Welcome to Drama and Theatre Studies

What a good choice you made!!

Why Drama and Theatre ?

The course is exciting and well regarded

The skills you learn prepare you for life beyond the classroom.

Our results are excellent

If you are prepared to work hard, you are guaranteed success.

You will love it!

The Course!

Overview of our new AS specification

Component Overview Assessment

Component 1Exploration and

Performance60%

1. Explore a performance textin light of a practitioner and record this in a portfolioPerform an extract from this text

2. Perform a mono/duo from a different text

Internally assessed and externally

moderated

Component 2Theatre Makers in

Practice40% exam

Sec A: Live Theatre Evaluations

Sec B: Questions on a set text

Exam 1 hour 45 mins

Overview of our new A Level specification

Component Overview Assessment

Component 1Devising

40%

Students devise a piece of theatre which they then perform.They will record the process in a portfolio.

Internally assessed and externally

moderated

Component 2Text in Performance

20%

Group performance from a performance textPerform a mono/duo from a different text

Externally assessed by a visiting examiner

Component 3Theatre makers in practice

40%

Three sections Sec A: Live Theatre EvaluationSec B: Questions on a set text (choice from six texts)Sec C: Director’s interpretation (choice from nine texts and eight practitioners)

Exam 2 hours 30 mins

AS Component One: Exploration and Performance

60% of qualification96 marks

• NEA ( Non Examined Assessment) – used to be Coursework!!!)

• Students explore one key extract* from a performance text in light of the work of a leading practitioner.

• Students rehearse and refine their performance realisations for an assessed performance of this extract.

• They record the exploration, rehearsal and creation process of this group performance in a portfolio and evaluate their contribution to it

• *a ‘key extract’ is defined as a scene or a moment that is significant to the text as a whole and at least 10 minutes in length when performed. This can take the form of a continuous dialogue/scene, or edited extracts, for example abridging the extract to match the number of performers in a group.

AS Component 2

• Theatre Makers in Practice

• 40% of qualification

• Written examination: 1 hour 45 minutes

• 48 marks

Section A: Live Theatre Evaluation

● 16 marks, assessing AO4.

● Students answer one extended response question from a choice of two requiring them to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen.

● Students are allowed to bring in theatre evaluation notes of up to a maximum of 500 words.

Section B: Page to Stage: Realising a Performance Text

• 32 marks,

• Students answer two extended response questions on how they might interpret and realise an extract in performance. It will be an unseen extract from their chosen text.

• Students answer from the perspective of a performer and a designer.

Performance texts are not allowed in the examination as extracts will be provided.

Component 1: Devising

• Coursework

• 40% of the qualification

• 80 marks

Component 2: Text in Performance

• Coursework

• 20% of the qualification

• 60 marks

Component 3: Theatre Makers in Practice

• Written examination: 2 hours 30 minutes

• 40% of the qualification

• 80 marks

Section A: Live Theatre Evaluation

• 20 marks.

• Students answer one extended response question from a choice of two requiring them to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen.

• Students are allowed to bring in theatre evaluation notes of up to a maximum of

• 500 words.

Section B: Page to Stage: Realising a Performance Text

• 36 marks, assessing.

• Students answer two extended response questions based on an unseen extract from the performance text they have studied.

• Students will demonstrate how they, as theatre makers, intend to realise the extract in performance.

Students answer from the perspective of a performer and a designer.

• Performance texts for this section are not allowed in the examination as the extracts will be provided

Section C: Interpreting a Performance Text

• 24 marks• Students will answer one extended response question from

a choice of two based on an unseen named section from their chosen performance text

• Students will demonstrate how their re-imagined production concept will communicate ideas to a contemporary audience.

• Students will also need to outline how the work of their chosen theatre practitioner has influenced their overall production concept and demonstrate an awareness of the performance text in its original performance conditions.

• Students must take in clean copies of their performance texts for this section, but no other printed materials.

• In both the AS and A level specifications, there are set texts that need to be practically explored.

• For the AS specification, there are six texts to choose from for Section B of the exam.

• These will also be the set texts for Section B of the A level exam.

Set texts and practitioners

Set text choices

• Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Dario Fo• Fences, August Wilson• Equus, Peter Shaffer• Machinal, Sophie Treadwell• That Face, Polly Stenham• Colder than Here, Laura Wade

• For the A level specification, there are nine texts to choose from for Section C of the exam.

• These texts need to be explored in light of a practitioner.

Set texts and practitioners

Set text choices

• Antigone, Sophocles/Don Taylor• Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe• Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen/Richard Eyre• Lysistrata, Aristophanes (translated by Alan H. Sommerstein)• The Maids, Jean Genet• The School for Scandal, Richard Brinsley Sheridan• The Tempest, William Shakespeare• Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett• Woyzeck, Georg Bűchner (translated by John Mackendrick)

Set texts and practitioners

• For Section C of the A level exam, students will be interpreting one of the texts on the previous slide for a contemporary audience, in light of a practitioner, from a director’s perspective.

• There are eight practitioners to choose from.

Practitioner choices

• Antonin Artaud • Steven Berkoff • Joan Littlewood • Bertolt Brecht

• Constantin Stanislavski • Kneehigh• Complicite • Punchdrunk

The A Level Portfolio

• The portfolio is worth 60 marks from the 80 marks recommended for this component.

• The portfolio submission recommendations are:

• handwritten/typed evidence between 2500–3000 words

Or

• recorded/verbal evidence between 12–14 minutes

Or

• a combination of handwritten/typed evidence (between 1250–1500 words) and recorded/verbal evidence (between 6–7 minutes).

Here are the 4 elements that must be covered in the portfolios:

• an exploration of the chosen text and practitioner

• an analysis and evaluation of the student’s contribution to the devising process through their ability to create and develop ideas as theatre makers

• an analysis and evaluation of the student’s ability to make connections between the chosen text/practitioner and their intended aims and objectives

• an understanding of social, historical and cultural contexts.

The portfolio must cover

Students are required to respond to these 6 statements in their portfolio.

• outline your initial response to the key extract and practitioner and track how it was developed throughout the devising process

• connect your research material/s to key stages in the development process and to performance outcomes

• evaluate how your chosen role/s emerged and developed from initial ideas through to the final performance

• analyse how your contribution was influenced by the selected theatre practitioner and/or theatre makers, and the impact live theatre has had on your own practical work

• 5 discuss how social,historical and cultural conventions impacted on your work

• 6 evaluate the creative choices you made and whether or not they were successful in performance.

6 Statements

Co-teachability Example 1 (All students do the AS and the A level)

Year 12 ( all texts are examples)TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3

Intro to drama and theatre

Rehearse and perform key extract for internal assessment

Watch live theatre Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time(AS c2, A c3)andRevise AS set text Equus

Practical exploration of AS set text Equus(AS c2, A c3)

Complete portfolio based on the exploration of the extract and practitioner for internal assessment

Complete AS written exam on live theatre and AS set text

Practically explore key extract from text and practitioner Fear and Misery of the Third Reich & Brecht(AS & A c1)

Rehearse and perform a monologue/duologue for internal assessmentOthello(AS c1, A c2)

Begin practical exploration of Section C text and practitionerWoyzeck & Punchdrunk(A c3)

Co-teachability Example 1 (All students do the AS and the A level)

Year 13 ( all texts are examples)TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3

Continued practical exploration of Section C set text and practitionerWoyzeck & Punchdrunk(A c3)

Either return to Year 12 monologue/duologue (Othello) OrPrepare new mono/duo for external assessment Road (A c2)

Watch a new piece of live theatre or revise Year 12 live production notes (Curious Incident)Revise the two set texts and the set practitioner (A c3)

Explore extract from new play and practitioner to devise new workPhotograph 51 & Frantic Assembly(A c1)

Either return to Year 12 group performance (Fear and Misery of the Third Reich)OrPrepare new group performance for external assessment Vinegar Tom(A, c2)

A level written exam on live theatre evaluation and two set textsEquus and Woyzeck & Punchdrunk(A c3)

Perform devised piece and complete portfolio for internal assessment

Co-teachability Example 2 (Mix of AS and A level students)

Year 12

TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3

AS and A together:- Practical

exploration of AS set text

AS and A together:- Start to complete their portfolio based on their exploration- Perform a monologue/duologue from another text (internal assessment)

AS and A together:Watch live theatre and create notes

AS students:- As a group rehearse and perform the key extract (internal ass)- Finish their portfolio

AS students:Complete exam

AS and A together:- Practically explore a key extract from a text and practitioner

A students:- Devise new work using extract as

starting point- Continue to work on their portfolio

A students:Sit mock examPerform devised work and complete portfolio (internal assessment)

Co-teachability Example 2 (Mix of AS and A level students)

Year 13

TERM 1 TERM 2 TERM 3

Practical exploration of A level set text in light of practitioner

Revisit monologue/duologue from Year 12 or Perform a new monologue duologue to a visiting examiner

Revise set text from AS and set text and practitioner from Term 1

Create director’s concept.

Student’s create a new group text-based piece and perform it to a visiting examiner

Sit exam

Watch live theatre and create notes (they could use their notes from the AS for this)

Why Wales High School?

We go on regular theatre trips !

We put on our own productions!

We work with Practitioners who are in the Arts World!

What is an average AS Level Theatre Studies lesson like?

• You will complete a series of practical tasks based on a key scene from a play (such as hot-seating key characters, improvising a day in their lives, creating thought tunnels or body sculptures…)

• You will deliver your ideas for set, costume or lighting in role as a designer

• You will go to a matinee performance of an acclaimed West End show

• You will use the internet to research the life of a playwright, or the performance history of a play

• You will perform your work to a number of different audiences

• You will be working with other people who like Drama!

What could I do with a qualification in Theatre Studies

You could become: an actor, director, producer or stage manager a sound/lighting designer or technician a set or costume designer a theatre practitioner or playwright a film/theatre critic a drama therapist a screen writer, presenter or production assistant a radio presenter an arts administrator

Or, best of all… A Drama or Performing Arts teacher!

Our successes!

• There are many of our past students who have gone on to work in top jobs in the Industry…

Bridging Work

• Go to a Live performance of a play – it can be an

amateur performance or a professional one

• Look at the Websites for Sheffield Theatres/Acorn Theatre/Rotherham Theatre/Montgomery Theatre etc)

• Write up a review, noting what worked or didn’t work for you as a member of the audience :

• Acting/Characterisation (by at least one actor),

Staging/Set, Sound/Music, Lighting.