Creating devised drama — AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre
Teaching note based on the AQA specification.
Devised drama is original theatre created by the performers themselves, often without a pre-existing script, using stimuli, improvisation and rehearsal techniques to explore themes and create meaning for an audience. For AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre, you must demonstrate how your devising process, dramatic intentions and final performance communicate meaning, supported by reference to the work of a recognised theatre practitioner.
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Your focus
- Students must learn how to create and develop original devised ideas to communicate meaning as part of the theatre making process.
Which command word is this?
You must give reasons and make clear how and why something was done. In AQA Drama, this means detailing your creative decisions and linking them to your dramatic intention and practitioner techniques. Do not just list what you did.
Creating devised drama exam tips
Topic Overview
Devised drama is a core component of AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre, assessed through both practical performance and a written portfolio. You are required to create an original piece of theatre from a stimulus, applying the methods of a recognised theatre practitioner to shape your work. This topic tests your ability to generate, develop and refine dramatic material collaboratively, and to articulate your creative process and intentions clearly.
The skills you develop here are fundamental to the wider subject: they underpin your understanding of how theatre is made, how meaning is constructed for an audience, and how practitioners influence performance style. Devising also prepares you for the written exam, where you must analyse and evaluate live theatre, and for your future work in the performing arts industry, where collaboration and original creation are essential.
Key Concepts
- →Stimulus: The starting point for devising, which can be a photograph, poem, piece of music, object, or theme. It should provoke ideas and emotional responses, not dictate the final piece.
- →Practitioner methodology: You must apply the techniques of a recognised practitioner (e.g. Brecht, Stanislavski, Artaud, Frantic Assembly) to your devising process and final performance, not just mention them.
- →Dramatic intention: The specific message, feeling, or question you want the audience to experience. Every creative choice should serve this intention.
- →Devising techniques: Improvisation, hot seating, role play, still image, cross-cutting, and physical theatre are used to generate and refine material.
- →Audience configuration: The arrangement of the audience (proscenium, thrust, traverse, promenade) affects how meaning is received and should be chosen deliberately.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Keep a detailed devising log or portfolio from day one. Record not just what you did, but why you did it, how it developed, and what effect it had on the audience. This will form the basis of your written evaluation.
- 💡In your final performance, make your dramatic intention clear through consistent stylistic choices. If you are using Brecht, ensure every element (acting style, lighting, placards, direct address) works together to create alienation, not just one isolated moment.
- 💡Use precise drama terminology in your written work: 'semiotics', 'proxemics', 'vocal modulation', 'gestus', 'epic theatre', 'naturalism'. This demonstrates subject knowledge and secures marks in the analysis and evaluation sections.
Common Mistakes
- Students think devising means making it up as you go along with no structure. In fact, devising requires rigorous planning, research, and structured rehearsal, with clear documentation of the process.
- Students believe that any mention of a practitioner is enough. The mark scheme requires specific, detailed application of the practitioner's techniques to your own work, with analysis of their impact on meaning.
- Students often confuse 'devising' with 'scripted performance'. Devised work is original and created by the group, whereas scripted work uses an existing play text. The assessment criteria are different, so you must not rely on a script.
Revision Plan
- 1Week 1, Days 1-2: Research your chosen stimulus and practitioner. Create a mind map of ideas and identify your dramatic intention. Read exemplar devising portfolios to understand the expected depth of analysis.
- 2Week 1, Days 3-5: In rehearsals, experiment with three different devising techniques (e.g. hot seating, still image, cross-cutting) and record their effectiveness in your log. Begin to shape a narrative structure.
- 3Week 1, Days 6-7: Review your material and refine it. Consider how production elements will support your intention. Draft a scene-by-scene outline with practitioner techniques annotated.
- 4Week 2, Days 1-3: Rehearse the full piece with production elements. Film a run-through and analyse it for clarity of intention, audience impact, and consistency of style. Make adjustments.
- 5Week 2, Days 4-5: Finalise your portfolio, ensuring you have analysed your process, evaluated your final performance, and made specific reference to your practitioner and audience response. Practice writing 6-mark answers under timed conditions.
Exam Question Types
- 📋Devising portfolio (60 marks): A written coursework component where you document and evaluate your devising process and final performance. Advice: Use specific examples and analyse the impact of your choices, not just describe them.
- 📋Performance of devised drama (20 marks): Assessed by a visiting examiner. Advice: Ensure your dramatic intention is clear from the opening moment and that your practitioner's style is evident throughout.
- 📋Written exam question on live theatre evaluation (30 marks): You may be asked to analyse how a devised piece you have seen communicated meaning. Advice: Focus on specific moments and use precise terminology to describe acting, design, and audience response.
- 📋Reflective question on devising process (10 marks): In the written exam, you may be asked to explain how you would approach a devising task. Advice: Structure your answer around stimulus, research, practitioner application, and intended audience impact.
Command Word Expectations (AQA)
Explain
You must give reasons and make clear how and why something was done. In AQA Drama, this means detailing your creative decisions and linking them to your dramatic intention and practitioner techniques. Do not just list what you did.
Analyse
You must break down the component parts of your devising process or performance and examine how they work together to create meaning. Use specific examples and drama terminology, and explore cause and effect (e.g. 'This choice caused the audience to feel...').
Evaluate
You must make a judgement about the effectiveness of your work, supported by evidence. Consider what worked well, what could be improved, and the overall impact on the audience. Refer to your dramatic intention and practitioner methodology.
How Students Lose Marks (Examiner Pitfalls)
Pitfall: Students describe what they did in rehearsals without explaining why they made those choices or how they shaped meaning for the audience. This loses marks in the Devised Performance and the Process and Evaluation sections because the mark scheme rewards analysis of intention, not a diary of activities.
❌ Weak Answer (Loses Marks):We did some improvisation about the theme of loneliness and then we chose our favourite bits to put in the play. We rehearsed for six weeks and performed it to the class.
Example improved answer:We began by exploring the stimulus of a photograph showing an isolated elderly man in a busy city. Using Stanislavski's given circumstances, each actor improvised a monologue revealing their character's private thoughts. We selected the most theatrically effective moments and structured them into a non-linear narrative using Brechtian placards to highlight the social commentary on isolation. Our intention was to make the audience feel complicit in the man's loneliness by placing them in a traverse configuration, so they could see each other's reactions and recognise their own role in society's neglect of the elderly.
Examiner Tip: Always link every rehearsal decision to your dramatic intention and the audience's experience. Use the phrase 'so that the audience...' to force yourself to explain impact, and name the practitioner technique you applied.
Pitfall: Students fail to integrate their chosen practitioner throughout the devising process and final performance. They mention the practitioner only in the written evaluation, not in the performance itself, so the examiner cannot credit the practical application of the practitioner's methods.
❌ Weak Answer (Loses Marks):We used Brecht's alienation effect by having a narrator. We also used physical theatre. Our piece was about climate change and we wanted to make people think.
Example improved answer:We applied Brecht's alienation effect systematically: actors stepped out of character to deliver direct address with placards stating '1.5 degrees', we used harsh white lighting to prevent emotional identification, and we fragmented the narrative into episodic scenes separated by song. This meant the audience could not passively empathise but were forced to critically evaluate their own contribution to climate change. In the final scene, we broke the fourth wall and asked the audience directly, 'What will you do?', which is a direct application of Brecht's Lehrstucke (learning play) model.
Examiner Tip: Choose two or three specific practitioner techniques and apply them consistently in rehearsal and performance. In your portfolio, explain how each technique was used in a specific moment and what effect it had on the audience.
Step-by-Step Worked Solutions
Question: Explain how you used one rehearsal technique to develop character in your devised piece. (6 marks)
- 1.Step 1: Identify the rehearsal technique and the practitioner it comes from, e.g. 'hot seating' from Stanislavski's system.
- 2.Step 2: Describe how you applied it to your character, including specific questions asked and answers given.
- 3.Step 3: Analyse how this deepened your understanding of the character's objectives and given circumstances.
- 4.Step 4: Evaluate the impact on your final performance, linking to audience response and your dramatic intention.
Final Answer: I used hot seating, a Stanislavski technique, to develop my character, a grieving mother. In the hot seat, I was asked 'What do you regret most?' and I responded in character, 'Not saying goodbye.' This revealed her super-objective: to find forgiveness. In performance, this informed my slow, heavy movements and broken vocal delivery, which made the audience feel her pain and reinforced our theme of unresolved grief.
Question: Analyse how you used one production element to communicate meaning in your devised performance. (6 marks)
- 1.Step 1: Name the production element, e.g. lighting, sound, set, costume, or proxemics.
- 2.Step 2: Describe exactly how it was used at a specific moment in the performance.
- 3.Step 3: Explain the intended effect on the audience and how it supported your dramatic intention.
- 4.Step 4: Evaluate the success of this choice, referring to audience feedback or your own reflection.
Final Answer: We used a single, bare light bulb swinging on a wire above the stage. As it swung, shadows moved across the actors' faces, creating a sense of instability and unease. This supported our theme of mental illness by visually representing the character's fragmented mind. The audience later told us they felt disoriented, which confirmed that our symbolic use of lighting successfully communicated our intention without the need for dialogue.
Active Recall Memory Test
What is the difference between a stimulus and a dramatic intention?
Key Fact: A stimulus is the starting point (e.g. an image, poem, or theme) that provokes ideas. A dramatic intention is the specific message or effect you want to communicate to the audience, which you decide after exploring the stimulus.
Name three devising techniques and explain what each is used for.
Key Fact: Hot seating: to develop character depth and backstory. Still image: to explore key moments and relationships visually. Cross-cutting: to juxtapose scenes and create contrast or tension.
Why is audience configuration important in devised drama?
Key Fact: It determines how the audience experiences the performance and can reinforce your dramatic intention. For example, traverse staging makes the audience feel complicit, while promenade immerses them in the action.
What does the AQA mark scheme reward in the devising portfolio?
Key Fact: It rewards analysis and evaluation of the devising process, application of practitioner methodology, clarity of dramatic intention, and reflection on audience impact, supported by specific examples.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is devised drama in AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre?
Devised drama is original theatre created by you and your group, often from a stimulus, without a pre-existing script. In AQA A-Level, you must create a piece of devised drama and document your process in a portfolio. You are assessed on your ability to apply a practitioner's methods, communicate dramatic intention, and evaluate your work.
How do I choose a practitioner for my devised piece?
Choose a practitioner whose style and techniques excite you and suit your stimulus. For example, Brecht is ideal for political or social commentary, while Stanislavski suits character-driven naturalism. Ensure you understand their key techniques and can apply them consistently in rehearsal and performance. Avoid choosing a practitioner just because they are famous; pick one you can genuinely use.
What should I include in my devising portfolio?
Your portfolio should include your initial response to the stimulus, research, records of rehearsal activities, explanations of how you applied your practitioner's techniques, analysis of your dramatic intentions, and an evaluation of the final performance. Use specific examples and reflect on what you would change. It is not a diary; it is an analytical document.
How can I make my devised performance more original?
Originality comes from your unique response to the stimulus and your creative choices, not from a completely new idea. Use improvisation to discover unexpected moments, combine contrasting theatrical styles, or experiment with unconventional staging. Avoid clichés and ensure every choice serves your dramatic intention. Watching a range of theatre can inspire fresh approaches.
What is the difference between devising and scripted performance?
Devising is creating original work from scratch, often collaboratively, while scripted performance uses an existing play text. In devising, you are the playwright, director, and performer, so you must generate the material, structure, and meaning. Scripted performance requires you to interpret a playwright's intentions. The assessment criteria for devising focus on your creative process and original choices.
How do I evaluate my devised performance effectively?
Evaluation means making judgements about what worked and what did not, supported by evidence. Consider your dramatic intention: did you achieve it? How did the audience respond? Refer to specific moments and explain why they were effective or not, using drama terminology. Be honest about weaknesses and suggest concrete improvements. This demonstrates reflective practice, which examiners reward.