Performing devised drama — AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre
Teaching note based on the AQA specification.
Devised drama is original theatre created by the performer, often from a stimulus, without a pre-existing script. For AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre, you must create and perform a piece using a recognised practitioner's style, then evaluate your process and performance in a written reflection.
Test yourself on Performing devised drama with AQA A-Level practice questions.
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Your focus
- Students must learn how to contribute to devised drama in a live theatre context for an audience.
Which command word is this?
Break down the subject into components and explain how they relate. In Drama, this means examining how specific techniques (e.g., use of space, vocal modulation) create meaning and impact. You must go beyond description to explore cause and effect.
Performing devised drama exam tips
Topic Overview
Devised drama is a core component of AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre, requiring you to create an original piece of theatre from a stimulus. You must apply the techniques of a chosen practitioner (e.g., Brecht, Artaud, Frantic Assembly) to shape your work, and then perform it to an audience. The process is assessed through a performance and a written reflection, testing both your practical skills and your analytical understanding.
This topic matters because it develops your creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. It mirrors professional theatre-making, where ensembles devise new work. The skills you learn—improvisation, research, directorial decision-making—are transferable and essential for further study or a career in the performing arts. It also deepens your appreciation of how theatre is constructed and received.
Key Concepts
- →Stimulus: The starting point for devising (e.g., an image, poem, news article, piece of music). It should be explored, not just illustrated.
- →Practitioner methodology: The specific techniques and intentions of a theatre practitioner (e.g., Brecht's Epic Theatre, Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty, Stanislavski's Naturalism) that must be applied to your devised work.
- →Devising process: The collaborative methods used to generate material, such as improvisation, research, writing, and physical exploration.
- →Intended audience impact: The desired effect on the audience (e.g., to educate, provoke, entertain, challenge) and how dramatic techniques achieve this.
- →Reflective analysis: The ability to evaluate your own creative process and performance, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for development.
Examiner Tips
- 💡In the written reflection, always justify your creative decisions with reference to your practitioner and intended audience impact. Use phrases like 'This was intended to...' and 'This meant the audience would...'.
- 💡Ensure your performance clearly demonstrates the practitioner's techniques. Don't just talk about them in the reflection; they must be visible on stage.
- 💡Manage your time in the exam: for the reflection, allocate time to plan your answer, covering process, performance, and evaluation.
Common Mistakes
- Students think devising is just making up a story. Correction: Devising is a rigorous process of exploration, research, and shaping material using a practitioner's methodology to communicate a clear intention.
- Students believe they can just perform a script they found. Correction: The piece must be original and developed by the group, though you can adapt existing text as a stimulus.
- Students assume the written reflection is a diary of what happened. Correction: It is an analytical evaluation of the process and performance, using drama terminology and linking to practitioner theory.
Revision Plan
- 1Week 1: Research your chosen practitioner thoroughly. Create a fact file of their key techniques, intentions, and example productions. Then, explore your stimulus through improvisation and research, recording ideas.
- 2Week 1-2: Devise scenes, applying practitioner techniques. Regularly perform work-in-progress to your group and teacher for feedback. Keep a detailed devising log with notes on decisions, changes, and audience feedback.
- 3Week 2: Rehearse and refine the piece, focusing on clarity of intention, pacing, and technical elements. Film a run-through and analyse it critically.
- 4Week 2: Draft your written reflection, structuring it into sections: introduction, process, performance analysis, evaluation. Use specific examples and practitioner terminology.
- 5Ongoing: Practice writing analytical paragraphs under timed conditions, and rehearse the performance until it is polished and confident.
Exam Question Types
- 📋Performance (60 marks): You will perform your devised piece to a visiting examiner. Advice: Ensure the piece clearly demonstrates your practitioner's style and that your individual contribution is evident.
- 📋Written Reflection (30 marks): A 500-word essay analysing and evaluating your devising process and performance. Advice: Structure your answer with an introduction, analysis of process, evaluation of performance, and conclusion. Use specific examples.
- 📋Short answer questions (in some years): Questions may ask you to define practitioner techniques or explain how you used a specific element. Advice: Revise key terminology and be ready to give concise, accurate definitions.
Command Word Expectations (AQA)
Analyse
Break down the subject into components and explain how they relate. In Drama, this means examining how specific techniques (e.g., use of space, vocal modulation) create meaning and impact. You must go beyond description to explore cause and effect.
Evaluate
Make a judgement about the value or success of something, supported by evidence. In the reflection, you must assess the strengths and weaknesses of your process and performance, and suggest improvements. Use criteria such as audience response, clarity of intention, and effectiveness of practitioner techniques.
Explain
Make an idea clear by describing it in detail and giving reasons. In Drama, this often means stating what you did and why, linking to practitioner intentions and audience impact. Use 'because' to show reasoning.
How Students Lose Marks (Examiner Pitfalls)
Pitfall: Students describe their devised piece as a story rather than explaining the intended impact on the audience and how it was achieved through specific dramatic techniques.
❌ Weak Answer (Loses Marks):We made a piece about mental health and used physical theatre to show the character's feelings.
Example improved answer:Our piece explored the stigma around male mental health. We used Frantic Assembly's chair duets to physically represent the internal struggle of the protagonist, with synchronised, weight-bearing lifts that visually externalised his isolation. This aimed to create an uncomfortable intimacy for the audience, forcing them to confront the character's vulnerability.
Examiner Tip: Always link your creative choices to the intended audience response and use precise practitioner terminology. Avoid plot summary; focus on analysis of form, style, and impact.
Pitfall: In the written reflection, students describe what they did without evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses or suggesting how they would improve.
❌ Weak Answer (Loses Marks):I think our performance went well because we remembered our lines and the audience clapped.
Example improved answer:Our use of direct address in the final monologue was a strength; the audience's silence indicated they were engaged. However, our transitions between scenes were sometimes clunky due to unclear cues. In future, I would establish a more rigorous rehearsal schedule for technical run-throughs to ensure seamless pacing.
Examiner Tip: Use the reflective cycle: describe, analyse, evaluate, and plan for improvement. Be specific about moments and use drama terminology (e.g., 'direct address', 'transitions', 'pacing').
Step-by-Step Worked Solutions
Question: Explain how you used one practitioner's techniques to create meaning in your devised piece. (6 marks)
- 1.Step 1: Identify the practitioner and one specific technique (e.g., Brecht's gestus).
- 2.Step 2: Describe a moment in the piece where the technique was used.
- 3.Step 3: Explain how the technique created meaning for the audience (e.g., social comment, emotional distance).
Final Answer: We employed Brecht's gestus in the scene where the politician shook hands with the factory worker. The exaggerated, robotic handshake and the politician's direct address to the audience ('See how I serve the people?') created a jarring, critical distance. This gestus exposed the hypocrisy of political gestures, encouraging the audience to question the sincerity of those in power rather than empathise with the characters.
Question: Analyse how your group's rehearsal process contributed to the final performance. (6 marks)
- 1.Step 1: Outline a specific rehearsal technique used (e.g., improvisation, hot-seating).
- 2.Step 2: Explain how this technique developed material or character.
- 3.Step 3: Evaluate the impact on the final performance, linking to audience response.
Final Answer: We used hot-seating to develop our protagonist's backstory. By questioning the actor in role, we discovered a childhood trauma that motivated his behaviour. This depth of characterisation was evident in the final performance; the actor's subtle, pained reactions in the opening scene drew the audience into his internal world, making his eventual breakdown more powerful.
Active Recall Memory Test
What are the three key elements of Brecht's Epic Theatre that you might use in a devised piece?
Key Fact: Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect), gestus (socially significant gesture), and direct address (breaking the fourth wall).
What is the difference between a stimulus and a theme in devised drama?
Key Fact: A stimulus is the starting point (e.g., a photograph, a poem) that sparks ideas; a theme is the underlying subject or message that emerges from exploring the stimulus (e.g., loss, identity).
Name two ways you can document your devising process for the written reflection.
Key Fact: Keeping a devising log with dated entries, and filming rehearsals to analyse your own and others' contributions.
What does 'intended audience impact' mean in the context of devised drama?
Key Fact: It is the specific emotional, intellectual, or sensory response you want to provoke in the audience, which should guide all your creative decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is devised drama in AQA A-Level Drama and Theatre?
Devised drama is an original piece of theatre created by you and your group, typically from a stimulus. For AQA A-Level, you must apply the techniques of a chosen theatre practitioner and perform the piece to an audience. It is assessed through a performance and a written reflection, making up 20% of the overall A-Level.
How do I choose a practitioner for my devised piece?
Choose a practitioner whose style excites you and suits your stimulus. Consider Brecht for political or social comment, Artaud for sensory and shocking theatre, or Frantic Assembly for physical and emotional storytelling. Ensure you understand their techniques deeply, as you must apply them clearly in performance and analyse them in your reflection.
What should I write in my devised drama reflection?
Your reflection should analyse and evaluate your devising process and final performance. Structure it with an introduction stating your stimulus, practitioner, and intention; then analyse specific moments, explaining how you used techniques to create meaning and impact. Evaluate strengths and weaknesses, and suggest how you would improve. Use drama terminology and refer to your practitioner throughout.
How is devised drama marked in AQA A-Level?
The devised piece is marked out of 60 for the performance (assessed by a visiting examiner) and 30 for the written reflection (assessed by your teacher and moderated). The performance mark considers your individual contribution, application of practitioner techniques, and audience impact. The reflection mark assesses your analytical and evaluative skills.
Can I use a script for my devised piece?
No, the piece must be original and devised by your group. However, you can use existing texts as a stimulus or incorporate small sections of scripted material if it is transformed and integrated into your own work. The key is that the majority of the piece is your own creation.
What are common mistakes in devised drama?
Common mistakes include: not clearly applying the practitioner's techniques, creating a piece that is more like a story than theatre with dramatic intention, neglecting the written reflection's analytical depth, and failing to consider the audience's experience. Avoid these by constantly linking your choices to your practitioner and intended impact, and by keeping a detailed devising log.