The social, cultural and historical context of the set play, and how the period of writing and setting shapes its themes, characters and the choices a company might make.

What this dot point is asking

You need to understand the context of your set play: when and where it was written and set, the society and beliefs of that time, and how those things shape its themes, characters and the way an audience responds. In Section B, context is examined through application: questions ask how context shapes a character's behaviour, or how a director might use it for an audience today. Context should inform your interpretation, not sit as a separate paragraph of facts.

Period of writing and setting

The gap between the two is often where the meaning lives. An Inspector Calls is set in 1912 but was written in 1945, so a 1945 audience watched Mr Birling confidently dismiss the threat of war knowing two world wars had happened since; the playwright uses that gap to make a point about responsibility. Knowing which context a question is asking about, and being able to hold both in mind, lets you answer precisely.

Society, beliefs and events

Build a small mental map of your play's world: who has power and why, what is expected of men and of women, what work and money mean, what the audience of the time would have taken for granted. Then read characters against that map. A character following the rules of their society and a character breaking them both become more interesting once you can see the rules.

Context and the company's choices

Context informs the choices a director and designers make. A company might keep the original period to highlight its values and themes, or update the setting to show the play's relevance today. Casting, costume, set and even framing devices can all be used to make a contextual point. Either way, the choice should be justified through the play's ideas and its effect on the audience, which is exactly what the higher-tariff "discuss" questions reward.

Notice that this is the same skill assessed in Section A's knowledge of genres and styles and in Section C's evaluation: you are always linking a deliberate choice to its effect on an audience, with context as the reason behind it. A director who sets An Inspector Calls in its original 1912 drawing room and a director who strips it back to a bare, expressionistic stage are making opposite choices, but each can be justified by the play's idea of social responsibility and the response it should provoke. In the exam, the mark comes not from preferring one approach but from explaining how the contextual reasoning drives the staging and shapes what the audience takes away. Practising this link, context to choice to audience effect, prepares you for the designer and director questions in Section B as well.

Try this

Q1. What is meant by the context of a play? [2 marks]

• Cue. The time, place, society and beliefs in which the play was written and is set, which shape its meaning.

Q2. Explain how context can affect a director's choice of setting. [2 marks]

• Cue. A director may keep the original period to stress its themes or update it to show the play's relevance to a modern audience, justified by the ideas.