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).

What this dot point is asking

WJEC requires you to apply one practitioner or company in Component 1 and a different one in Component 2, so you must choose wisely and apply their methods consistently. This dot point covers the meta-skill: matching a practitioner to the material, sustaining their approach across a whole piece, and documenting it in the creative log and the process and evaluation report. It runs across AO1, AO2 and AO3, and the principle of consistent application also strengthens your written exam answers.

The answer

Practitioners are not labels to drop; they are working methods to use. The examiner and moderator want to see that you understood a practitioner's techniques well enough to build a whole piece with them, and that you chose one that genuinely suited the work.

The requirement: one each, and they must differ

Because the choices must differ, it pays to think about both early: pick complementary practitioners that let you show range and that each suit their respective material.

Choosing by fit

The best choice is the one whose methods serve the material's meaning and the audience effect you want. Ask what the piece is about and how you want the audience to respond, then choose the practitioner whose techniques deliver that. A piece that should make the audience think critically about a social issue points to Brecht; one that should overwhelm them with a nightmarish atmosphere points to Artaud; one built on a fracturing relationship points to Frantic Assembly; a truthful, intimate character study points to Stanislavski; a heightened, energised physical world points to Berkoff. The style should feel inevitable for the material, not bolted on.

Applying consistently and documenting it

Once chosen, apply the methods throughout. Name the techniques and make concrete, specific choices that recur across the whole piece, so the practitioner's approach governs the work rather than appearing once. Then document the influence: in Component 1 the creative log records and reflects on how you used the practitioner; in Component 2 the process and evaluation report does the same for the devised and scripted work. The documentation is where you make your AO1 and AO3 understanding explicit.

Examples in context

Matching two practitioners to two pieces. Suppose for Component 1 you reinterpret an extract about a worker confronting a boss: you choose Brecht, because the material is about a social power relationship, and you apply gestus, placards and direct address consistently so the audience judges the system, documenting each choice and its critical purpose in the creative log. For Component 2 you devise a piece about grief from a stimulus: you choose Frantic Assembly, because the subject is an intimate, shifting relationship, and you build the piece from chair duets and contact work refined into meaningful choreography, recording the devising and its effect in the process and evaluation report. The two choices contrast (political and physical), each fits its material, and each is sustained throughout, which is exactly what WJEC rewards.

Try this

Q1. What is the rule about practitioners across Components 1 and 2? [2 marks]

• Cue. You apply one practitioner or company in Component 1 and a different one in Component 2, so the two must contrast.

Q2. What should guide your choice of practitioner for a piece? [3 marks]

• Cue. Fit: the practitioner whose methods best serve the material's meaning and the audience effect you want, so the style illuminates rather than is imposed.

Q3. Explain how you chose a practitioner for a component and applied their methods consistently. [10 marks]

• What the marker wants. A justified match between practitioner and material, sustained concrete application of their techniques across the whole piece, and documentation in the log or report (AO1, AO2 and AO3).

A note on application

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. The requirement to use one practitioner or company per component, and the approved list, are set by WJEC and reviewed periodically, so confirm the current rules and names with your centre, and always match the practitioner to the material and apply their methods throughout.