Edexcel A-Level Drama and Theatre: Performance and design realisation overview quiz quiz

A list of every vocal skill the performer intends to use in the scene

A detailed description of the costume the character will wear on stage

A summary of the plot of the scene from start to finish

An interpretation of what the character wants, feels and hides

The meaning beneath the words, what a character feels or wants but does not say

The stage directions that the playwright has carefully written into the script for the actors

The lighting plan that the designer draws up for the production

A plain summary of what happens in the scene

By shouting the line as loudly as possible so that the reassurance is unmistakable to every spectator

By using a flat, controlled tone or a telling pause that signals the reassurance is not believed

By skipping the line altogether so it is never spoken

By turning to face upstage while the line is delivered

The set design and nothing else, decided entirely separately from the rest of the production

A list of all the props that will be used during the performance

The central interpretation the production communicates, unifying every choice

The costume worn by the lead actor

Blocking cannot show power at all; a power relationship can only ever be conveyed through the words the playwright gives the characters to speak

Only through the dialogue, since power between characters is carried entirely by what they say to one another

By changing the script so that the more powerful character is given many more lines to deliver

Through levels, proxemics and who moves toward or away from whom, so the audience reads power from the stage picture

Exact technical vocabulary tied to a textual moment and an audience effect

Using vague adjectives like 'effective' and 'powerful' without ever explaining how the effect is achieved

Describing the whole plot of the play before getting to the design at all

Avoiding all technical terms in case they sound forced or pretentious

It does not need to be grounded in the text, because design is a free creative element answerable to no particular moment

Because design realises the text, so each choice should be motivated by a moment in the script

Because the set text expressly forbids any added design

Because grounding choices in the text merely wastes valuable time

Plot, character and theme

Beginning, middle and end

Intention, choice, effect

Set, lighting and sound

Including too many fully justified choices, each one tied to its intention and audience effect

Using precise technical vocabulary to describe each design and performance choice

Stating a clear overall interpretation before making any choices

A choice that is described but never justified by its intention and effect

Because the director's job is to unify every element into one interpretation, so unconnected choices read as a list

Because coherence is irrelevant to a director answer, where each striking idea is credited entirely on its own without reference to the rest

Because directors do not actually make any creative choices of their own about the production

Because design is wholly separate from directing and the two never need to be connected

AO1 (articulate informed responses) and AO4 (analyse connections across texts) only, with nothing else credited

AO2 (apply theatrical skills) and AO3 (knowledge of how theatre is developed and performed)

AO4 (analyse connections across different texts) only

None of the assessment objectives are rewarded by these questions

The original audience only

The examiner alone

A contemporary audience

No particular audience