School

Name

Devising
Unit
Name: ________________________________________________ Class: _____________

Teacher: ______________________________________________

In this unit you will apply drama skills to achieve the following outcomes:
Grade 10 Drama
1 Use a range of drama skills
1.1 Responding to a range of stimuli, including text, to
develop ideas for drama
1.2 Developing a range of drama skills to communicate
ideas
1.3 Applying a range of drama skills to communicate
ideas
1.4 Evaluating your own work and that of others
2 Contribute to the drama process
2.1 Researching, planning and devising drama
2.2 Using a range of acting skills in order to portray
character
2.3 Exploring form, genre, structure and style
2.4 Evaluating your own work and that of others
 In this unit you will devise and present a piece of drama following the drama process:

Respond to stimulus Rehearse Add production elements

Offer ideas Set up space Present to an audience

Evaluate

Discuss & select ideas for Develop characters

situations and roles

Explore form/genre
/structure/style &
conventions
Agree storyline & characters

In your written work, you must ensure that you are discussing relevant drama
concepts and using the correct vocabulary. Use the word banks to help you.
Voice Movement Characterisation

Accent Body language Character Cards

Pace Facial expression Improvisation
Volume Gesture Role-play
Clarity Pace Hot seating
Emphasis Timing Thought tracking
Pause Eye contact Writing in role
Pitch Posture Purpose
Tone Positioning Motivation
Articulation Use of levels/space Interaction
Fluency Gait Relationships
Intonation Stance
Register Mannerisms

STIMULUS 1
 STIMULUS 2

Stimulus 2

Imagine you did that to somebody.

And you don’t why you did it.
You just
You wanted payback.
You were hurting so much
You wanted to hurt somebody else.
But the payback you done, you didnae
mean.
You nearly killed somebody that night.

STIMULUS 3

Time to photoshop my life.

Touch up the edges, adjust
the tones, blur out the
background, focus on me
and crop people out.
 Using your ideas from your mind maps, select two concepts from different stimuli
and develop them further. Describe two detailed ideas for a piece of drama.

Stimulus: ___________________________________________________________

Idea for a drama: ______________________________________________________

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Stimulus: ___________________________________________________________

Idea for a drama: ______________________________________________________

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2.1 Planning and devising drama
2.1 Researching, planning and devising drama

The first stage in planning a drama is

research. You need to ensure that you know
about the issues/concepts you are exploring
so that they can be portrayed accurately in
your drama. This will make your piece more
realistic and interesting. Ensure you attach
any of your research notes to the folio.

As you develop your ideas, you should avoid

getting stuck on the first idea someone
suggests. Improvise different ideas to see
what is exciting or interesting. You may
discover something through improvisation
that influences the whole of your piece. This
is an opportunity to be creative!

Once you have identified your best ideas, it

is time to rehearse. This is where you refine
you drama and ensure all the elements are
as good as they can be. Each of you will take
responsibility for a scene in your drama and
this is where you should use rehearsal
activities and conventions to help you. There
is a list of these on page 10.

It is important to keep track of your progress as you work with your group to
devise your drama using the stages described above. Use the rehearsal logs on
the following pages to record what was achieved in your rehearsals. Include:
 Any ideas that you contributed or decisions you made
 Any rehearsal activities used
 Any issues that came up and how you and your group solved them
 Rehearsal
Rehearsal
LogLog

Date:
What we did:

Date:
What we did:
1.2 Developing drama skills to communicate ideas
1.2 Developing a range of drama skills to communicate ideas

Hot Seating Writing in Role

Improvisation Role Play

Rehearsal Activities
Thought Tracking Character Cards
& Conventions

Thought Tunnel Voices in the Head

During the devising process you will use a range of techniques to aid
characterisation and to support the development of your ideas. Use the table
below to describe how the activities helped you in devising your drama.

Activity:
What was achieved:

Activity:
What was achieved:

Activity:
What was achieved:
1.3 Using drama skills to communicate ideas
1.3 Applying a range of drama skills to communicate ideas

Your drama should have the following:

 A clear plot (narrative)

 A clear structure (sequence of narrative)
 Clear communication of setting (time and place)
 Strong characterisation (development of the characters)
- Hot seating, writing in role
 Dramatic tension (what keeps the audience engaged)

You will write a script for one scene in your drama which you must include as an
attachment to your folio. Use the space here to record a synopsis of each scene
in your drama including the setting and the action. Ensure you mention any
conventions used in any of the scenes.

Scene: Action:
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Setting: ____________________________________________________
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Scene: Action:
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Scene: Action:
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Scene: Action:
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 Character cards are used to record detailed ideas about a character. Complete a
character card for your main role in your drama.

Name ___________________________________________________________

Age ___________________________________________________________
Occupation ___________________________________________________________

Background ___________________________________________________________
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Personality ___________________________________________________________
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Purpose in the story
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Relationship with another character ______________________________________

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Voice (tone, volume, accent etc)

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Movement (Body language, use of space, gesture etc)

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2.2 Using acting skills in order to portray character
2.2 Using a range of acting skills in order to portray character

It is important to understand the effectiveness of your acting skills in your portrayal

of character. Identify two key moments for your character and describe how you will
use acting concepts to portray your character in these moments. Remember to use
correct vocabulary and to justify your comments.

Moment: __________________________________________________________
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Acting concepts: __________________________________________________
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Moment: __________________________________________________________
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Acting concepts: __________________________________________________
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2.3 Exploring form, genre, structure and style
2.3 Exploring form, genre, structure and style

When devising a drama, we must consider a number of elements which will affect
the nature of the drama we create. In completing this section, you can use your
forms & genres handout and your devising workshop experience to help you.

Form Genre Structure Style

The overall type of The overall style of The sequence of The way the
the drama the drama the narrative drama is presented
Scripted Play Comedy Linear Naturalistic
Improvised Play Tragedy Non-Linear Non-naturalistic or
Dance Drama Crime Drama stylised
Mime Docudrama
Movement Melodrama
Monologue Commedia dell
Musical ‘arte
Pantomime Farce
Forum Theatre Tragicomedy
Satire

What is the form of your drama? ________________________________________

Why did you choose this? ______________________________________________
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How does your drama reflect this form? __________________________________
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What is the genre of your drama? _______________________________________
Why did you choose this? ______________________________________________
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How does your drama reflect this genre? _________________________________
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What is the structure of your drama? ____________________________________

Why did you choose this structure? ______________________________________
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What is the style of your drama? ________________________________________

Why did you choose this style? _________________________________________
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1.3 Using drama skills to communicate ideas
1.3 Applying a range of drama skills to communicate ideas
Sound
Source all sound effects
Annotate all sound cues on script
Prepare sound effects for
performance using the
appropriate software (Windows
Media Player/Mac Sound Cue etc.)
Create final cue sheet
Choose someone to operate
sound during performance
Set
Make ground plan
Make colour elevation
Source all set pieces and set
dressing
Alter/adapt a piece of set to suit
needs of performance
Final set constructed for
performance and photographed
Costume
Complete costume designs for
each character
List costumes by actor and scene
Label, organise and photograph
final costumes
Make/adapt one costume for
performance
In order to ensure your drama is
suitable for performance, as a group
you must design and organise
elements of production. You will each
take responsibility for one role. To
fulfil your production role you must
complete all the tasks detailed below
your selected skill. Tick the tasks as
you complete them. Completed work
must be kept with your folio.
Props
Complete detailed design of prop
you will make
Make prop for performance
Source and store all props
Make master props list
Organise and photograph props
table
Hair and Makeup
Create list of all tools and products
to be used
Take allergy/hygiene notes
Make final makeup charts for all
characters
Apply hair and makeup to actors
and photograph
1.4 Reflecting on their own work and that of others
1.4 Evaluating their own work and that of others How did
When developing ideas and rehearsing with your group we do?
What were your strengths?
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What could you have improved on?
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In future, how could you improve your contribution to the rehearsal process?
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Based on reflection of your performance and feedback from classmates:

What were the successes of your drama?
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What could have been improved?

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In your contribution to the performance (acting and production):

What were your strengths?
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What could you have improved?

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Choose someone in your group. What was effective about their role in devising and
performing your drama?
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Choose someone in another group. What was effective about their performance?
How could it be improved?
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Teacher Comments:

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