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Help with A2 drama exam!

I was wondering If anyone else was doing Trojan Women for their exam in June. I have been ill and missed a good few lessons, and it is really bad because everyone is exchanging ideas about how they would stages certain scenes. Does anyone have a few pointer idea's to get me going in the right direction? Thanks
Reply 1
When I did it, (i was edexcel, and got an A) everything pretty much fit into the formula of:

A - Take a concept relevant to the play, e.g. futility

B - Take an aspect of theatre, e.g. movement, voice, staging, rehearsal technique

C - Take a pretentious idea about how B would show A, e.g. "I would use thrust staging so that the audience surrounded the action on stage, creating a more intimate atmosphere. By doing this, and having the audience more involved, they are likely to emotionally connect with the subject matter, taking them through the process of catharsis, increasing their empathy with the characters, and therefore a frustration at the concept of the futility of war"

It really is that pretentious.
Reply 2
That is a really helpful way of doing it, thanks I shall definately use it :smile:
Reply 3
Oh and my teacher made us all recite the words "catharis = the cleansing of emotions through dramatic exposure" ALL the time.

So say that somewhere.
Reply 4
Yes I learnt about that when we did Antigone!:smile:
Reply 5
Not doing Trojan Women... doing the Beggar's Opera which is exactly the same exam and even the same wording in the questions but a different play. My main problem isn't with the actual exam content and questions but with the timing, in my mock exam I spent the WHOLE two and a half hours on Section A and didn't even read section B questions... ugh!
Reply 6
You don't have to write very much to get the marks. I can imagine you're writing too much for each point. This would be enough to get the mark:

Q: Give one example of how you would use voice to communicate your concept in this scene?

"I would direct the actress playing *BLANK* to put an emphasis on the words 'I' and 'Me' during this scene, illustrating how self-centered she is as a character, and further communicating my concept of selfishness."

It's really easy to write too much and get carried away with an idea, but just remember the steps that you have to say, and PLAN before, several bog-standard ideas like this that you can use in almost every situation. I might draw a spider diagram in your notes with like:

Voice
- Emphasis
- Pause
- Drawing out syllables
- Breath
- Tone

...and do the same for movement, staging, rehearsal techniques, etc etc, and you should save lots of time thinking of ideas :smile:
Reply 7
im doing that exam currently! if you want any help then send me a PM and ill give you my msn and we can chat about it there


funnily enough i was trying to find the answer to whether our performance notes and WOT notes where in the same 20 pages

:smile:
Reply 8
I've got this exam tomorrow. The previous comments are all very helpful! (and I'm noting them all down quickly)
You need to know rehearsal techniques, the first question is all about rehearsal, and you need to have your own concept, mine is a concentration camp during WW2, the second question is based on performance so you will need to explain your concept at the start and use it to explain how you would perform the given scene. also mention themes such as the futility of war. Remember you are the director. You need to show how you will work with your actors and how you will communicate to the audience, always mention what your action will communicate and the action you hope to have on the audience. And have an idea about how you will stage it, what type you will use and why, and proxemics ect. You also need to show knowledge of greek theatre and key words such as (already mentioned) carthersis.
Hope that helps. Go through each page and write down notes on:
Rehearsal technique
Theme
Concept
staging
design elements
directorial problems faced (eg: saftey)
Key Words
Greek Theatre
Reply 9
^^Its a bit late if people haven't done that already!!

Is anyone doing The Beggar's Opera instead of The Trojan Women?? This seems to be a far less popular choice by teachers from what I've seen/heard but my teacher did The Beggar's Opera as part of her degree so I think it was an obvious choice!!

Good luck everyone, personally I'm more worried about section B of the exam seeing as I'm reviewing a different play to the rest of my group!!
Reply 10
I'm doing woyzeck on wednesday and hamlet for the Shakespeare part, any revision techniques anyone has? really need to bump up my grade.
Reply 11
I have this exam on wednesay too (Woyzeck and Hamlet) I stook too for revision ideas, but I just done some timed essay questions and emailed my teacher. Also, I'v been thinking of ideas for question A, i.e What rehersal techniques go with personality.
I hate revising for this subject becuase its not specific, I'm also dreading it too due becuase of how hard it is!

Hope this helps and good luck!

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