Drama 2022 HSC exam pack

Students should:

• demonstrate evidence of research and play building techniques
• create and communicate dramatic meaning appropriate to the style
• workshop, revise, rehearse and polish the piece, including each character and role
• fully support all actors on stage with a strong ensemble
• use sophisticated, stylistically appropriate dialogue, refined through an extended workshop and rehearsal process, including tight editing of the script
• develop powerful actor/audience relationships through use of the dramatic elements
• layer dramatic meaning and manipulate the mood of the audience
• ensure the piece has been performed in front of an audience
• keep to the time limit of 8–12 minutes.

In better performances, students were able to:

• present a clear and developed concept demonstrating flair, creativity and innovation
• use an appropriate and effective dramatic structure with a clear beginning, middle and end
• present a performance displaying research into specific theatrical and performance styles
• demonstrate unity of purpose where each dramatic moment contributes to the meaning of the piece
• manipulate and control the elements of drama, for example, focus, tension, symbol, space and mood to create powerful moments in the piece
• create a theatrical ‘world’ that is clear to the audience
• engage the audience throughout the performance with a clear journey and through-line
• display performance skills appropriate to the dramatic and theatrical demands of the style of the performance
• workshop and edit performances, in terms of script and physical action.

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensuring clarity with the intent and use of performance styles
• ensuring the dramatic meaning and journey of the piece is clear
• ensuring all scenes and transitions are creative and add to the overall coherency and theatre of the piece
• editing the piece to ensure each moment is powerful and integral, avoiding ensemble members making multiple entrances and exits
• rehearsing the performance regularly to ensure it fits within the 8-12 minute time limit
• avoiding over-reliance on the elements of production not serving purpose and style.

Please note teachers and designated student crew may assist candidates with performance area set-up. (Designated student crew may also sit with and be part of the student audience).

Students should:

• demonstrate insightful and appropriate interpretation of the chosen material
• use an authentic character voice appropriate to their skills and demands of the selected material
• be aware of the audience response to a solo performance and ensure the audience engages through the actor’s intentions
• ensure self-devised scripts are well supported by strong writing and extensive knowledge of the theatrical style
• be aware of the time limit of 6–8 minutes and ensure scripting and stylistic choices produce powerful, succinct performances within the time limits.

In better performances, students:

• used an authentic character voice appropriate to skills and material
• engaged the audience throughout the performance

Areas for students to improve include:

• choosing a performance piece and theatrical style suiting strengths as an actor and skills in movement, physicality and voice
• choosing a performance piece appropriate for the space in which the examination takes place
• developing and sustaining a character with physical and emotional dimension
• ensuring the use of props/set is appropriate to style and content, informing the intent of the performance
• carefully considering the style of the performance and controlling the relevant conventions
• extensively rehearsing and workshopping the performance and developing the confidence which comes from performing in front of an audience
• ensuring any self-devised work has a clear journey.

Please ensure set ups and audience movement are efficient and do not impact the scheduled time for Individual Performances (15 minutes).

Costume

Students should:

• provide a Rationale in the form of a director’s concept/vision, informing a design concept for the costumes of a chosen play on the current course prescriptions list
• present renderings of four to six costumes for characters in the chosen play
• include preliminary sketches/written descriptions for at least four other costumes required for the production, presented with the project, not in the logbook
• ensure the whole world of the play is covered in the costumes selected.

In better projects, students were able to:

• demonstrate engagement with the whole world of the play
• design insightful and appropriate costumes for the era/period/place and reflect on the characters’ roles/status/personalities in accordance with the expressed director’s vision in the student's Rationale.
• provide support material including fabric swatches to match the rendered costumes in colour, pattern and style, with the character and the scene from the play identified
• include essential construction information, if required
• demonstrate how each costume hangs on a human body according to fabric weight and design.

Areas for students to improve include:

• ensuring the submission of preliminary sketches are not drafts of fully rendered costumes, but are additional costumes showing the fuller world of the play and the design concept realised across the play's characters and worlds
• considering the way all individual costume designs will work together to create a theatrical world
• identifying key scenes and moments from the play for each costume.

Lighting

Students should:

• provide a Rationale in the form of a directorial concept/vision, clearly outlining how lighting supports, and is integral to, the intended dramatic meaning of the vision
• choose two contrasting scenes enhancing and supporting the intended dramatic vision
• indicate the set elements and key acting zones to be lit.

In better projects, students were able to:

• provide a lighting design that emerges from their directorial concept/vision, demonstrating a knowledge of the play and a clear vision for the production
• select and design a theatrical space including sets and furnishings as appropriate to their lighting design purposes
• choose two contrasting scenes, supporting mood and atmosphere
• realise the important contribution of the lighting design to support dramatic meaning
• provide necessary support materials including cue sheet, annotated script and floor plan showing fixture type and position, areas covered and gel/gobo.

Areas for students to improve include:

• providing a directorial concept/vision identifying the central action of the play and so describing how the play will be interpreted in this production. Consider the appropriate settings for the selected scenes, and how these are to be lit to create meaning and the world and mood of the moment, choosing two scenes contrasting in nature, in order to show a wider creative vision for the lighting designer
• describing of each selected scene’s impact on the dramatic action, mood and style consistent with the expressed Director’s Concept/Vision as described in the student’s Rationale.

Promotion and program

Students should:

• provide a Rationale in the form of a director’s vision/concept for the play which flows into a design concept
• develop a clear directorial concept and vision for the play communicated through both the visual and textual elements of the promotional material
• select a suitable theatre company (real or imagined) and make casting decisions appropriate for the chosen play and company
• ensure visual elements are unified across the project and reflect the profile of the company
• express a clear directorial vision for the selected play though director’s notes in the program and unpack this concept further through the flyer content and media feature article.

In better projects, students were able to:

• express a clear concept, visually communicating through each component in complimentary ways that elaborate and further illuminate this concept
• understand the different function of promotional material across the marketing journey and timeline – seeing the poster and picking up the flyer at the beginning, to reading the media feature prior to seeing the production and viewing the program when in the theatre
• make controlled, considered visual design choices with consideration of gaze, composition, colour, symbol, semiotic, negative space, fonts and typography
• make appropriate casting decisions reflecting an understanding of the theatre company profile and the demands of the play
• clearly communicate a concept through each written component of the project, showing understanding of the shifting function of language and tone of voice across each marketing element
• adopt the authentic voice of a director in the director’s notes, use persuasive language conventions in the flyer, unpacking production elements in the media feature article.

Areas for students to improve include:

• avoiding plagiarised material in the visual images, directors notes and flyer content
• developing an original directorial concept for the production, rather than staging the play without an interpretive directorial lens for a specific production for a specific audience and theatre company.
• ensuring the concept emerges from the central action of the play rather than being imposed
• exploring different visual ways to extend the concept, rather than repeating the same image across poster, flyer and program cover
• considering the program format to align with the visual aesthetic and style of the company’s profile
• using the media feature article as an opportunity to unpack and promote some of the unique aspects of the production and explain how concept is brought to life on stage.

Set

Students should:

• provide a Rationale in the form of a directorial concept/vision, clearly outlining how the set design supports, and is integral to, the intended dramatic meaning of the vision
• present a design for a chosen theatre venue considering the entire play, ensuring that no scenes are omitted
• present a model, to scale, including support material, floor plans with sightlines and indication of entrances to the acting space
• include visual representations and/or written notes explaining the entrances and exits, workings and manipulations of the set.

In better projects, students were able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of the text and provide a sophisticated and stylistic interpretation of the play
• provide a unified directorial concept/vision
• ensure the entire play is included in the set design
• select a specific performance space and work appropriately in that space
• manipulate texture and colour to support dramatic meaning
• present a model displaying precision and accuracy
• use appropriate materials creatively.

Areas for students to improve include:

• communicating the reasons for the choice of a specific performance space considering the play's requirements and the directorial concept/vision applied
• demonstrating an awareness of the entire play and meeting the demands of the play for the actors, audience and director
• providing a theatrical understanding of how set changes occur
• working to scale (1:25)
• understanding audience sightlines and providing those sightlines on a floor plan
• providing a Rationale in the form of a director’s concept/vision.

Director’s folio

Students should:

• provide a Rationale communicating a directorial concept/vision for the chosen play from the current list of texts, including motivation for developing the vision, rather than a description of their process
• present a concept/vision that is theatrical and coherent and can be realised practically on stage.

In better projects, students were able to:

• communicate a clear concept/vision with integrity, developing an in-depth knowledge of theatre and its elements
• provide an analysis of the central ideas, action and/or form(s) of the chosen play moving beyond stating the key themes contributing to the dramatic meaning for the audience
• present a clear and theatrical directorial concept (explicit and embedded) in form(s) and style(s) justified by the play itself, and driving the artistic choices throughout the folio
• choose appropriate and effective rehearsal techniques embedded in staged moments from the production to achieve the directorial vision in performance
• immerse the reader in the imagined theatrical experience by including relevant support materials (visual and/or textual) illuminating and reinforcing the concept/vision
• synthesise the analysis of the text, revealing understanding of the play
• provide a balance of textual analysis, wider research and staged scenes integrating production experience throughout the imagined production of the play.

Areas for students to improve include:

• substantiating the concept throughout the Folio to convey a clear theatrical and engaging vision of the imagined production for an audience
• explaining and justifying choices, including any imposed theatrical style(s) or recontextualization for their production of the play
• choosing evocative and relevant staged scenes to clearly convey directorial vision of an imagined production
• analysing key features of the text, relevant to the directorial concept and vision for the imagined production.

Applied research project

Students should:

• undertake broad research into an area of interest and pose a specific hypothesis to investigate further
• include application of the investigation and research
• write a hypothesis within the stated word limit.

In better projects, students were able to:

• design an initial survey into the area of interest to assist in developing a clear and original hypothesis (usually expressed in the form of an important research question or statement focused on a particular area of theatre)
• use multiple methodologies, including primary sources, to gather research, analysed through application of the hypothesis
• apply the research to appropriate test conditions running a workshop, viewing a production, performing a theatrical work or other applications
• draw an insightful conclusion which proves/disproves the initial hypothesis and concludes a research journey for the reader
• effectively use academic conventions such as footnotes and referencing, even if the style is personal.

Areas for students to improve include:

• use headings to help structure the report
• ensure the project is within the word count
• include graphs with findings and statistics (if applicable) to assist the clarity of research.

Portfolio of theatre criticism

Students should:

• choose a range of productions allowing for in-depth, perceptive analysis and synthesis of theatrical experiences across the portfolio
• identify the key ideas in each play and how the production brings these to life in a unique way
• create clear visual images of specific moments in the production in order to support the evaluation and engage the reader.

In better projects, students were able to:

• identify the significant element(s) of each production and use this to inform the critique of dramatic elements and specific impact in each review
• differentiate the voice as appropriate in all four reviews, if writing for specific publications, or creating own reviewer’s voice
• adopt a review style and voice demonstrating strengths in manipulating language and style, bringing to life specific moments and images in the productions
• write original material without plagiarising ideas of other reviewers
• integrate relevant research and knowledge of the production into the analysis.

Areas for students to improve include:

• manipulating control of the voice in specific publications
• unpacking key stage moments for the reader
• avoiding retelling the plot of every production.

Students should:

• write a clear idea effectively communicated in a complete play of approximately 15 minutes running time (15–25 pages)
• communicate the action a live audience sees on the stage
• write an original narrative or theatrically shape a known narrative in an original way
• choose a clear theatrical style such as Black Comedy, Verbatim, Multi-Discipline, Expressionism, Realism, Tragedy, Magical Realism, Absurdism, and sustain the style throughout the play
• create a theatrical experience shaping the audience's experience of the world of the script
• adhere to formatting requirements including font type, spacing and margins.

In better projects, students were able to:

• include dramatic action realised on the stage
• sustain engagement with the audience of a short script by controlling the number of setting changes
• communicate how scenes change within the play
• include action in the play that is engaging and moves the narrative forward
• ensure effective use of the Elements of Drama, especially tension, to sustain audience engagement
• develop a play aiming to appeal to an audience emotionally and intellectually
• sustain theatrical vision from the start to the finish of the play
• create characters clearly defining voices and relationships.

Areas for students to improve include:

• developing a complete plan for the script before writing, to ensure that the ending is as strong as the beginning
• controlling the number of characters in the play avoiding overcomplicating the dramatic action
• ensuring the dialogue clearly and consistently reflects the characters’ ages, status and personalities
• creating distinct language for each character so the reader ‘hears’ and sees the character
• writing a play that includes action meant for the stage, not for the screen.

Students should:

• create a clear dramatic narrative, written for the screen controlling and manipulating the elements of drama to engage the audience
• make choices in production including control of coverage, framing, focus and production elements and visual language
• direct the action on screen
• create dramatic pace and tension to engage the audience using editing and post-production sound and effects.

In better projects, students were able to:

• engage the audience with a complete narrative use the camera with deliberate choices in production design to create a world and meaning on screen
• make choices in post-production by layering and assembling images, shots, and sequences to effectively tell the story and to evoke mood and atmosphere
• use sound design to support and enhance the narrative. 

Areas for students to improve include:

• creating a clear and coherent narrative that is resolved for the audience
• making choices to control the camera focus, coverage, and shots
• undertaking detailed planning in pre-production
• making deliberate and thoughtful decisions about production design
• checking the video plays in full before submission.

Students should:

• analyse the questions during reading time, reflecting on what is being asked
• use key words in the question throughout the response, avoiding using language from past questions or pre-prepared answers
• use staging workshops as evidence for both sections of the paper, demonstrating experiences with the topics and a practical understanding of theatre as a live medium.

Question 1

In better responses, students were able to:

• use practical examples from classroom workshops, imagined and/or directed scenes, productions or other staging to create clear, evocative images to support the response
• consider the construction of images through blocking and/or specific theatrical production elements such as proxemics, lighting, gestures, manipulation of space, costume
• use experience of the plays as an actor, director and/or audience member
• select strong and relevant practical evidence, drawing on examples with rich images clearly moving beyond the script and reaching the stage in a convincing manner, relevant to the question
• incorporate knowledge of appropriate performance styles and forms into the images created
• explain social concerns regarding society’s treatment or mistreatment of groups of people, or the social issues relevant to a particular time-period
• explain personal concerns affecting individuals from the plays in the response
• articulate how an audience is provoked to consider concerns by identifying a particular response from the audience or explaining how an image was presented on stage to create dramatic meaning
• synthesise examples so the whole question is addressed.

Question 2 – The voice of women in theatre

In better responses, students were able to:

• compare how stereotypes are presented in two texts
• compare the impact of context (both historical and cultural) on the stereotypes explored by both playwrights
• clearly articulate the stereotypes in each play, rather than making generalised statements about stereotypes
• select experiential material describing the performance of relevant moments from the plays studied, rather than describing exercises designed to explore themes or characters generally
• link the stereotypes, voice and context to experiential material rather than describing experiential material not clearly linked to the question
• balance theoretical discussion of the topic with descriptions of experiential material.

Question 3 – Approaches to acting

In better responses, students were able to:

• clearly identify how the performance aesthetic, the practitioner’s techniques and exercises allow actors to choose, such as ‘a physical aesthetic’ or ‘a movement-based aesthetic’ (Lecoq), ‘an aesthetic of actor/audience collaboration’ (Boal) and ‘an aesthetic of physical precision and control’ (Meyerhold)
• explain clearly how practitioner’s exercises and techniques equip actors with a range of choices/options in performance
• include staged examples from class workshops, the practitioner’s own work and contemporary theatre practice to describe and explain the link between the specific aesthetic chosen by the actor and the audience’s experience of the work
• provide specific details about workshops and practical exercises enabling the reader to ‘experience’ the moment on stage
• consistently link evidence as a means of sustaining the argument
• use accurate terms associated with each practitioner to reveal a comprehensive knowledge of the topic.

Question 4 – Verbatim theatre

In better responses, students were able to:

• discuss both texts and own experiential learning of Verbatim Theatre equally, providing specific details to support the response
• clearly identify ‘direct testimony’ in the context of Verbatim Theatre
• define understanding of both ‘direct testimony’ and ‘shaped’ and link these key phrases to the question
• refer to specific characters and their experiences in the plays, communicating and explaining both the shaping of real events and the creation of a theatrical experience
• provide relevant descriptions of staged experiences/workshops from both plays by referencing theatrical elements
• discuss all aspects of the statement equally, showing how the set text’s use of direct testimony is shaped through experiential learning
• use quotations or described moments from the plays, relevant to the question, about the development of an original piece of Verbatim theatre
• demonstrate a clear understanding of theatre as a performance art form for an audience
• provide relevant, insightful analysis supported by appropriate examples and illustrations.

Question 5 – Black comedy

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate understanding of how and why the staging of comedic situations and taboo subjects provide audiences with a cathartic experience
• provide staging examples to support the argument, including performance choices and the manipulation of the elements of production (lighting, sound, costume)
• identify key theatrical techniques and conventions used by playwrights, actors, directors and designers when staging taboo subjects and comedic situations
• provide a clear and cohesive response rather than relying on pre-prepared responses based on key themes and ideas in the plays studied
• provide balanced discussions of both plays using more than one example from each text
• present a range of evidence, beyond plot recount, to demonstrate how staging moments from the plays can bring them to life theatrically
• use relevant workshop examples to support ideas, rather than discussing warm-up activities or improvisations based on themes in the plays.

Question 6 – Multi-discipline theatre

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of how collaboration is a core principle in the work of Ex Machina or Complicite
• clearly address the issue of collaboration throughout the response and demonstrate the impact of collaboration on theatrical experiences from their own work and the work of the chosen practitioner
• demonstrate understanding of this style of theatre in relation to performance using relevant descriptive practical examples from the practitioner and their own practical exploration of the topic, supporting the argument about collaboration
• demonstrate a clear understanding of the philosophies, processes and practices of the practitioner by discussing their own work and the practitioner’s work.

Question 7 – Significant plays of the 20^th century

In better responses, students were able to:

• explain the challenging nature of both the content and the shifting paradigm of both plays
• demonstrate understanding of the forms of theatre that preceded the chosen plays
• provide relevant analysis supported by appropriate examples, for example, the way a performer delivers a precise line of dialogue or a designer’s decision to use contrasting colours in a split stage moment
• use clear examples of staging the two texts in workshops or professional productions, rather than quoting dialogue or stage directions
• make links between the examples chosen and the line of argument
• used theatrical terms and the elements of drama to describe the theatre created, designed or observed
• use adverbs to create images on the stage
• demonstrate a clear understanding of relevant theatrical forms in both plays, such as Brechtian/Epic theatre, Magic-realism, Verbatim Theatre and/or Theatre of the Absurd.

Question 8 – Japanese traditional and contemporary theatre

In better responses, students were able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of the styles of both Tadashi Suzuki and the chosen traditional style
• clearly discuss staged examples and workshop activities
• use relevant examples of performance experiences as evidence, such as performance choices when staging class workshops and performances, recognising the role of the audience
• clearly define ‘audience’s context’
• link both styles to all aspects of the question using knowledge of both styles and recognising the impact of the traditional on the contemporary
• define the unique aesthetic of Japanese Theatre and how it is perceived by an audience and the context
• demonstrate knowledge of the set texts, specific links and/or differences between styles
• define and analyse the idea of staging social ideas equally in both the traditional and contemporary style.