The devising process: working from a stimulus through research, exploration and improvisation, developing and structuring original material, and refining it into a finished practitioner-influenced performance (AO1 dominant).

What this dot point is asking

The devising process is the journey from a stimulus to a finished performance: responding to the stimulus, researching (including the practitioners), exploring and improvising material, developing and selecting the strongest ideas, structuring them into a coherent piece, and refining it through rehearsal. This is the core of Practitioners in Practice and the chief source of its AO1 marks (creating and developing ideas), shaped throughout by your practitioners. This dot point is about the process itself; the component, the extract exploration, the portfolio and the reflective report have their own pages.

The answer

Devising is not improvisation that happens to be kept; it is a deliberate process of generating, selecting, developing and structuring original material. Examiners reward candidates who can show ideas being created and shaped with intent, guided by their practitioners, not candidates who simply describe what the finished piece contained.

Respond to the stimulus

The process starts with a stimulus (an image, a text, a theme, an object, a piece of music). The first task is to interrogate it: what does it suggest, what ideas and questions does it raise, what might a piece about it explore? This opens the creative space.

Research and explore

Research the subject and, crucially, the practitioners, whose methods will shape the work. Then explore and improvise to generate material: trying situations, images, physical sequences and ideas, often using the practitioners' rehearsal techniques. This stage produces raw material, much of which will be discarded.

Develop and select

The decisive AO1 work is developing and selecting: choosing the strongest ideas and developing them deliberately, rather than keeping everything generated. This is where a piece gains focus and quality, as material is refined, deepened and shaped towards the intended effect.

Structure and refine

The selected material is structured into a coherent piece: a form (linear or episodic), an order, motifs and framing that communicate the idea to an audience, often guided by a practitioner (Brechtian episodes, a physical motif). Then the piece is refined through rehearsal, polishing pace, clarity and detail into a finished performance.

Examples in context

A company devising from a stimulus image of a flooded town might first explore what it suggests (loss, memory, the line between staying and leaving). They research the subject and their practitioners, then improvise widely: a family arguing, water rising, objects floating, a physical sequence of holding and letting go. From this raw material they select the strongest threads, the physical motif of holding on, the argument about leaving, and develop them deliberately, dropping weaker scenes. They structure the piece as episodes framed by the returning physical motif (a Brechtian and Frantic Assembly fusion), then refine it through rehearsal. The portfolio shows these choices, which is where the AO1 marks are.

Try this

Q1. List the stages of the devising process in order. [3 marks]

• Cue. Respond to the stimulus; research (subject and practitioners); explore and improvise to generate material; develop and select the strongest ideas; structure into a coherent piece; refine through rehearsal into performance.

Q2. Why is developing and selecting more important for AO1 than generating material? [2 marks]

• Cue. Generating material is easy; the skill (and the marks) lie in choosing the strongest ideas and developing them deliberately into a coherent, practitioner-shaped piece.

Q3. Explain how you developed your devised piece from the initial stimulus to a finished performance. [10 marks]

• What the marker wants. A traced process (stimulus, research, exploration, development and selection, structure, refinement) showing ideas created, selected and developed with intent and shaped by the practitioners, with reflection on the choices, not a plot summary.

A note on application

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. The devising process applies within Practitioners in Practice; always show development and selection of ideas and a deliberate structure, because AO1 rewards the creative process, not the running order.