Drama as constructed performance
- A play is written to be staged - analyse dramatic method and its effect on an audience, not just the words.
Structure and form
- Act/scene structure, exposition, climax, peripeteia (reversal), anagnorisis (recognition), catastrophe; dramatic irony; tragedy/comedy conventions (the tragic hero, hamartia, catharsis - Aristotle).
Dramatic techniques
- Dialogue, monologue, soliloquy, asides; stage directions, setting, props, lighting, staging, entrances/exits; blank verse vs prose (status/register); silence and pauses; conflict as the engine of drama.
Character and audience positioning
- Protagonist/antagonist, foils, status shifts; how audiences are led to judge characters.
Interpretation
- Different productions/directorial choices change meaning (links to AO5); consider how a moment might be staged and its effect.
Always analyse for the audience in performance - how structure, staging and dramatic devices shape response - using tragic/comic frameworks.
Diagram
Core idea
Key details
Worked example
Exam application
Definition
Evidence
Explanation
Conclusion