HIGHER - SECTION 1

The first part of the Essay question

You will choose one question and there will be a choice of questions about ACTING, DIRECTING or DESIGNING. All three options will be there for you to choose from.

Example question:

Question 1, Part 1: As an actor, describe in detail how you think the central character highlights the themes and issues of the selected text. You must use detailed textual references and/or quotations from the play to support your answer.

Question 2, Part 1: As a director, describe how you would like your audience to react at key moments in your selected text. You must use detailed textual references and/or quotations from the play to support your answer.

Question 3, Part 1 : As a designer, explain in detail how a key scene creates dramatic tension in you selected text. You must use detailed textual references and/or quotations from the play to support your answer.

AS AN ACTOR:

If you choose to answer as 'an actor' you must explain how you would physically bring the character to life onstage using a range of different acting techniques.

AS A DIRECTOR:

If you choose to answer as 'a director' you must explain a holistic vision of the play and explain Acting, Production Areas, Staging Ideas and Production Concepts.

AS A DESIGNER:

If you choose to answer as 'a designer' you need to explain how you would apply at least two Production Areas to the production of the play. You need to demonstrate clear understanding of the skills required if you choose this question. 

Some questions only ask you to write about ‘one scene’ or a ‘key scene’, some might ask you to write about the ‘opening scene’, others might ask you to write about the ‘whole play’. If it doesn’t specifically say, always write about the whole play.

You are always being asked to explain how you would bring things to life in relation to the given area. 

The given areas that might be in the question could be about any of the following:

Audience Response: How the audience reacts

Emotional Responses: How the character or audience responds in any given situation

Character Relationships: How they are and how they change and alter

Dramatic Tension: The driving force of the play and how it is created and achieved

The play’s Genre: The overall style of the drama

Dramatic features: Events of the play, its style, design issues or complications of performing the play.

Changes in status: Power relationships between the characters

Changes in Circumstance: How aspects of the plot affect specific characters

Key Features: Important plot, design or performance aspects

Key moments: Important events in the course of the play

Character Feelings: How they feel towards others in the story

Character Motivation: What drives the character, what does the character hope to achieve?

Character Personality: What the character is like

Themes and Issues: What the play is about

Conflict: Between characters/due to the play’s events

The second part of the Essay question (must be linked to your answer for the first part)

Example part 2 of the question:

Question 1, Part 2:  Describe how, as an actor, you would use acting concepts to highlight the themes and issues of your text to the audience. 

Question 2, Part 2: Explain how you would use directing concepts to achieve your desired audience response in performance

Question 3, Part 2: Explain how you would use design concepts to create dramatic tension in the scene

You're looking for four marks for PART 1 and PART 2. 

In part 1: 

1st Mark: you will get a mark for a well made point that is answering the question 

2nd Mark: a further mark for your point being well justified with a quote.

In Part 2: 

3rd Mark: A 1st mark is awarded for an acting or directing or design concept related to the point made

4th Mark: is awarded for further detailed development of the acting concept

JOINING THE TWO PARTS TOGETHER IN YOUR ANSWER: When you are writing the essay, you can choose two different ways to answer: 

You might prefer to answer with (at least 5) points answering the first part of the question, followed by five points that cover concepts

Alternatively, you might like to write (at least five) paragraphs combining part 1 and part 2. 

Combining both means that you can keep your points related and concise. So for example, for an answer to the ACTING CONCEPT QUESTION above, if you were writing about Philip Pullman's 'Frankenstein', the structure would look like this:

INTRODUCTION 

I like to describe the introduction as ‘setting out your stall’ – putting all of the interesting goods on display to gain the examiner’s interest. Here's a sample intro for an acting question:

In the play ‘Frankenstein’ adapted by Philip Pullman, a key theme is Victor Frankenstein's single-minded desire to achieve his scientific outcomes, his hatred for the monster he creates and his thirst for vengeance against it; all of these things eventually lead to Victor’s breakdown and downfall. Victor tries to 'play God' and in this essay, I will explain how, as an actor, I would portray this through the acting concepts of voice, movement and proxemics and how I would use props and costume as an actor to show Victor’s traits.

Paragraph/Point 1: 

Part 1: Explanation and examples and understanding (with quote)

Part 2: Acting Concepts – how you would communicate the above to an audience using Victor's costume and props to increase the understanding of the themes.

Paragraph/Point 2: 

Part 1: Explanation, examples and understanding (with quote)

Part 2: Acting Concepts – how you would communicate the above to an audience using  eye contact and tone of voice.

Paragraph/Point 3: 

Part 1: Explanation, examples and understanding (with quote)

Part 2: Acting Concepts – how you would communicate the above to an audience using posture and balance.

Paragraph/Point 4: 

Part 1: Explanation and examples and understanding (with quote)

Part 2: Acting Concepts – how you would communicate the above to an audience using proxemics and use of space.

Paragraph/Point 5: 

Part 1: Explanation and examples and understanding (with quote)

Part 2: Acting Concepts – how you would communicate the above to an audience using pitch, pace, pause and intonation to increase tension.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I have demonstrated how the key theme of Victor’s need to ‘play god’ through achieving his scientific goal of creating life led to him creating a monster he could not control. This in turn led to the tragedy of Elizabeth’s death and Victor being totally consumed by his own guilt. I have shown how this theme  creates many examples of dramatic tension throughout ‘Frankenstein’ adapted by Philip Pullman. I have also identified the ways I would use acting concepts to highlight the themes at key moments and communicate those themes to the audience.