A-level Drama and Theatre

Component 2: Devising Theatre

This is a practical component in which students are assessed on their ability to create and develop ideas to communicate meaning as part of the theatre making process making connections between dramatic theory and practice (AO1) and apply theatrical skills to realise artistic intentions in live performance (AO2).

Component 2 constitutes 30% of the A-level.
It is marked by teachers and moderated by AQA.

For this component, students must complete twoassessment tasks:

  • produce an individual Working notebook documenting the devising process (written)
  • contribute to a final devised, group performance. (practical)

The Working notebook is marked out of 40.
Each student’s contribution to the final devised performance is marked out of 20.

There is no restriction on the subject matter that forms the basis of students’ devising work. For example the starting point for the piece might be:

  • from literature or art
  • an adaptation of a poem, a folk tale, a newspaper story
  • theme-based or focused on an historical event
  • wholly original
  • intended to educate the audience, to express a political viewpoint, to be serious or comical.

The devised piece must be informed by the work and methodologies of one of the prescribed theatrepractitioners on our set list.

Each student must choose a different practitioner to that chosen for Component 3.

It is important that the content of the devised work is entirely in line with the dramatic intentions of the chosen practitioner(s) whose methodology has been adopted.

Each student must choose one specialism only for this component. They are assessed in relation to this specialism for both the Working notebook and devised performance.

Cross-sex casting is permitted.

Each pair/group is to be self-contained and totally responsible for all aspects of the devised work, which should seek to realise clear artistic intentions for an audience.

A-level Drama and Theatre

Component 2: The Working Notebook

Each student is required to complete a Working notebook documenting and exploring the creation, development and refinement of their ideas during the devising process.

The document will be entirely written and must not exceed 3000 words. The use of photographs and sketches is encouraged but must not exceed 20 pages in total.

Section 1: Rationale and research
In this section students should de ne their inspiration for the devised piece and document their influences.
Rationale:

  • Offer specific detail of what inspired you to develop your devised piece. Outline the stimulus you used and how that led you towards your further research.
  • Discuss your theatrical influences. What have you experienced that has encouraged you to pursue these ideas further. Why you decided on your chosen practitioner and how their work has helped you to undertake more research into your topic. You must justify all points.

Dramatic influences:

  • Specific research you undertook that links to your stimulus material. Identify any books read, documentaries, video clips etc. that explore your ideas.
  • Any live theatre you have experienced that links specifically to your chosen topic and your chosen theatre practitioner. Identify specific aspects of the performance that helped you to develop your devised piece.
  • Specific contextual research. What was happening at the time your devised piece is set?

Practitioner research:

  • Discuss, in specific detail, all research undertaken into your practitioners’theatrical style, theatrical conventions; live performances seen (live or streamed); elements of their style that link to specific moments in your performance.
  • Discuss whether you have experienced workshops in their style. Highlight which aspects were particularly useful in developing a knowledge and understanding of their work.
  • Include images to further demonstrate any specific techniques/workshop moments.

Live theatre research:

  • Discuss live theatre seen to aid your development of devising. This does not have to link to your practitioner, but must state how it helped you to develop your stimulus material, performance skills, collaborative work with your group, and/or staging elements.

Dramatic aims:

  • State, clearly and concisely, what you and your group are aiming to achieve in your devised performance. What do you hope to achieve in your individual performance? How will your chosen practitioner influence your development? What experience do you want your audience to have?

You must also include: A word count and bibliography/webliography detailing your research

A-level Drama and Theatre

Component 2: The Working Notebook

Each student is required to complete a Working notebook documenting and exploring the creation, development and refinement of their ideas during the devising process.

The document will be entirely written and must not exceed 3000 words. The use of photographs and sketches is encouraged but must not exceed 20 pages in total.

Section 2: Development and refinement
In this section students should explain how they developed and refined their work during the devising process, reflecting on their decision making along the way.
Devising approach:

  • Offer specific details on how you, and your group, developed your piece in light of your dramatic aims.
  • Discuss specific elements of your devised piece that were developed using your practitioner(s)’s stylistic influence.
  • Discuss, with reference to specific moments of your performance, how you experimented with a range of ideas and how they were successful.

Development and refinement of skills:

  • Offer an explanation of your collaborative and independent decision making in relation to your evolving ideas, detailing how these ideas were experimented with, developed and refined during the devising process. You should identify how these ideas connect theory and practice.
  • Discuss and explain the decisions you have made in relation to the application of your theatrical skills, detailing how these skills were developed and refined in the context of devising.
  • Maintain focus on how your chosen practitioner has influenced all ideas in your performance.

Final performance:

  • Offer an explanation of your final ideas for the devised performance, identifying how these ideas connect theory and practice.
  • Discuss what will be successful in your final performance based on what you have discussed previously.
  • Link your final performance back to your dramatic aims. What have you done specifically to achieve these in aims in performance? Discuss, with specific reference to key moments, how you have managed to achieve the aims you outlined in section 1. How did you overcome any challenges you faced?

You must also include: A word count for this section and a total word count for the whole document