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).

What this dot point is asking

The final devised performance is the part of Component 01/02 assessed live, before an audience and the assessing teacher. Where the portfolio evidences AO1 (creating and developing ideas), the performance is where AO2 is earned: applying theatrical skills to realise the piece for an audience. You can be assessed as a performer (vocal, physical and interpretive skills) or as a designer (a realised design that supports the piece). This dot point is about what the performance rewards and how to make your skills communicate the intention you devised.

What the performance is assessed on

The performance is not judged on the cleverness of the idea (that is the portfolio's job) but on realisation: how clearly and effectively your skills bring the intention to life for the people watching. A strong idea performed unclearly scores less than a simpler idea realised with controlled, communicative skills.

Performance skills

The lever here is precision. "I used my voice well" is not a skill in evidence; lowering your pitch and slowing your pace on one line so a threat lands is. Each vocal and physical choice should be doing a specific job at a specific moment. Interpretive skills tie the others together: sustaining the role means staying in character throughout, including when you are not speaking, and responding truthfully to the other performers so the relationships feel real. Dropping character, even for a moment, breaks the audience's belief and undercuts the meaning the group worked to build.

Performing as a designer

If you are assessed as a designer, your realised design (set, costume, lighting, sound or a combination, depending on what your centre offers) is judged on how well it supports the piece and communicates its intention to the audience. The principle is the same as for a performer: the design must do a job. A lighting state that isolates a character at the climax, or a costume choice that signals a status shift, earns marks because it serves the meaning; decoration that does not affect the audience's understanding does not.

Examples in context

In a devised piece about a family argument, a performer might play the quietest character, using stillness and a held, lowered voice while the others shout, then a single sharp rise in volume on one line so it cuts through; the contrast lands because the role was sustained quietly until that point. A designer on the same piece might keep the lighting flat and bright through the argument, then snap to a cold side-light on the quiet character's line, isolating them so the audience feels their position. Both choices realise the intention through skill at a specific moment.

Try this

Q1. Name two vocal skills and two physical skills assessed in performance. [2 marks]

• Cue. Vocal: any two of pitch, pace, pause, tone, volume, accent, clarity. Physical: any two of posture, gesture, facial expression, movement, use of space.

Q2. Why does dropping character weaken a performance? [2 marks]

• Cue. It breaks the audience's belief in the role and undercuts the meaning the piece is trying to communicate.

Q3. Explain how you used your vocal and physical skills in the final devised performance to communicate your character to the audience. [8 marks]

• What the marker wants. Specific vocal and physical choices, each tied to a precise effect on the audience at a named moment, with the role sustained throughout, not a general list of skills.