2
Scholarship Evidence
A candidate must show the ability to analyse text critically. Two clear opportunities are in the supporting
oral statements to camera and in the astute selection of performance techniques. For example, the oral
introduction to the Part One performance will consider the extract in the context of the whole play, as
well as in close detail for performance opportunities. Meaningless or trite ways of using the text will be
avoided.
A candidate playing Hamlet or Ophelia may, for example, take a few moments to engage the
assumed audience and allow a physical state to be registered. Vocal control and modulation will
use every sound, as well as pause and breath to embody the text. Space will be used creatively
to enhance the ideas and thought processes being played. The role will be maintained as the
candidate leaves the space.
To demonstrate integration, synthesis, and application of highly developed knowledge and skills in
the performed pieces, a candidate will show breadth as well as depth in their evidence. For example,
the self-devised section may suggest more than one level of meaning. It may have social or universal
overtones, which the candidate will refer to in the oral introduction. Challenges of limited time and space
will be smoothly overcome so that the piece will play as a forceful and fresh drama, with clear links to the
selected theorist.
Showing the influence of Brecht’s approach to drama, a candidate may, for example, find vigorous,
direct address and use varied conventions of Epic theatre such as song, chant, and gestus. The
devised work could address social inequity by demonstrating differing perspectives through voice
and action, without a plot, but linked by a commentator / narrator.
Logical development of ideas and their concise presentation must be an overall feature of the evidence.
Both oral and performed material will be precise and coherent. For example, the justification of the
impromptu performance for Part Three will give a succinct overview of its intended effect as well as some
specific references to the ways this was achieved. The performance itself will use economical, but telling
ways to achieve the intention.
The candidate may, for example, restate the impromptu task, proceed to explain their interpretation
of the task, explaining challenges that arose and what became of them in the performance. Where
a performance has not gone to plan, a candidate may gain credibility through explaining why.
New Zealand Scholarship Drama Sample
2
outstanding Scholarship Evidence
In addition to the requirements for Scholarship, the candidate will sustain and demonstrate a distinctive
approach to all three parts of the examination.
An immediate connection with the imagined audience will be established in the opening moments of
each piece and continue to build throughout the performance. For example, arresting initial sound,
stance, action, or a frozen image may ensure that the overall intention of a candidate presenting Hamlet
/ Ophelia, a Brechtian self devised piece, and the first moments of an impromptu performance, is given
an impressive springboard for development. Hamlet / Ophelia may sigh deeply and change posture
before setting out to show the audience the quandary of the character. A Brechtian narrator may stride
purposefully and assertively to the front of the playing area. The impromptu piece may open with a
soundscape created non-verbally to locate the action before a word is spoken.
Perception and insight are frequently shown in the originality shown by a candidate who finds creative
and economical ways of dealing with the challenges of the text and circumstances. For example,
an intelligent reading of Hamlet / Ophelia may have the candidate playing against type or using
understatement as a means of shaping the intricacies of their observations for the character. A clear,
though often unexpected trajectory for the development of the piece will have been established.
An element of sophistication may be shown through choice of script as well as through refined and
polished playing, where complete technical assurance will allow the text to seem inevitable and unique.
The choice of extract for Part One (performance of a prescribed text) is important, not only in providing
opportunities for analytical evidence, but for the quality of the language itself. By extending analysis and
performance to involve heightened and enriched language, the candidate may be better positioned to
demonstrate such sophistication. For example, rich subtleties of language and the emotive impact of
Shakespeare’s sound in a speech from Hamlet / Ophelia will seem freshly imagined by the character
and enhance the intention outlined in the introduction, without predicting in any instance what the next
utterance or move might be. The character is seen to think, and perhaps move, before the words are
given breath.
The outstanding candidate provides evidence of independent reflection by the calibre of their observation
in both statements to camera and their practice. Strength of personal conviction is tested in all three
parts of the examination. A candidate showing independent reflection and assured reconfiguration in
them all will impress through the strong sense of sincerity conveyed. Honesty and belief will characterise
the performances. For example, the candidate playing Hamlet / Ophelia may use telling detail, such
as eye movement, and align this technique with absolute and apparently instinctive movement. In the
intention statement to camera, the candidate’s choices may be explained in less detail, since that would
imply premeditation, but the intention itself will be vigorously and positively outlined.
To show convincing communication, the candidate will be equally skilled in all aspects of performance,
and eloquent in oral contributions. The use of drama terminology, accepted drama conventions,
and a clear awareness of an audience positioned beyond the camera would be ways in which such
communication could be achieved. For example, the candidate playing Hamlet / Ophelia may, in the
oral component of the question, give authority to their proposal by referring to significant productions or
directors whose example may have helped develop the interpretation. The intention statement to camera
may include such phrases as “What interests me is ...” or “It seems that ...” which invite engagement.
Such astute reasoning will inform all intention statements.
New Zealand Scholarship Drama Sample