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ScotlandDrama

Theatre Practitioners

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

What is Brecht's epic theatre, and how do its techniques keep an audience critically aware rather than emotionally absorbed?

Brecht and epic theatre: the techniques of the Verfremdungseffekt (alienation), the gestus, episodic structure, direct address, song, placards and visible theatricality, designed to keep the audience critically distant and thinking about the play's social and political argument.
Brecht's epic theatre for SQA Advanced Higher Drama: the alienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt), gestus, episodic structure, direct address, song and visible theatricality, designed to keep the audience critically aware rather than emotionally absorbed, so they think about the play's social and political argument.
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What do the physical and experimental traditions add to naturalism and epic theatre, and how do they make meaning through the body and theatricality?

Physical and experimental theatre: the traditions beyond naturalism and Brecht - Artaud's theatre of cruelty, Grotowski's poor theatre, the physical and ensemble work of Lecoq, Berkoff and devising companies - that make meaning through the body, image, ensemble and total theatricality.
The physical and experimental traditions for SQA Advanced Higher Drama: Artaud's theatre of cruelty, Grotowski's poor theatre, and the physical, ensemble and devised work of Lecoq, Berkoff and companies such as Frantic Assembly, which make meaning through the body, image, ensemble and total theatricality.
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What is Stanislavski's system, and how do its techniques build a truthful, psychologically real character?

Stanislavski and naturalism: the system of psychological realism - given circumstances, the magic if, objectives and the through-line of action, emotion memory, units and the truthful building of a believable character from within - and how it shapes acting and directing.
Stanislavski's system for SQA Advanced Higher Drama: the techniques of psychological realism - given circumstances, the magic if, objectives and the through-line of action, emotion memory, units and beats - and how they build a truthful, believable character from within.
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Why does Advanced Higher Drama study influential practitioners, and how do you apply a practitioner's theory to performance and analysis?

Studying influential theatre practitioners: how the theories and methods of key practitioners (such as Stanislavski, Brecht and the physical and experimental traditions) shape acting, directing and design, and how to apply a practitioner's approach to a performance concept and to critical analysis.
Why SQA Advanced Higher Drama studies influential theatre practitioners and how to apply their theories: the major traditions (Stanislavski, Brecht, physical and experimental theatre) and how a practitioner's approach informs a performance concept and critical analysis of professional theatre.
12 min answer →