DramaQ&A by dot point

Costume and make-up design: using costume, accessories, hair and make-up to communicate character, status, period and change, support the performer, and signal meaning to an audience (AO2, AO3).

Lighting design: using intensity, colour, angle, direction and changes (states, fades, snaps) to shape focus, mood, time and place, support the action, and communicate meaning to an audience (AO2, AO3).

Set and staging design: using set, props, levels, entrances and the use of space to establish place, period and atmosphere, support the action and communicate meaning to an audience (AO2, AO3).

Sound design: using music, sound effects, recorded and live sound, level and timing to create atmosphere, signal time and place, support the action and communicate meaning to an audience (AO2, AO3).

Roles and responsibilities in theatre: the playwright, director, performer, designers and stage management, what each contributes to a production, and how the roles collaborate to realise a piece for an audience (AO3).

Evaluating the devised work: analysing and judging the effectiveness of the devised piece and your own contribution, weighing what worked and what did not against the intention, and proposing improvements (AO4).

The portfolio of supporting evidence: documenting the creating, developing and refining of the devised piece, evidencing AO1, and reflecting on contribution and choices rather than narrating the project.

The devising process from stimulus to performance: responding to and researching a stimulus, generating and selecting material, structuring and rehearsing the piece, and refining it into a finished performance (AO1 dominant).

The final devised performance: applying vocal, physical and interpretive skills (or design skills) to realise the devised piece for an audience, sustaining a role or design state, and communicating the intention (AO2).

Working from a stimulus: interrogating the OCR-released stimulus, researching around it, finding a clear intention and target audience, and choosing a style or practitioner influence to shape the devised piece (AO1).

Dramatic conventions and devices: narration, direct address, monologue, flashback, cross-cutting, marking the moment, multi-role and symbolism, their effect on the audience, and how they shape a piece (AO1, AO3).

Explorative and drama techniques: still image, thought-tracking, hot-seating, role play, improvisation and forum theatre, what each produces, and how they are used to develop and explore drama (AO1, AO3).

Genres and styles of drama: naturalism and realism, non-naturalistic and physical theatre, epic and political theatre, comedy and tragedy, their conventions, and how style shapes performance and design (AO1, AO3).

Staging configurations: proscenium arch, thrust, in the round, traverse and end on, the actor-audience relationship and sightlines of each, and how configuration shapes meaning and design (AO3).

The elements and mediums of drama: tension, focus, contrast, climax and rhythm as elements, and the use of space, levels, movement, voice and silence as mediums, and how they build dramatic meaning (AO1, AO3).

Analysing the design and staging: examining the set, costume, lighting, sound and staging configuration of the live production, their effect on the audience, and evaluating how successfully they communicated meaning (AO3, AO4).

Analysing the performers: examining the vocal, physical and interpretive choices made by actors in the live production, their effect on the audience, and evaluating how successfully they communicated meaning (AO3, AO4).

The directorial concept and audience impact: identifying the production's overall interpretation, judging how the performance and design choices served it, and evaluating the impact of the production as a whole on the audience (AO4).

Watching and recording live theatre: attending a live production different from the set text, taking detailed notes on specific moments of performance and design, and building a bank of evidence for the closed-book evaluation (AO3, AO4).

Writing the Section B response: structuring an extended evaluative answer, balancing analysis (AO3) with judgement (AO4), using precise terminology and evidence, and managing the extended response under closed-book conditions (AO3, AO4).

Acting skills for performance: applying vocal, physical and interpretive skills to realise two extracts for an audience, sustaining character across both extracts, and serving the writer's intentions (AO2).

Performing as a designer: realising a design (set, costume, lighting, sound, puppets or multimedia) for two extracts, supporting the performers and the writer's intentions, and demonstrating design skills for an audience (AO2).

Building an interpretation and concept: forming a clear interpretation of the extracts grounded in the text and its context, making consistent performance or design choices, and recording them in the supporting documentation (AO1, AO2).

Choosing a performance text and two extracts: selecting a published play different from the set text and devised piece, choosing two contrasting extracts that show range, and exploring the text for performance (AO1, AO2).

The visiting examiner and assessment: how Component 03 is externally assessed in a single performance, what the examiner rewards as a theatre maker, and how to prepare for performing under examined conditions (AO2).

Answering Section A: reading the command words and the signalled role, matching depth to the mark tariff, using drama terminology accurately, and managing time across the set-text questions under closed-book conditions (AO3).

Approaching the set text: studying one prescribed performance text from OCR's list as a script for the stage, preparing for closed-book Section A questions answered as a performer, director and designer (AO3 dominant).

The context of the set text: understanding the social, cultural and historical context in which the play was written and is set, and using it to inform performance, staging and design choices (AO3).

The set text from a designer's and director's perspective: making and justifying set, costume, lighting and sound choices, and staging decisions, to communicate the meaning of a scene to an audience in Section A (AO3).

The set text from a performer's perspective: making and justifying vocal, physical and interpretive choices for a character at specific moments, communicating meaning to an audience in Section A answers (AO3).