers and rehearsal.

Critical participation from both an external and personal point of view in order to encourage relevant debates. Presentation and expression will be valued, as well as the relevant use of the concepts, methodologies and processes worked on during the course.

Individual assignments may be revisited once rehearsals with performers have taken place, allowing for a deeper exploration of concepts- specifically, materials related to artistic perspective and the personal reworking or the collaborative project.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Students are eligible for a retake exam if they have submitted two-thirds of the assessable activities. To qualify for this retake, in accordance with UAB Academic Regulations (Article 261, point 3), the minimum average grade must not exceed 3.5.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment

activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

Erasmus and exchange students who request to advance an exam must present a document from their home university justifying their request.

Bibliography

Artaud, Antonin (1997). El teatro y su doble. Madrid. Edhasa.

Artaud, Antonin (2019). El teatro de la crueldad. Madrid. La pajarita de papel ed.

Bogart, Anne (2008). La preparación del director. Madrid: Publicaciones ALBA.

Brecht, Bertolt (1986). Quatre converses sobre teatre. Barcelona: Edicions 62.

Harold Clurman (1997). On directing. New York. Simon & Shuster.

Donnellan, Declan (2004). El actor y la diana. Madrid: Fundamentos.

Melendres, Jaume (2000). La direcció dels actors. Diccionari mínim. Institut del Teatre.

Meyerhold, S.V. (1992). Meyerhold: Textos teóricos. Madrid. Publicaciones de la ADE.

Mitchell, Katie (2018). L’ofici de dirigir. Barcelona: Institut del teatre, Angle.

Pavis, Patrice (1998). Diccionario del teatro. Barcelona: Paidós Comunicación.

Prat i Coll, Jordi (2024). Pinçaments d’un home de teatre. Tarragona. Arola Editors.

Schuler Margarete, Harrer Stephanie (2020). Els fonaments de la interpretació. Barcelona: Institut del Teatre.

Simó Vinyes, Ramon (2024). L’art de l’escenificació. Barcelona: Institut del Teatre.

Stanislavsky, Konstantin. El trabajo del actor sobre sí mismo. Madrid. ALBA.

Tairov, Alexander (2023) Notas de un director escénico. Madrid. La pajarita de papel ed.

Ubersfeld, Anne (1998). Semiótica teatral. Madrid. Cátedra/Universidad de Murcia.

Software

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching	Group	Language	Semester	Shift
(TEm) Theory (master)	1	Catalan/Spanish	second semester	afternoon