City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: James, Adrian (2010). "From Thanatos to Eros": A Phenomenological Case Study of Post-Graduate Drama Students. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the unspecified version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/1278/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] “From Thanatos to Eros” A Phenomenological Case Study of Post- Graduate Drama Students By Adrian Jesse James A PhD Thesis City University London School of Arts. Centre for Adult Education Submission Date: July 2010 1 Contents CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 7 DECLARATION .......................................................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1. THE RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY ........................................................................................................... 12 1.1.a. Context of the Programme ........................................................................................................ 14 1.2. THE PERIOD OF DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................ 17 1.3. A CHAPTER BY CHAPTER SYNOPSIS OF THIS THESIS .................................................................................. 17 1.3.a. Chapter Two: The Context of this Research Study .................................................................... 17 1.3.b. Chapter Three: A Review of the Preparatory Literature Informing this Study .......................... 18 1.3.c. Chapter Four: My Research Paradigm, Design and Methods .................................................. 19 1.3.d. Chapter Five: A Discussion of my Findings .............................................................................. 19 1.3.e. Chapter Six: “From Thanatos to Eros” [A Drama-Documentary Screenplay] ........................ 19 1.3.f. Chapter Seven: Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................. 19 CHAPTER TWO: THE CONTEXT OF THIS RESEARCH STUDY ................................................................................... 21 2.1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 22 2.1.a. Historical Overview of Drama Schools with Particular Reference to the United Kingdom ..... 22 2.1.b. Historical Overview of Post-Graduate Acting Courses in Great Britain .................................. 26 2.2. THE RESEARCHED COURSE: AN M.A. IN ACTING ................................................................................... 27 2.2.a. The Catholic Centre .................................................................................................................. 28 2.2.b. The M.A. Course: Values and Course Aims .............................................................................. 29 2.2.c. An Introduction to the Challenges of Behavioural Realism which underlie the Course Curriculum ......................................................................................................................................... 30 2.2.d. The Structure and Curriculum of the Course ............................................................................ 33 Term One – Beyond the Persona ........................................................................................................................ 34 Term Two – The Process of Creation ................................................................................................................. 36 Term Three – Performance ................................................................................................................................. 36 2.2.e. Assessment Strategies and Student Feedback Procedures ........................................................ 36 2.3. THE EMPLOYMENT CONTEXT ................................................................................................................. 37 2.4. SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER THREE: A REVIEW OF THE PREPARATORY LITERATURE 2 INFORMING THIS STUDY ..................................................................................................................... 39 3.1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 40 3.1.a. Accessing the Literature ............................................................................................................ 40 3.2. REPRESENTATIONAL ACTING (BEHAVIOURAL REALISM) ............................................................................. 43 3.2.a. Konstantin Stanislavski ............................................................................................................. 44 3.2.b. The Stanislavski ‘System’ or ‘Method’ ...................................................................................... 44 3.2.c. Other Major Influences Informing the Acting Techniques Related to this Study. ...................... 48 3.2.d. Contemporary Literature on Actors, Acting Training and its Relationship to my Research Questions ............................................................................................................................................ 51 3.3. THE NATURE OF A PROFESSION, PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND CAREER STRUCTURE ................................. 52 3.4. KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING: THE WORK OF VYGOTSKY AND BAKHTIN ................................... 58 3.4.a. Major Concepts from the works of Vygotsky and Bakhtin ......................................................... 60 Mediational Means ............................................................................................................................................. 60 Semiotic Potentials ............................................................................................................................................. 62 The Zone of Proximal Development .................................................................................................................. 62 Bakhtin and language: Utterance, Voice and Dialogicality ............................................................................... 63 The Utterance ...................................................................................................................................................... 63 Voice ................................................................................................................................................................... 64 Dialogicality ....................................................................................................................................................... 64 Multivoicedness .................................................................................................................................................. 65 Language Units ................................................................................................................................................... 66 3.4.b. Neo-Vygotskian Socio-Cultural Theories of Learning .............................................................. 67 3.5. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND THE RELATIONSHIP TO THE PRESENT STUDY .................................................... 72 3.6. SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER FOUR: MY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, DESIGN AND METHODS ....................................................... 76 4.1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 77 4.1.a. My Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 77 4.2. MY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................