Notes for Year 13 to guide Unit 6 notes

A guide to Unit 6 Section A

Annotated scripts: What should I write?

The Social, cultural and historical context surrounding the writing and performing of the play and its relevance to a contemporary audience.

For example:
The Greeks reasons for having plays performed.
The function of plays and characters within the plays.
The themes of the play and communicated through the language and plot.
The history behind the plot of the play.


The ways in which the playwright has structured the play and uses plot, language, forms, characterisation and stagecraft to communicate ideas to an audience.


For example:
Function of chorus
Soliloquy
Theatre space
Role of men and women in the play
Movement
Language/dialogue
Direct address

The proposed production methods being used to communicate the directors ideas to an audience.


Theatre space
Themes
Actor/audience relationship
Language
Characterisation
Setting
Lighting
Costume/props
Structure of scenes

The performers and/or designers contribution to the realisation of the scene in line with the overall production concept.

For example:
Acting style: What style should you use and why?
Design: For a production and /or a particular scene in the play, including diagrams
Overall production concept; What are you trying to say?
The development and shaping of an original production concept for the play as a director.
Take your overall production concept and discuss how you would communicate that to an audience through acting style/ theatre space/costume design and structure and how you would realise it through rehearsal techniques.

The planning and communication of ideas to members of a design team.

Notes outlining what themes and practical needs do you have to communicate your production concept to an audience. How will design and costume and lighting help?

The planning and structuring of a rehearsal based on characterisation.

Rehearsal techniques for particular characters
Key scenes: identify what are the key scenes
Acting style: work on voice and movement and language and communication of themes.

The planning and structuring of a rehearsal based on the exploration of meaning
Communication of ideas/themes/character objectives
Acting style/voice/movement always thinking of themes, ideas, objectives within the scenes. Again identify key moments from the play to work on.

THE MAIN RESEARCH AND NOTES SHOULD CENTRE ON AN OVERALL CONCEPT OF HOW YOU WOULD DIRECT YOUR OWN PRODUCTION OF TROJAN WOMEN AND HOW YOU WOULD WORK ON IT.


Some practice questions:


See Edexcel website :

There are several practice exams and questions for you to try out.


Section B

This part of the exam requires students to see one live performance of a play. This year it is A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream at the Roundhouse Theatre, Camden.

Then compare it with 3 other contexts drawn from secondary research sources.

The periods should cover the following periods:


Consideration of the original 16th/17th century performance conditions
Consideration of 18th/19th century
A production of the play in the 20th century
A contemporary production of the play seen as a live performance.

The notes should be as follows : pages 1-4 on the contemporary play
Pages 5-6 20th century production details
Pages 7-8 18th/19th century
Pages 9-10 16th/17th century

So what should be placed in each of the pages?

Historical/social/economic situation of the time.
Acting style
Staging
Theatre layout
Visual elements
Practitioners
Moments from the play including textual analysis
Language/text
Quotes from research/ and the play to back up your points
Class structure
Actor/audience relationship