How does WJEC Component 2 Text in Action work as a non-exam assessment, and what is assessed across the two contrasting pieces and the process and evaluation report?
Component 2 Text in Action: the externally assessed non-exam assessment in which you create and perform two contrasting pieces from a WJEC stimulus, a devised piece using one practitioner or company and a performance of a text extract in a different style, assessed by a visiting examiner and documented in a process and evaluation report, worth 40 per cent for AO1, AO2 and AO3.
A house-style overview of WJEC Component 2 Text in Action, the second non-exam assessment: creating two contrasting pieces from a WJEC stimulus, a devised piece using one practitioner or company and a performance of a text extract in a different style, assessed by a visiting examiner with a process and evaluation report, worth 40 per cent for AO1, AO2 and AO3.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
Component 2, Text in Action, is a practical non-exam assessment (NEA), so this is a house-style overview of how the component works rather than a body of examinable written knowledge. WJEC wants you to understand its two-piece structure, what is assessed, who assesses it, and how the written report fits, so you can plan two strong, contrasting pieces. It is externally assessed by a visiting examiner and is worth 40 per cent of the A-level, making it the largest single component.
How Component 2 is structured
Text in Action is the major practical component, and its defining feature is that you produce two contrasting pieces rather than one. Both grow from a stimulus supplied by WJEC but must end up in clearly different styles, so the component asks you to show range within one body of work.
- A devised piece. An original piece created from the stimulus, developed using the techniques and working methods of one influential practitioner or one recognised company.
- A performance of a text extract. A staged extract from an existing text, performed in a style that clearly contrasts with the devised piece.
You contribute as a performer or as a designer, with your evidence focused on the role you are assessed in. As the largest component, it carries the most marks of the two practical components.
Assessed by a visiting examiner
The most distinctive feature of Component 2 is how it is assessed. Where Component 1 is marked by your centre and moderated, Component 2 is assessed externally by a visiting examiner who attends your centre to watch the live performances. The assessed event is the live performance itself, so the pieces must be ready to perform to an external assessor on the day of the visit.
The process and evaluation report
The written strand of Component 2 is the process and evaluation report. It documents how you developed both pieces from the stimulus, how the practitioner's methods shaped the devised piece, and an evaluation of your contribution to each piece. As with the Component 1 log, this is where you make your understanding explicit, and it is the principal home of AO3, with AO1 shown in how you develop ideas from the stimulus.
What is assessed and the assessment objectives
Component 2 assesses three objectives. AO1 (create and develop ideas, applying research and the practitioner's methods) is shown in how you develop both pieces from the stimulus. AO2 (apply theatrical skills to realise intentions in live performance) is shown in the two live performances seen by the visiting examiner. AO3 (knowledge and understanding of how theatre is developed and performed) is shown in the process and evaluation report, whose evaluation strand prepares you for the AO4 evaluation tested in the written paper.
How to approach Component 2 well
Mine the WJEC stimulus for a clear starting idea, choose a practitioner whose methods drive the devised piece, and design the two pieces to genuinely contrast in style. Apply the techniques consistently, rehearse to a performance standard for the examiner visit, and keep the process and evaluation report as you go, focusing on decisions, practitioner influence and honest evaluation rather than narration.
Try this
Q1. What two contrasting pieces must Component 2 produce, and from what starting point? [3 marks]
- Cue. A devised piece using one practitioner or company and a performance of a text extract in a clearly different style, both developed from a stimulus supplied by WJEC.
Q2. How is Component 2 assessed differently from Component 1? [2 marks]
- Cue. Component 2 is assessed externally by a visiting WJEC examiner who watches the live performances, rather than being centre-marked and moderated.
Q3. Explain how you developed your devised piece from the WJEC stimulus using your chosen practitioner's methods, referring to specific decisions. [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. A clear line from stimulus to finished piece, with a named practitioner and specific techniques shaping devising decisions across the development, each tied to an audience effect (AO1 and AO3).
A note on the format
This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. Because Component 2 is a non-exam assessment, the exact requirements, the stimulus, the examiner-visit arrangements and the mark weightings are set by WJEC and reviewed periodically. Always confirm the current Component 2 structure and your centre's arrangements against the WJEC specification at wjec.co.uk.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC Component 2 process report20 marksExplain how you developed your devised piece from the WJEC stimulus using the working methods of your chosen practitioner or company.Show worked answer →
A reflective process-and-evaluation-report task on the devising strand of Component 2, assessing AO1 (developing ideas from a stimulus) and AO3 (how theatre is made).
Method. Explain how the stimulus generated your starting ideas, then name the practitioner or company and the specific techniques you used to develop the material, showing how each technique shaped devising decisions and the staging of key moments. Tie the choices to the intended effect on an audience.
Develop. The top band shows a clear line from stimulus to finished devised piece, with the practitioner's methods running through the development rather than added late, and explains decisions as deliberate. Weak responses describe the stimulus, list rehearsal activities with no shaping idea, or mention the practitioner once.
WJEC Component 2 process report15 marksEvaluate how effectively your two Component 2 pieces contrasted in style, and your contribution to each.Show worked answer →
A reflective evaluation requiring a judgement on the required contrast between the two pieces and on your own work (AO3).
Method. State the style of each piece, explain how the devised piece and the text-extract piece were deliberately made to contrast, and evaluate your contribution to each with specific moments, reaching a reasoned judgement on what succeeded and what you would refine.
Develop. Strong answers prove the contrast with concrete differences in performance and design and balance strengths against shortcomings with evidence. Weak answers assert that the pieces contrasted without showing how, or retell both performances in order.
Related dot points
- Component 1 Theatre Workshop: the non-exam assessment in which you reinterpret an extract from a WJEC-supplied text using the working methods of one practitioner or recognised company, create and perform it as a performer or designer, and document the process in a creative log, worth 20 per cent and assessing AO1, AO2 and AO3.
A house-style overview of WJEC Component 1 Theatre Workshop, the first non-exam assessment: reinterpreting a WJEC-supplied extract through the methods of one practitioner or company, creating and performing it as a performer or designer, and documenting the process in a creative log, worth 20 per cent for AO1, AO2 and AO3.
- Choosing and applying a practitioner or company: selecting one practitioner or company whose methods suit Component 1 and a different one for Component 2, matching the practitioner to the material, and applying their techniques as sustained, concrete choices documented in the log and report (AO1, AO2 and AO3).
How to choose a practitioner or company for each WJEC Drama and Theatre component and apply their methods consistently: selecting one for Component 1 and a different one for Component 2, matching the practitioner to the material, and applying their techniques as sustained, concrete choices, for AO1, AO2 and AO3.
- Frantic Assembly and physical ensemble theatre: devised, choreographed movement integrated with text, building-block devising methods such as chair duets and round-by-through, lifts and contact work, and design-led storytelling, applied as concrete choices for fluid physical theatre (AO3, and AO1 and AO2 in the practical work).
Frantic Assembly's physical ensemble theatre for WJEC A-Level Drama and Theatre: devised choreographed movement integrated with text, building-block devising methods, lifts and contact work, and design-led storytelling, applied as concrete choices for fluid physical theatre, for AO3 and the practical work.
- Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty: total theatre as an assault on the senses, the primacy of sound, light and movement over text, ritual and the plague metaphor, breaking the audience-stage barrier, applied as concrete choices to provoke a visceral response (AO3, and AO1 and AO2 in the practical work).
Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty for WJEC A-Level Drama and Theatre: total theatre as an assault on the senses, the primacy of sound, light and movement over text, ritual and the plague metaphor, and breaking the audience-stage barrier, applied as concrete choices to provoke a visceral response, for AO3 and the practical work.
- Staging a text as performer, director and designer: making and justifying vocal and physical choices (performer), spatial and staging choices (director) and set, costume, lighting and sound choices (designer), each tied to the effect on an audience, the core skill across every section of Component 3 (AO3 and AO4).
How to write about a set text as a performer, director and designer for WJEC Component 3: making and justifying vocal and physical, spatial and staging, and set, costume, lighting and sound choices, each tied to the effect on an audience, the core skill across every section, for AO3 and AO4.
- Evaluating live theatre: watching professional productions, recording specific moments of performance and design, and analysing and evaluating their effect on an audience to inform exam answers and practical work, the live evaluation skill assessed under AO4 (with AO3).
How to watch and evaluate live theatre for WJEC A-Level Drama and Theatre: viewing professional productions as the specification requires, recording specific moments of performance and design, and analysing and evaluating their effect on an audience, the live evaluation skill assessed under AO4 with AO3.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC A level Drama and Theatre specification — WJEC (2016)