Component 3 Text in Performance: a 2 hour 30 minute written examination in three sections on two complete set texts (one pre-1956, one post-1956) and a printed extract from a third contrasting text, answered as a theatre maker, assessing AO3 and AO4 across 120 marks (40 per cent).

What this dot point is asking

This overview maps Component 3: Text in Performance, the written examination of WJEC A-Level Drama and Theatre, the part of the course assessed by writing rather than performing. You answer as a theatre maker about set texts studied as scripts for the stage, marked on AO3 (knowledge of how drama and theatre is developed and performed) and AO4 (analysing and evaluating your own and others' work, including live theatre). The skill is to write about staging and design with precision and to justify every choice by its effect on an audience.

The answer

Component 3 is the only externally examined paper in the qualification. The two practical components are non-exam assessment, so this written paper carries the examined knowledge and the whole of AO3. Treat it as a test of how well you can imagine a text in performance and explain your decisions, not of how much of the story you can recall.

The shape of the paper

The three sections build from shorter, structured writing to a long essay and then to close work on an extract. They reward different things, so rehearse each separately rather than treating the paper as one block of writing.

Section A: structured questions on a complete set text

Section A asks shorter, structured questions on one of your complete set texts. You realise specified moments in performance, giving concrete vocal, physical, spatial and design choices and stating their effect on an audience. Because the questions are structured and the marks per part are smaller, the discipline is to answer the exact question quickly and concretely, not to write an unfocused mini-essay.

Section B: the extended essay on a second set text

Section B is a single extended essay on a second complete set text from a different period. Here you build a sustained directorial or design concept for the whole play and justify your staging choices, with examples drawn from across the text, by their effect on an audience. The marker rewards a clear, controlling idea developed consistently, not a tour of unrelated moments.

Section C: the printed extract from a third text

Section C gives you an extract from a third, contrasting text, printed in the paper, and asks a question on realising it in performance. You apply the same theatre-maker skills to a passage you work from directly, making specific staging and design choices justified by audience effect. Because the extract is supplied, the focus is on close, detailed realisation of the moment.

The pre-1956 and post-1956 rule

Across your set texts, one must be written before 1956 and one after 1956, so you study contrasting theatrical periods. The 1956 watershed marks the arrival of new, socially engaged British drama. The contrast is itself examinable: be ready to stage an older text with awareness of its original conventions and a modern text with awareness of its style.

Examples in context

How the three sections feel different. Imagine your pre-1956 text is a Greek tragedy and your post-1956 text is a modern British play. In Section A you might stage a single chorus entrance in structured parts: the vocal unison, the physical formation, the spatial use of the orchestra and a lighting choice, each tied to the awe or dread it creates. In Section B you outline your directorial concept for the whole modern play, committing to a controlling idea (say, a clinical, exposed staging that denies the audience comfort) and tracing it through several moments. In Section C you stage a printed extract from a third, contrasting text in detail. The skills overlap, but the scale and source differ, which is why a candidate who only practises essays is under-prepared for the structured and extract work.

Try this

Q1. How long is the Component 3 exam and how many marks is it worth? [2 marks]

• Cue. 2 hours 30 minutes; 120 marks (40 per cent of the A-Level).

Q2. What is the difference between Section B and Section C? [3 marks]

• Cue. Section B is an extended essay building a sustained concept for a complete second set text; Section C is a question on a printed extract from a third, contrasting text, worked from the page supplied.

Q3. Explain how you would approach answering a Component 3 question as a theatre maker. [10 marks]

• What the marker wants. Reading the section and command word, taking a clear role (performer, director or designer), planning specific vocal, physical, spatial and design choices rather than plot, and justifying each by its effect on an audience, against AO3 and AO4.

A note on the specification

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. WJEC sets the components, the set text lists and the exam structure, and reviews them periodically. Always confirm the current Component 3 format, your centre's chosen set texts and the live theatre requirement against the current WJEC specification at wjec.co.uk.