National Year 12 Drama and Theatre

1. 3.1.1 Knowledge and understanding

Interpreting and performing theatre · How performance texts are built · Contexts of plays

• Drama: Elements, Stagecraft and Performance – Drama is a story told by actors who become characters and act it out in front of an audience. Every drama has characters who want something, a conflict when those wants clash, a plot that builds tension to a climax and then resolves, dialogue, a setting and a theme. On stage, actors use voice and body, and the production adds lighting, set, costume and sound.
• History of Theatre: From Greek Festivals to the Black Box – Theatre began in ritual, song and storytelling. In ancient Greece (about 500 BCE) plays were part of religious festivals in open-air theatres with a theatron, orchestra and skene, and with masks and a chorus. Classical Asia built its own forms: Sanskrit drama guided by the Natyashastra and its idea of rasa, Japanese Noh and later Kabuki, Chinese opera. Medieval Europe staged religious plays on wagons; Renaissance Italy had commedia dell'arte; Elizabethan London had round playhouses with thrust stages (Shakespeare). From the 1600s the proscenium arch framed painted scenery, and in the late 1800s realism (Ibsen, Chekhov) brought everyday rooms and the 'fourth wall'. The 1900s added Stanislavski's truthful acting, Brecht's epic theatre, physical and experimental theatre and flexible black-box spaces. The shape of the stage, the society and the audience always shape how plays are written and acted.

2. 3.1.2.1 Set play: List A

One play from drama through the ages

Coming soon

3. 3.1.3 Live theatre production

Analysing and evaluating live theatre

Coming soon

4. 3.2 Creating original drama (Component 2)

3.2.1 Creating devised drama · 3.2.2 Performing devised drama · 3.5 Prescribed practitioners

• Devising Drama: Creating an Original Piece as a Group – Devising means a group creates an original piece of theatre without starting from a written script. You begin with a stimulus, brainstorm ideas, research and improvise, shape the best material into a structure, then rehearse and refine it using feedback. A working notebook records each choice and why it was made.
• Acting: Bringing a Character to Life – Acting means showing a character truthfully to an audience. An actor first studies the given circumstances (who, where, when) and the character's objective (what they want). Then the actor uses the body (posture, gesture, levels, status) and the voice (volume, pace, pitch, pause) to show it. On stage, acting is action and reaction: you listen and answer your partner. Timing, pauses and tension shape a scene, and theatre can also explore real social issues.
• Theatre Practitioners: The People Who Changed How We Act – A theatre practitioner is someone who created a clear method for acting, directing or making theatre, which others now learn and use. For each practitioner, study four things: context (when and where they worked), aims (the effect they wanted on the audience), working methods (rehearsal and training exercises) and style (what the result looks like on stage). Stanislavski built realistic acting behind a 'fourth wall'. Brecht broke that wall so audiences would think critically about society. Artaud wanted to shock the senses; Grotowski stripped theatre down to the actor's body; Boal turned spectators into 'spect-actors' who change the story. Modern companies such as Frantic Assembly, Complicité, Kneehigh and Punchdrunk build on these ideas with physical and immersive theatre.

5. 3.4 Theatrical skills

Specialist skills

• Drama: Elements, Stagecraft and Performance – Drama is a story told by actors who become characters and act it out in front of an audience. Every drama has characters who want something, a conflict when those wants clash, a plot that builds tension to a climax and then resolves, dialogue, a setting and a theme. On stage, actors use voice and body, and the production adds lighting, set, costume and sound.