DRAMA GCSE
Unit 1: Written exam
Student Support Booklet
Name___________________________
This booklet should be used as a revision tool. Use it over
the Easter holidays to prepare for your Unit 1 exam, which
takes place on the 24th May.
Make sure you complete the tasks, as they will help you
feel confident about any question you might be asked in
the exam itself.
Please bring this booklet to EVERY Drama lesson after
Easter.
Highgate Wood School
1
Unit 1: Drama written exam
What on Earth am I writing about?!
Voice (pitch, pace, pause
tempo, accent,
tone, emphasis)
Facial expressions
Eyeline/focus
Body
Language
Use of props
Proxemics –
How close or far
you are to other
actors
Gesture
Interaction with others
Movement e.g
Gait = walk
Use of costume
Depending on the question, you could be writing about any of the elements above. In most answers you
will refer to more than more than one of these elements, especially in Section B of the paper, which
awards a maximum of 20 marks for each response.
It is really important that you feel confident writing about your performance using Drama vocabulary. The
next few pages will guide you through some of the key terms that you must be using in your answers.
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DRAMA VOCAB: LEARN, LEARN, LEARN !!!
Technical Elements
Set
Lighting- fresnel, gel, gobo, spot light,
general cover, barn door,
Special FX
Sound – diegetic and non-diegetic/ live/
recorded
Puppetry
Silhouette
Screen
Projection
Props
Design Elements
Costume
Props
Set
Lighting – fresnel, gel, gobo, spot light, general
cover, barn door,
Sound - diegetic and non-diegetic/ live/ recorded
Special FX
Make Up
Gauze
Screen
Projections
Acting Skills
Voice
Pitch / Pace/ Pause/ Accent/ dialect/
volume/ tone/ resonance/ articulation/
tempo
Physicality – Body language/ posture/
pose/ poise/
Weight/ staccato/ legato/
Facial Expressions
Proxemics
Eye contact
Gait
Gestures
Relationships
Stage Configurations
Large studio space with a 2 tiered stage in an End
On configuration
Proscenium Arch
Thrust
Apron
In the Round
End on
Thrust stage
Arena Stage
Raked stage
Rehearsal Techniques
Improvisation
Hot Seating
Experimenting
Directing
Audience Response
Forum Theatre
Still Images
Read through
Role on the Wall
Character Profile
Style
Stylised / symbolic
Naturalistic
Physical Theatre
Comedic
Satirical
Genre
Naturalism
Realism
Comedy – black comedy/ sit com/ rom com/
slapstick/ pastiche
Horror
Documentary
Expressionism
Mystery/ thriller/
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General Words
Upstage - Downstage
Stage Left/Right
Cues
Rehearsal
Refine / develop / stimulus
Blocking / Space
Atmosphere / mood / Reaction
Pineapples
Remember the word ‘Pineapples’ –
you need to be referring to these
elements of voice when describing
how you used it.
Acting
techniques:
Use of Voice
Then you need to link them the
effect they had on the audience
PACE
INTONATION
NASAL
EMOTION
ACCENT/DIALECT
PITCH
PAUSE
LINE DELIVERY
EMPHASIS
STACCATO
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Flag Pegs
FACIAL EXPRESSION
LEVELS
Acting
ACTION
Techniques:
GAIT
Use of
physicality
POSTURE
EYE CONTACT
GESTURE
SPACE
Remember the words ‘Flag Pegs’ – you need to be referring to these
elements of your physicality when describing how you used it.
Then you need to link them the effect they had on the audience
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Key words to explain/ analyse/evaluate your acting skills
Voice (pace,
Facial Expressions
pitch, volume,
tone, accent)
Body Language
Gesture
Proxemics /
Movement
Scream
Wink
Shaking/nodding
head
Raising hands
Moving forward
Shout
Cheerful
Shrug
Clenching fists
Moving away
Squeaky
Smile
Titled head
Wagging finger
Keeping same
distance
Pause
Titled head
Drumming/tapping Pointing
fingers
Pushing away
Mumble
Frown
Slowly
Rubbing hands
Pulling towards
Stutter
Wide eyed
Open / Closed
Rubbing eyes
Invading
personal space
Whisper
Down turned mouth
Slouched
Thumbs
up/down
Backing off
Controlled
Eyebrows raised
Shoulders
hunched
Biting nails
Circling
Slowly
Mouth wide open
Quickly
Hands on hips
Intimidating
Croaky
Eyes narrowed
Skipping
Hands behind
back
Comforting
Quietly
Sad
Plodding
Stroking chin
Ignoring
Strong
Jaw tensed
Slow
Head in hands
Turning your
back
Melodic
Upper lip curled
Running
Playing with
hair
Grabbing
clothing
Clear
Flared nostrils
Alert
Crossing arms
Fixed on the
spot
Gibberish
Drooping eyelids
Brisk
Stroking
Stalking
Breathy
Rolling eyes
Leaning
Waving
Mirroring
Wheezy
Glare
Pacing
Scratching head Approaching
Intonation
Stare
Kneeling
Throwing hands
in the air
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Challenging
Pineapples and Flag Pegs: putting it into practice
Try completing the following task, Acting Skills from Pineapples and Flag Pegs:
1. Choose a moment from your improvised performance. Describe that
moment and explain what you wanted to achieve for the audience.
e.g. In one part of my performance my character was leaving for war
and had to say goodbye to their family. We wanted to show how
overwhelming these moments were and how war had such a huge
impact on family relationships.
Your turn:
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2. Choose a line that you delivered in this part of your performance.
e.g. As my character was saying goodbye to their sister, I said the
line “Look after mother, she isn’t strong enough to do this without
you.”
Your turn:
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3. Choose 4 vocal acting skills from the Pineapples list and describe how you
used them to deliver this line. Try to pick out key words and focus on them.
e.g. The tone of my voice was sombre and the pitch of my voice was
low, to show how important this request was. I also paused before
“strong enough”, to suggest that my character might be about to say
something more serious about their mother’s state of mind. The
emotions behind my voice were a mixture of sadness and guilt
because they character was leaving their family behind and placing
responsibility on their younger sibling.
(PTO)
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Your turn:
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4. Now choose 4 physical acting skills from the Flag Pegs list and describe
how you used them at the same moment in your performance. Try to pick
out key words and focus on them.
e.g. As I spoke to my character’s sister I moved towards her and leant
in, closely, almost speaking the words in her ear so that her mother
wouldn’t hear. I also wrapped my arm around her to show her
comfort and to demonstrate the bond between the two characters.
Finally, when speaking the words “Without you” I stared straight
into the sister’s eyes, to add emphasis to the line and show the weight
of the situation.
Your turn:
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FURTHER REVISION - See if you can do this for a number of different key
moments in your improvised performance AND your scripted performance
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Plutchik's Wheel of Emotion is a fantastic resource
Use this to identify the precise emotions you have portrayed within your
performances. You will be awarded more marks if you can use more sophisticated
words than ‘Happy’ and ‘Sad’
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 Writing about the interaction with others on stage.
Did your relationship with another character have a significant effect on the
audience? How did you show this?
Describe a key relationship between your character and another character in the play
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What did you do as an actor to show this? (Pineapples and Flag Pegs)
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 Write about the atmosphere the scene created
What feeling did the scene have? Write about the effect on the audience.
Did they react as you expected or were there moments they responded
differently to what you had imagined? Was the audience silent? Shocked?
Saddened?
What was the feeling of the scene? Why?
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What impact did it have on the audience? Why?
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The different aspects of Performance
When writing about your performance, you should be referring to four main areas:
Explorative strategies, the medium(s) you have used, the elements of Drama and your
stimuli
Explorative Strategies
These are ways of using drama to explore topics, themes, issues, play texts and performance.
The strategies you are most likely to use are:
Still image/freeze frame –the action is frozen like a photograph
Thought-tracking –when frozen you speak the thought in the character’s head
Narrating –you describe what is happening/how someone is thinking or feeling but from the outside
Hot-seating –you are in role and people ask you questions
Cross-cutting – cutting from scene to scene
Forum theatre – you watch a piece and then you step in and try to change it
Marking the moment –showing which are the key moments in a piece of drama
Flashback/forward – you show a scene of something which happened in the past/future
Soundscape – the creation of atmosphere through sounds
Role-play – taking on a role and acting like that person would
The Drama Medium
These are the different ways in which dramatic meaning (ideas) are communicated to an audience.
These include the use of:
Costume – all the clothes and accessories an actor wears to demonstrate meaning and/or character
Masks and make-up – masks are a form of covering the face. Make-up is the cosmetic paint,
powder and colouring used on stage to make faces and expressions visible to the audience
Sound and music –this includes everything the audience hears
Lighting – the use of artificial light to create a range of effects and moods, or to direct the audience’s
attention
Space and levels – using heights and proxemics to demonstrate meaning and relationships to the
audience
Set and props – the set is the constructed or created setting in which a play takes place. The props
are the items used during a performance
Movement, mime and gesture – movement is the physical action that happens on stage. Mime is
when actors remain silent and convey meaning through actions. Gesture is a single movement, made
by part of the body, such as a fist clenching
Voice –using vocal techniques such as pauses, pitch and tone
Spoken language – the choice of words used
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The Elements of Drama
These are the different parts of a dramatic performance that relate to the story being told, the themes
being developed and the ways the characters are presented.
The elements of drama include:
Action, plot and content –the story, characters and/or themes of the drama
Forms – the way the story is told, the characters portrayed, and/or themes depicted
Climax and anti-climax – building and/or releasing tension, and/or sense of expectation
Rhythm, pace and tempo –the rate at which the action moves along and the extent to which this
changes
Contrasts – e.g., stillness vs. activity, silence vs. noise
Characterisation – the means used to portray a role using vocal and physical skills
Conventions – the techniques typically used in drama
Symbols – the representational use of props, gestures, expressions, costume, lighting, and/or
setting. E.g. white costume to represent the innocence of a character
Forms of Stimuli
Drama arises from many sources and roots. Many different things stimulate the imagination of those
who make drama.
These different stimuli include:
Poetry
Music
Images –e.g. paintings, pictures, photos
Play scripts
Live theatre performances
Television and film
Newspaper and magazine articles
Extracts from fiction and non-fiction texts
Artefacts –e.g. objects, pictures, costumes, etc.
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Section A: Write about your Improvised piece
•
Remember when you are discussing acting to use pineapples and flag pegs
(see the grid in this pack for extra words).
•
Make sure you explain yourself clearly and justify your answers to get extra
marks. Don’t just explain what you did, but why you did it and the effect it
created.
•
Remember the examiner does not know you or the practical work you have done.
Make their life easier by clearly and concisely explaining in a few sentences only
what your piece was about or what section of the play you acted out. This should
not take long, but will help the examiner visualise what you are writing about.
This section will always ask about a piece of work you have completed in class. You
should write about your improvisation on ‘War’.
There will be 4 questions each worth 10 marks. You must answer them all.
Question 1: DESCRIBE.
You will need to be able to define your devised piece using the following:
Drama Term
Title
Style
Period
Genre
Target audience
Performance
space
Technical and
design elements
Your contribution
Definition
Give your piece a name.
This is the style your performance is in. The easiest way to define your style is
whether it is naturalistic, non-naturalistic or ‘largely naturalistic with some nonnaturalistic moments’.
If your piece is non-linear, you could also describe it as ‘episodic’.
The time period you are performing the piece in. Is it ‘modern day’ or ‘1980s’ or
‘the 1600s’? (Or several time periods that you may need to define?)
Think of genre as the categories in the library:
Comedy, tragedy, drama, murder mystery, sci-fi, farce, historical/period drama
etc.
Most of your work tends to be a ‘drama’ which implies it is largely serious in
tone.
Who is your play aimed at? And who is it suitable for? Why is it suitable for this
audience?
Where did you perform it? (Drama studio at school)
What type of stage did you use? (thrust, traverse, in-the-round, proscenium arch
etc)
Are there any specific design or technical elements you used – e.g. sound effects,
particular lighting states or props?
You are an ACTOR – but what part or parts are you playing? Give some basic
information about your character.
Example of Exam Style Question:
Q1 Describe what the piece was about; state the style, period and genre of the piece, the
performance space and any technical or design elements you used and your target audience.
You should state whether your contribution was as an actor, designer or technician.
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Question 1 Practise:
(Use the table on the previous page to help you fill this in. You should aim to memorise these
responses for your final exam)
Write ONE paragraph describing your performance: (Title and who/what/where/when/why?)
What style is your piece? (e.g. naturalistic, non-naturalistic, abstract, physical theatre…)
What is/are the period(s) of your piece?
What genre is your piece?
Who are your target audience and why?
What is your role in the performance? I am an actor and I play the role(s) of…
Describe your performance space: (type of theatre and audience arrangement)
Describe the design elements that are important to your performance:
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THE MAGIC 8: Section A
You should include 8 performance techniques in every answer.
E.g. if the Q asks you about development or research, you might
say how researching (whatever your T.I.E stimulus was) helped
with characterisation. Then you must quote a line from your
piece (where the research was relevant) and go on to give 8
performance techniques you used as a result of the research.
So an example of the magic 8 technique would look like this –
Q2: Explain how you developed your role within this piece of practical
work? Give at least one specific example of how you applied your
skill as actor, designer or technician in preparation for performance.
My character’s function in the play was to show the moral contrast between two twins.
We developed the piece to have a strong moral message, highlighting my character’s
role in the murder. We researched newspaper articles on child killers and watched a
documentary on children that kill. One specific example of when I applied my skill as an
actor was when I said the line "don't look at me," I spoke in a low pitched whisper (1)
with a stammer (2) on “don't”. I lowered my eyes (3) and couldn't maintain eye contact
with the other actors on stage. I started to walk backwards (4) with a slow pace and
wide gait (5) until I reached my desk. As I lowered myself onto my chair, I put my head
in my hands (6) and scrunched my shoulders up to my ears. I crossed my legs to create
negative body language (7) then finally lifted my eyes to stare (8) at the audience,
unnerving them and achieving my aim of a creepy and eerie character fitting with our
theme of free choice between right and wrong.
Now write your own magic 8 answer to this question. You can do this for more
than one character if you use multi-role in your performance. The next few pages
will take you through some example questions and how to structure your
answers.
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Question 2: EXPLAIN
Explaining is all about the HOW and the WHY.
 How have you done what you have done?
 Why have you done what you have done?
Each HOW needs a WHY - they work together in explanation.
e.g.
•
•
•
This is how my scene was put together and now I will explain why we did it in
this way.
I will explain how I developed my character and then why I chose to develop
it this way.
I will explain how I worked with my group and why we decided to work in
this way.
Examples of Exam Style Questions
Q2.
•
Explain how your role developed in rehearsal. Use two examples in your
answer.
•
Explain how you aimed to communicate your role in performance. Use two
examples in your answer.
•
Explain how you prepared to play your role in performance. Use two
examples in your answer.
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Question 2 Practise:
•
Explain how you prepared to play your role in performance. Use two
examples in your answer.
1. Start your answer by using the words in the question:
I prepared for my role in the performance in a number of different
ways.
2. THEN, write about your first example, a) describing what you did, b) how/why
you did it, c) linking it directly to your performance (MAGIC 8 - the most marks!).
Firstly, a) I used hot-seating to help prepare my reaction to the death of
my character’s son. b) My group asked me questions such as ‘How would
you describe your relationship with your son, Tom?’ and ‘What is your
happiest memory of spending time with Tom?’. This helped me in my
performance because I was able to create a back story for my character
which made it easier to imagine the close relationship that they had with
their son and therefore understand how completely devastated they must
have felt when their son was taken away from them. c) I then showed these
emotions in my performance by dropping to the floor with my head in my
hands and sobbing helplessly when my character found out the news about
Tom’s death. I stayed kneeling on the floor, shaking, to show that my
character was so upset they had no strength left to move. I hunched my
shoulders and put my head in my hands, shaking and sobbing quietly. I
also whimpered the line ‘It isn’t fair!” in a high pitched and cracked
voice, emphasising the word “isn’t”. I then cried out “How could they take
him away from me?!’, followed by loud sobs and increased shaking to show
my character breaking down.
You will then need to do the same thing with another example (and for as many
examples as the question states)
Your turn:
a)I prepared for my role in the performance by…..
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b) I did this by……
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c) I used this in my performance by…. To show…
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DON’T FORGET THE MAGIC 8!
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Try answering a different ‘Explain’ question:
•
Explain how you aimed to communicate your role in performance. Use two
examples in your answer.
1. Start your answer by using the words in the question:
I aimed to communicate my role in the performance in a number of
different ways.
1. THEN, write about your first example, a) describing what you did, b) how/why
you did it, c) linking it directly to your performance.
Firstly,
a)I wanted to show the audience that….
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b)To do this I used (you should write about specific dramatic techniques –
Pineapples and Flag Pegs!)…Make sure you describe what you did
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c)This showed the audience that… DON’T FORGET THE MAGIC 8!
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Question 3 & 4: ANALYSE & EVALUATE
There are 3 main steps to analysis or evaluation:
1. Identify the FOCUS/AIM/INTENTION of your piece – E.g. if you are evaluating
the scene, what is the purpose of the scene – to develop the plot; to develop a
character; to create a particular atmosphere?
2. Give it an overall evaluation – what is your opinion of how well you did – MARK
OUT OF 10.
3. Provide EXAMPLES and EVIDENCE to back up your
opinion.
If you don’t do this, you
will get very few marks
for your answer (if
any!)
Examples of Exam Style Questions
Q3.
•
Analyse the improvements that you made during the rehearsal process. You
should refer to at two specific occasions in your response.
•
Analyse how successful you were in presenting your role to the audience.
You should refer to at two specific occasions in your response.
•
Analyse how well you created a particular feeling or atmosphere in your
performance. You should refer to at two specific examples in your response.
Examples of Exam Style Questions
Q4.
•
Evaluate the success of your contribution to the group performance as a whole.
You should refer to two particular moments form the piece to support your
answer.
•
Evaluate how successful your final performance was in communicating your
ideas to the audience. You should refer to two particular examples to support
your answer.
•
Evaluate how successful your group were in developing a specific atmosphere
on stage in performance. You should refer to two particular examples to
support your answer.
•
Evaluate how well you came to realise your personal aims in performance.
You should refer to two particular examples to support your answer.
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Question 3 Practise
Analyse how well you created a particular feeling or atmosphere in your performance.
You should refer to at two specific examples in your response. Let’s try it out with one
example:
1. Start your answer by using the words in the question:
I was pleased with the way I created a tense atmosphere in my
performance.
2. THEN, write about your first example stating the focus/aim/intention of the scene.
An example of when I was successful at doing this was in a scene
between my character and their father. Their relationship was very
damaged because he had turned to drink and was abusing my
characters mother. I wanted the tension to show how my character
felt trapped because she didn’t want to engage with her father but
she couldn’t speak out because of what her father might do to her, or
her mother.
3. Give yourself an overall evaluation (and it would be helpful to give it a mark out of
10 so that you can link this to how well you think you did)
I feel that I was very successful in showing my character’s feelings
towards her father through my actions and reactions. In doing so, I
feel that the atmosphere was very tense and would mark myself 9/10
for this aspect of my performance.
4. Provide examples and evidence to back up your opinion (MAGIC 8!)
To create this atmosphere I refused to look at my character’s father
when he entered the room, staring at the book I was reading. When
my father barked at me to get my attention, I slowly closed the book
and very steadily moved my head to face him. I then delivered the
line “Yes, father”. This was said calmly and quietly but in a
monotone way, which effectively showed my characters ‘lack
enthusiasm at talking to her father. When he asked me how my day
at school was, I replied with the bare minimum, simply stating
“Fine”, this time gritting my teeth slightly to show my discomfort at
being in the room with him. Finally, when he patted the chair and
asked me to sit with him I sniffed and curled my lip to show disgust
at this request, stiffening my body and clenching my fists as if I had
to do everything in my power to refrain from lashing out. I then
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simply walked calmly past him and, without looking back, replied
“Sorry father, I have homework to do”.
Question 3 Practise:
Try answering the same question as the example demonstrates in your Drama
books or on paper. Time yourself 10 minutes (or 15 to start with, if 10 seems too
scary!):
Analyse how well you created a particular feeling or atmosphere in your performance.
You should refer to at two specific examples in your response.
For further practise, try the same process with different questions:
•
Analyse the improvements that you made during the rehearsal process. You
should refer to at two specific occasions in your response.
•
Analyse how successful you were in presenting your role to the audience.
You should refer to at two specific occasions in your response.
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Question 4 Practise
Evaluate the success of your contribution to the group performance as a whole. You
should refer to two particular moments form the piece to support your answer. Let’s
try it out with one example:
1. Start your answer by using the words in the question:
I was very pleased with the success of my contribution to the group
performance as a whole, for a number of reasons.
2. THEN, write about your first example stating the focus/aim/intention of the scene.
Firstly, I was pleased with my contribution to the battle scene in my
piece in which we all used slow motion to draw the audience’s
attention to the intensity of the scene and the emotions and
reactions of the characters.
3. Give yourself an overall evaluation (and it would be helpful to give it a mark out of
10 so that you can link this to how well you think you did)
I feel that I was very successful in achieving the effect of my
character moving in slow motion and clearly portraying their
movements and emotions. If I had to rate my performance out of 10,
I would give it an 8.
4. Provide examples and evidence to back up your opinion (MAGIC 8!)
In order to achieve success in this technique, I made sure that I
paced my movements evenly. First of all I achieved this by using a
metronome to time myself and then when my skills in slow motion
improved I was able to count in my head so that I didn’t speed up
and slow down. The counting technique also helped me stay in time
with the rest of the group so that even though our movements were
all slowed down, they were all at the same pace making the effect
more powerful. I also used large, clear and exaggerated movements
such as a big sweeping, beckoning gesture to the rest of the squad.
This helped show the audience that we were all in danger and even
though the pace of the scene was slowed down, it gave the audience
a sense of the urgency our characters were experiencing. To develop
this atmosphere further, I had a panicked expression on my face to
show that the enemy were approaching. To do this, I widened my
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eyes and mouthed the words “Quick!”, “Hurry!”, as if I was shouting
out to the other men in my squad. Finally, when my character was
shot in this scene, I showed the impact of the bullet my slowly caving
my body inwards, and moving both hands towards my stomach. I let
my knees give way and crumpled to the floor, reaching out to
another soldier and spreading my fingers out in desperation. If I
had an opportunity to improve on this performance element, I
would exaggerate my movements even further to make the scene
even more intense for the audience.
Question 4 Practise
Try answering the same question as the example demonstrates in your Drama
books or on paper. Time yourself 10 minutes (or 15 to start with, if 10 seems too
scary!):
•
Evaluate the success of your contribution to the group performance as a whole.
You should refer to two particular moments form the piece to support your
answer.
For further practise, try the same process with different questions:
•
Evaluate how successful your final performance was in communicating your
ideas to the audience. You should refer to two particular examples to support
your answer.
•
Evaluate how successful your group were in developing a specific atmosphere
on stage in performance. You should refer to two particular examples to
support your answer.
•
Evaluate how well you came to realise your personal aims in performance.
You should refer to two particular examples to support your answer.
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Section B
This section will ask you about a play that you have studied.
You should write about the scenes you performed from your play. You MUST detail the
name of the play, the name of the playwright and the section you performed at the
beginning of your answer.
There will be two questions and you must answer BOTH questions. Each question will
be worth 20 marks.
Read the question carefully – if it asks you about your work; make sure you write
about your work rather than the group as a whole.
Make sure you can:
 Explain the section of the play you performed concisely (as briefly but clearly as
possible)
 Explain the character your played concisely (name, age, relationship with others,
focus for the play)
 Explain the style of the play (this is where you will need to demonstrate
background knowledge of the playwright)
 Explain some of the main challenges of the scene
o For your group
o For you personally
In rehearsal
Think about how and why your group used certain rehearsal techniques to develop your
work. What did you CHANGE or IMPROVE in your piece after using these techniques?
It is not enough to tell the examiner you used them – but why and with what results?
 Mime run – focus on developing movement, proxemics, enhancing non-verbal
communication
 Radio Play – focus on use of voice, intonation, tempo or clarity
 Hot Seating – developing knowledge of character and relationships
 Speed Run – ensure smooth scene changes and clear order of scenes
 Switching roles – explore how others might play your role and use their ideas
 Performing in a different genre
 Having a movement/action for every line
 Summarising scenes into Freeze frames
How many of these can you use to describe your acting? What other words could
you add to the list to practise with?
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Rehearsal Techniques Log
See if you can write about 4 different rehearsal techniques in the table below.
Look at the example to get an idea of what you could write about:
Rehearsal
technique
Radio play
Why was it used
How was it used
How did it affect your
performance (With an
example)
To focus on the voice My group and I sat in a
Through the radio play I
and intonation of my circle and carried out a
realised that I wasn’t
character, Gregor, in a line run, without any
bringing enough expression
scene when he is
focus on movement or
into a really important line,
panicking because his staging. Our sole focus
which shows that Gregor is
family is removing his was on making sure that starting to lose control and
bedroom furniture
the lines had the right
fears he might never be
and possessions as he emotion behind them
himself again. To develop
continues to
and put across the right
this, I increased the pitch of
transform into a giant meaning. I focused on
my voice and added a slight
insect.
the line “If you empty my squeak to create sense of
room I’ll forget who I
weakness to the character
am”
(whose begging is having
no effect on the family). I
also placed emphasis on
the words “forget” to draw
attention to his fear of this
happening.
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Rehearsal
technique
Why was it used
How was it used
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How did it affect your
performance (With an
example)
 Writing about the interaction with others on stage.
Did your relationship with another character have a significant effect on the
audience? How did you show this?
Describe a key relationship between your character and another character in the play
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What did you do as an actor to show this? (Pineapples and Flag Pegs)
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 Write about the atmosphere the scene created
What feeling did the scene have? Write about the effect on the audience.
Did they react as you expected or were there moments they responded
differently to what you had imagined? Was the audience silent? Shocked?
Saddened?
What was the feeling of the scene? Why?
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What impact did it have on the audience? Why?
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Theory: Steven Berkoff
In Section B you need to show that you understand the
style of your chosen play and the approaches and
techniques of the playwright or practitioner that you are
working with. Your Playwright (who is also known for
his style of ‘Berkoffian’ theatre) is Steven Berkoff.
Here are some key facts about Berkoff’s style. You
should refer to these in your exam if you are asked
about ‘chosen intentions’, ‘appropriate style’, ‘research’
or ‘interpretation’.
•
Berkoff’s approach to theatre is incredibly physical
•
His plays often feature a lot of ensemble work (a group working together to
create the same meaning/portray the same thing)
•
His strength lies in the power of the language as well as in the physical
interpretation of the text, bringing it to vivid life for his audience
•
His style is non-naturalistic, often focusing on movement rather than voice.
•
He believed in the importance of mime to add meaning and clarity to a text.
•
He believed mime should be performed with high levels of accuracy and
exactness
•
The theory of Total Theatre is key to Berkoff. Total Theatre maintains that every
aspect of theatre must have purpose: every movement, that is choreographed; to
each line, that is learned perfectly; to each lighting effect, that is used to convey a
mood or message; to each sound effect, that enhances the audience’s
experience; to each prop that has a use.
•
The aim of Total Theatre is to create extreme moods to give the audience an
overwhelming experience and to shock, amuse, scare, or amaze them.
•
As a result of Total Theatre, performances are often minimalist, with bare stages
and little language so that the focus remains on the physical movement and not
on all the effects or the creation of a scene.
31
Using Theory to write about performance
Could you write about the ways in which you have used Berkoff’s style to develop
your interpretation of the play? Try doing this for the quote in the first box. Then,
choose three more points from the theory page (31) to write about.
Theory about the
style
Example of what you did using
this knowledge or research
Berkoff’s style
often focuses on
movement rather
than voice
32
What was the effect it
had on the audience?
Theory about the
style
Example of what you did using
this knowledge or research
33
What was the effect it
had on the audience?
Section B: Text (Worth 20 marks each)
Remember: these questions are worth double the number of marks than the questions
in Section A. Your answers must be developed in much more detail, with reference to
your intentions, processes and your understanding of the play.
See if you can time yourself 20 minutes to answer a question. Use the examples of
rehearsal technique and research based preparation you have collected (from page 28
and 32)
Examples of Exam Style Questions
First Question
•
Explain what the main acting challenges were in playing your role in this extract
of the play. Give clear details of the research, rehearsal and other
preparation work to explain how you developed your chosen skill.
•
Explain how you prepared for performance of the text taking into account the
playwright’s intentions and your group’s interpretation of the play.
•
Explain how you developed your acting skills during rehearsals to create a
style of performance appropriate to your studied play. Give details of your
research, rehearsal and other preparation work relevant to your own role in the
play
Second Question
•
Analyse how well you achieved what you and the rest of the cast set out to
do. Give clear details of your interpretation of the role or design choices,
reasons for your approach and how well you worked with others.
•
Analyse the success of your personal performance in final performance. Give
clear details of areas you were proud of in performance.
•
Analyse your success in applying your own vocal and physical skills
effectively within the final performance of at least one specific section of this
extract.
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THE MAGIC 8: Section B
You should include 8 performance techniques in every answer.
E.g. if the Q asks you about development or research, you might say
how researching helped with characterisation. Then you must quote
a line from your piece (where the research was relevant) and go on
to
give 8 performance techniques you used as a result of the research.
Section B
(20 marks)
Explain how you developed both your vocal and your physical skills during rehearsals
to create a character that was appropriate to your group’s interpretation of the play
script.
Give clear details of your research, rehearsal and other preparation work that helped
you to understand and perform your character.
So an example of the magic 8 technique would look like this –
In order to successfully portray the teenage character of ‘Jo’ in Shelagh Delany’s ‘A
Taste of Honey’, I developed my vocal and physical skills in a variety of ways
throughout the rehearsal process. My character’s function in the play was to highlight
the difficulties of being a child in a single parent family in 1950’s Britain. The style of the
play was naturalistic, and the genre was kitchen sink Drama – so I used a lot of
Stanislavski techniques to develop a believable and naturalistic portrayal of Jo. A big
part of the preparation work was mastering the Manchurian accent - as the play is set in
Salford near Manchester. Watching YouTube tutorials on accent showed me to
elongate my vowel sounds and play with glottal stops to make my voice sound more
working class and of the region.
The kitchen sink Drama genre was famous for presenting class struggles and my group
and I wanted to show the tough nature of Jo as she battled against difficult
circumstances – which include becoming a single parent herself – following in her
mother’s footsteps. The main interpretation we focused on was the strained mother
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daughter relationship: this is exacerbated by the arrival of character of Peter (mother
Helen’s new boyfriend), who instantly dislikes and resents Jo.
One example of how I used my vocal and physical skills was when I showed my
character’s discomfort and displeasure when first meeting Helen’s new boyfriend, Peter.
When Peter enters I visibly shrink back from him, (1) rounding my shoulders, (2)
lowering my head and bringing my (3) eye line to the floor away from my mother. On the
line "you can’t make me," I experimented with my (4) tone, playing with the line through
(5) gritted teeth, and also emphasizing the (6) volume of “you” to show my distrust of
this new man in my mother’s life. I chose to try it with a (7) stammer on “can't” to bring
out my character’s fear towards him. In the majority of this extract though,(8) I lead with
my chin and show my stubbornness and defiance towards the thought of a new father
figure. In order to develop my interpretation of Jo more fully, I used emotion memory –
a Stanislavski technique to help me get into the emotion of anger towards an adult. I
remember a recent argument with my mother and tapped into the way I felt. This helped
me present a more realistic ‘angry’ Jo. Also, in warm up activities, I experimented with
the 7 states of tension to physicalise the internal emotions I was experimenting with.
Stanislavski began with the removal of tension from the body through relaxation and
then he believed you could build a character once you had eliminated your own habits
and mannerisms externally. Internal focus and imagination – such as picturing the grotty
flat Jo shares with her mother Helen, helped me present a naturalistic version of Jo.
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