Download A-level Drama and Theatre Studies Examiner report Unit 01

A-level
Drama and Theatre Studies
DRAM1A Live Theatre Production Seen and Prescribed Play
Report on the Examination
2240
June 2013
Version: 1.0
Further copies of this Report are available from aqa.org.uk
Copyright © 2013 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this
booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any
material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
General Comments
Examiners reported seeing some excellent answers from many students who had a wide-ranging
experience of live theatre. The majority of the productions seen were very suitable for AS level,
involving some challenge in terms of style and offering suitable opportunities for meeting the
demands of the questions and inspiring some coherent, fluent responses to the questions.
Students usually chose eminently suitable productions to discuss, although on occasions these
were not always fruitfully exploited with regard to the range of moments considered. There was
however, in the best responses, evidence of clear and useful guidance from centres where many
students had clearly been afforded a rich and exciting experience of live theatre, ranging from the
Royal Shakespeare Company’s As You Like It, through Kneehigh’s Steptoe to Jez Butterworth’s
Mojo and site-specific work such of that of Punchdrunk.
Where there could perhaps be more guidance from teachers is regarding which productions would
work best for questions on the different skills, as examiners reported instances where students
approached a question using a production that offered little scope for the required focus, and who
then floundered while trying to convert their notes into a response that was not really fulfilling the
demands of the question.
Similarly, where students had answered on their set text for section DRAM1B, this was often selfpenalising as the answers were frequently based on an understanding of the text rather than the
performance seen.
The majority of students had taken notes into the exam but the quality and use of these varied
enormously. Worryingly there was increased evidence of students bringing in almost complete
paragraphs rather than notes and there were still examples, despite repeated reference to this in
previous Reports on the Examination, to the inclusion of production photographs and other
downloaded material. Where the notes were bordering on continuous prose, not only does this
contravene the rubric, but there is a real danger in this for the students themselves as they often
get carried away with copying this out and do not address the actual focus of the question they are
answering, thereby restricting their success. No less of a problem are those examples that
examiners reported of students who, although working from genuine ‘notes’, happily copy out
phrases from these without fully understanding them, which leads to some incomprehensible
sentences in their essays.
Some students still do not have notes with them, and this almost invariably leads to answers that
are sketchy at best, often lacking any real detail, and that lead to superficial responses. This is
most noticeable for performance questions where the small but important details of facial
expression or vocal tone, for example, cannot all be remembered as clearly as perhaps a set or
costume design might be. The rationale behind allowing use of notes is to ensure that the exam is
not merely a memory test – and in no small part the construction of the notes can serve as useful
revision for this part of the examination.
In many ways the division between a successful and less successful answer was the ability of the
candidate to make the right choice of question, and to focus on its requirements. Many scripts
suggested that students would benefit from more practice in identifying these requirements and in
selecting the most appropriate examples from the production to discuss.
3 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
Evidence that many students had in fact practiced on past questions was clear, but this was not
always to their advantage when their thinking (and sometimes the wording in their notes) was too
focused on the requirements of that question and not the one in front of them. Some answers to
Question 01 concentrated on how set and lighting worked together rather than creating moods and
atmosphere, whilst the emotional response of the audience required in Question 03 became
discussions about how the audience could relate to the performance, whilst others asserted that
the audience had ‘an emotional response’ without any indication of what it might have been.
Others wrote so dispassionately and objectively that they gave no indication that any emotions
might have been felt by the candidate.
A growing concern this year was that a number of students were intent on discussing the style in
general or, more particularly, the work of a practitioner, suggesting that the production had been
studied in preparation for DRAM2 or DRAM4. Success and general assessment was often
presented in relation to how suitable the acting choices were for the given practitioner, rather than
how well the piece worked as a theatrical experience or fitted the requirements of the question.
When students criticise the performances seen by adding alternative directions of their own it is
unhelpful and adds little or nothing to the critical analysis of the production, as the negative
analysis generally fails to address the question. As has been flagged up on numerous occasions
previously, some students believe it is mandatory to include a sketch with their answers. Whereas
this is certainly expected for design questions, this is rarely a useful strategy for directing and
acting questions.
Some students appeared to be labouring under the misapprehension that it is acceptable to simply
offer a personal response to the productions they have seen without any direct reference to the
focus. In some cases the responses were detailed and offered an interesting analysis of directorial
intention, but with no reference to the question they could not be awarded high marks.
On a more positive note, many answers from students showed that they understood the
requirements of the exam and the question by starting with impressive and above all selective
introductions that went to the heart of the focus.
Unfortunately, there were a number of scripts that revealed a weak grasp of formal essay writing,
and a number which used colloquial or imprecise language with examiners reporting an increased
number of scripts that demonstrated poor spelling and grammar in both sections of the paper. It
would seem that, in an effort to try to use words that have a particular meaning or technical
application, some students produced very poorly expressed sections. To claim that eye contact
was ‘with the floor’ or ‘with the back of his head’ indicates that the term is not understood, the
words gel and gobo were regarded as synonyms, and juxtaposed and proxemics were frequently
used because they sounded good rather than because their meaning was appropriate. The word
gait was the one used most inaccurately; if some students had simply used ‘walk’ they would have
made a valid point, but for many it was obviously thought of as a synonym for posture, and those
who spelt it ‘gate’ or made it into a verb created equally confused comments. Other basic
misunderstandings related to thinking that ‘up stage’ was the area nearest to the audience and that
‘backstage’ was the area furthest from them.
Whilst the intention is that the choice of four questions should give students the maximum
opportunity to succeed, those who had seen only one production of any kind, sometimes produced
in their own Centre or as the practical exam, were limited not only in their choice, but in their
understanding and approach too. These students frequently made wild generalisations about the
nature of theatre or the style of the piece seen.
4 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
Question 01
Of the two design questions, this was the more popular, with many responses to it being extremely
impressive. Many students were able to discuss, very astutely, the mood or atmosphere being
created, showing a sensitivity to the whole experience and the designer’s intentions.
Many students approached the discussion of the set with confidence, and described the design,
whether realistic or not, in very helpful detail. The best answers supported their discussion with
detailed and helpful sketches in which the stage design was clear, the positioning of the audience
was marked and, in some cases, the changes and adaptations were indicated.
Some students were obviously very knowledgeable about lighting and how a production can be
influenced by it. Several answers made good reference to the use of birdies, back lighting and
specials; others used a range of terms, accurately, and went on to define precisely and
appropriately the mood/atmosphere created.
Plays such as An Inspector Calls and The 39 Steps were the basis for some very good answers on
the costume option, considering how a darker more tragic mood was created in the first and how
comedy was created in the second. However, unlike the set designs, very few students provided
precise and helpful sketches of the costumes, but those who did were obviously aware that a
detailed and clear sketch would clarify a point being made often more quickly and accurately that a
whole paragraph of description.
Fewer students chose the special effects option, possibly because they were unsure about what to
include. For those who did, the use of pyrotechnics, the different types of smoke machine (the
difference between the haze through which the light might be shone or the effect of dry ice clinging
to the ground) was often very well assessed and related precisely to the mood/atmosphere
created. (The marshes in A Woman in Black featured quite often but very well here.)
There were many productions seen which included puppetry and some answers which understood,
defined and conveyed the effect they had in creating the mood and atmosphere. War Horse
featured in many of these, as did The Lion King and many more small scale productions such as I
was a Rat and The Trench. In War Horse the mood created was often clearly defined and
understood, with detail of how the different moments of contrasting atmospheres were achieved,
comparing, for example, the beginning to one of the battlefield scenes.
On the downside, some potentially good answers lost focus and became a discussion of the
mood/atmosphere created by the performers, with little reference to the effect of the design, whilst
in others, the sketches were weak and hard to decipher, with little indication that walls or a floor
existed, that entrances and exits were required, or that the whole design had colour and texture to
it. Poor understanding of terminology arose here too; a minimalistic set is very bare, with hardly
any features, items or constructions; but many students used the term to suggest a
representational or symbolic set and provided a sketch and/or description of something that was
anything but minimalistic, e.g. A Woman in Black. Other students showed a lack of understanding
of the difference between a set design, with or without set dressing, and simply props used within
the design. It is crucial at this level that students understand and appreciate the difference
between props and set.
There was likewise a problem with some of the students who included references to the lighting
effects but with insufficient understanding of how this element of theatre actually works. One
5 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
candle on a very large stage will create hardly any light; students who discussed how the rest of
the set was only dimly lit by that candle were obviously unaware of the way ambient light will be
used to ‘cheat’ the effect. All too often references to the lighting design went no further than a
general indication of light or dark and a vague mention of colour.
Some answers that included costume did not go far enough in assessing how the
mood/atmosphere was affected by the general designs, the changes of costumes or the colour.
Some students wrote in detail about the period or style for example, but gave little idea of what the
mood/atmosphere might be. Others used exactly the same references to the design, but then
assessed very precisely how it helped the impact of the piece.
With regard to puppetry, unfortunately many answers failed to indicate what the actual design of
the puppet was like. The best responses to War Horse indicated what the puppet looked like, how
it was worked and compared the full size puppet with the foal or with the half puppets also used,
and the occasional response managed to compare and assess other designs such as the one for
the goose. While some answers on The Lion King created a vivid indication of how the puppets
worked and influenced the mood/atmosphere, in other cases the comments were only
comprehensible if one had already seen or been aware of the design. Students should be
reminded they must write as though for someone who has not seen the production, however
popular and long running it may be.
Unfortunately, many students wasted time on lengthy discussions about the sound effects, which
was not one of the options or indeed visual.
Question 02
Of all the questions on this paper this was the least popular, but it did produce some outstanding
answers. For those students who had thought about this aspect of a production seen and had
considered the effect the sound had on the audience response, this was obviously a clear and
welcomed question.
The best responses chose their production wisely ,and were able to offer very clear details relating
to very specific moments in order to communicate exactly not only a description of the sound, but
also some technical detail as to its creation, as well as a clear indication as to the way in which it
affected the audience response.
Some did choose unwisely, having remembered a sound effect, perhaps near the beginning of the
production, and then realising, far too late, that they had little awareness of any other effects,
sometimes in desperation, discussing the same lone effect more than once. Some students
mentioned music without sufficient explanation as to its source or indeed its style, and many
students referred to the use of musical instruments without acknowledging that, for example, a
trumpet, a triangle and kettle drum produce very different sounds. Some students failed to
adequately explore the different functions of sound, but in the best responses there were some
really good explanations of the subtle use of music to underscore a moment and how this, coupled
with the action on stage, affected the audience response in ways that could not be achieved by
other elements of theatre. There were, however, answers on musicals such as Les Miserables
which never mentioned music!
A Woman in Black came into its own with this question with detail of the use of ambient sound to
draw the audience in, the precise timing of the scream to create maximum shock, and some very
6 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
astute assessment of the sound which turns out to be the rocking horse but seems initially to be a
heartbeat. For the students who chose this production it was clear they were selecting the most
powerful and effective sounds and moments, rather than trying to scrape enough to fill the time.
Unfortunately, there were also several students who chose this production without sufficient
understanding of the requirements of the question, spending most of their response describing the
actors’ vocal work at the start of the production.
Question 03
Unsurprisingly, this was far and away the most popular question on the paper, and many students
made a good attempt to answer the question set. Because the range of the question was broadly
interpreted, students could draw on a very useful range of experience, and this opportunity was
often well exploited. Those that immediately focused on the specific demands of the question, i.e.
the emotional response in the audience, were more likely to maintain this throughout the answer.
Better responses clearly focused on the acting skills used and were able to explain how and why
these achieved an emotional response from the audience. Similarly, it is the exploration of a range
of clear moments in detail that achieves success, and as is always the case in this examination,
students must be aware that it is their ability to write sufficiently about each moment to convey how
the actors demonstrated their skills in terms of the focus, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of
covering a range of moments. Where students wrote, albeit with considerable detail, about only
one or two moments, it was unlikely that they would be able to fulfill the requirements of AO2 to
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the production style and form. Conversely, this was
often also the case where students covered so many moments that there was no detail of the
acting skills, and in these instances the response tended towards narrative rather than an
exploration of the acting skills used.
Although the majority of answers demonstrate at least some understanding of the actors’ skills and
the way these were used to create emotional responses, some weaker students focused on one or
other aspects of the question, answering on emotional responses to the narrative of the production
with insufficient reflection on the actors’ roles, or giving detail of skills without sufficient focus on
audience response.
Many students still began with a long preamble about the style of the production without discussing
this in relation to the question set, and at times failing to make any further reference to this when
discussing the skills of the actors. Some of the less successful answers kept referring to emotional
response but did not say what emotions these were, and the rather formulaic approach of ‘my first
moment …my second moment…’ did little to demonstrate a developed response to the production
as a whole.
Another weakness reported this year by examiners was the tendency of some students to only
write about one skill at a time, so rather than exploring how voice and movement/gesture went
together, they wrote in detail about voice and that was all. It would have been useful in terms of
conveying an overview of the theatrical experience if students had commented on a greater
breadth of skills in their writing.
Unfortunately there were also a number of students who spent too long writing about other aspects
of the production, such as lighting and sound as well as set, which may be helpful in terms of brief
comment on aims and style, but not useful when exploring the production in terms of the question
set.
7 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
A few students chose inappropriate productions, where the production aims were clearly to do little
else other than to entertain on a fairly superficial level. These productions did not allow students to
explore ‘emotion’ in any depth.
Weaker answers gave only limited detail of the context of productions seen, making it difficult to
understand the action described, and in these cases there was often a degree of confusion as to
whether they were analysing the response in the audience or the emotions felt by the characters
on stage.
Question 04
Examiners reported that this question produced some of the most disappointing responses, but
also in a few cases some really insightful analyses of the live theatre experience. The most
successful answers began with an explanation of the intentions behind the production as a whole.
Thus we were told that the production of Metamorphosis was designed to raise awareness of
attitudes to mental health, and that Beautiful Burnout was intended to give the audience a glimpse
into the world of boxing. These students went on to analyse the effect created at particular
moments. They identified the moments in which the effects were shocking, those which were
amusing, and those which charmed and delighted. The very best answers then linked discussion
of these specific effects with analysis of production aims, and explained how each moment
contributed to the cumulative effect of the production as a whole. Similarly, examiners reported
seeing responses where students looked at productions that incorporated Physical Theatre or very
slick ensemble work. These often gave a clear sense of some exciting pieces of theatre that used
performers’ skills to create effects that went beyond the creation of three-dimensional
characterisations.
Without a doubt though, the biggest problem was the definition of ‘non-naturalistic’ skills. Whilst
most students were able to identify basic non-naturalistic elements of the production, few actually
wrote about the non-naturalistic skills of the performers. Many students took the focus to mean
just breaking the fourth wall, and therefore wrote entire essays describing performances that were
almost entirely naturalistic but ones in which a performer occasionally addressed the audience
directly or, at times, just spoke their thoughts aloud in that general direction.
Many students wasted a lot of time explaining in what way each device they identified was nonnaturalistic. Thus we were told that the actor miming opening a window in The 39 Steps was not
using naturalism because the audience was not being invited to believe that it was a real window.
Although true, it would have been better to have been given the details of what the actor was
actually doing at precise moments in the production. For example, in One Man, Two Guvnors we
can discover that he ‘fights with himself’ from the script; what we want to know is HOW this actor
fought with himself; ‘a lack of clarity’ was an oft repeated annotation.
Others took the approach that it meant comedy performances or ones in which the performers
were ‘over the top’, to use a term much used by students, and although some of these could be
credited under the point in the mark scheme that refers to ‘an exaggerated acting style’, it was
necessary for the candidate to define this for the examiner.
One examiner reported reading a lot of answers on Splendid Productions’ Everyman where the
students were basically discussing how they were using Brecht; the assumption that because it
was Brecht it was non-naturalistic. Others were under the same misconceptions about the term in
8 of 9
REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL DRAMA AND THEATRE STUDIES – DRAM1A – JUNE 2013
relation to a variety of pieces, and those of some concern were where the students started by
saying a production style was ‘both naturalistic and non-naturalistic’, but when one read the answer
the ‘non-naturalistic’ aspect was obviously the set design.
In other less successful responses, although focused on an appropriate production, students
became so tangled in an explanation of plot that they had no time to identify the skills of the
performers. A simple re-telling of the story will never attract more than a handful of marks,
however coherent the explanation. Alternatively, some answers were completely baffling because
the students did not explain enough about plot. Unless students are writing about very well-known
work they should not assume that the examiner knows the play. It is not helpful to refer to ‘the
farewell scene’ if the examiner has no idea who is leaving and for what reason.
The other element of the question that frequently required greater attention was the need to refer
to ‘specific effects’. It was evident that some students had little idea what was meant by this, many
of them resorting to simply discussing audience response in very generalised terms.
The same comment about number of moments described in Question 03 also applies to responses
to this question.
Finally, although there have been a lot of negative comments regarding responses to this question,
there were also some very good answers that revealed a real commitment to this part of the
examination.
Mark Ranges and Award of Grades
Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results Statistics
page of the AQA Website.
Converting Marks into UMS marks
Convert raw marks into Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks by using the link below.
UMS conversion calculator
9 of 9