Level 3 Drama, Analyse drama processes in a new context and reflect critically on drama performance. Credits: Four

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1 SUPERVISOR S Level 3 Drama, Analyse drama processes in a new context and reflect critically on drama performance 2.00 pm riday Friday 2 November 2011 Credits: Four Check that the National Student Number (NSN) on your admission slip is the same as the number at the top of this page. You will be given ten minutes to read and prepare before the video recording begins to play. You should attempt ALL the questions in this booklet. If you need more room for any answer, use the space provided at the back of this booklet. Check that this booklet has pages 2 15 in the correct order and that none of these pages is blank. YOU MUST HAND THIS BOOKLET TO THE SUPERVISOR AT THE END OF THE EXAMINATION. Achievement Criteria Achievement Achievement with Merit Achievement with Excellence Analyse drama processes in a new context. Reflect critically on drama performance. Critically analyse drama processes in a new context. Reflect critically and in detail on drama performance. Perceptively analyse drama processes in a new context. Reflect critically and comprehensively on drama performance. Overall level of performance (all criteria within a column are met) New Zealand Qualifications Authority, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

2 2 You are advised to spend 90 minutes answering the questions in this booklet. INSTRUCTIONS There are two questions in this examination. In Question One you are to respond to a video recording of extracts from a live drama production. In Question Two you are to respond to TWO live drama productions you have studied. During the first ten minutes of this examination, carefully read through Question One on pages 4 to 6, and the information on pages 2 and 3. This information provides some background on the drama production shown in the video recording. Ten minutes after the start of the examination you will be shown a video recording. The recording is approximately nine minutes long, and will be shown TWICE, with a pause of five minutes of black screen in between. As you watch the recording, and during the five-minute pause, you may make notes and / or sketches in the space on page 4 to help you formulate your answers to Question One. Note: The recording has been edited for use in this examination. Do NOT write about editing decisions. The Video Recording: The Splendid Theatre Company s Woyzeck Woyzeck, by Georg Büchner ( ), is a play based on the trial in 1821 of a murderer in Leipzig, Germany. Büchner died of typhus at the age of 23, leaving the play in an incomplete and fragmentary state. For this reason, some later editors have treated the play as a series of episodic scenes that can be arranged in any order to reveal the story, rather than telling it by starting at the beginning and moving towards the end. The Splendid Theatre Company has developed a one-hour-long touring show for senior drama students based on Büchner s play. They have rearranged the order of the scenes, and have a group of players or circus travellers acting in between each scene to introduce the ideas of the play, engage the audience, and require them to think about reasons for those ideas. Storyline and characters Franz Woyzeck is a poor soldier who is forced to supplement his wages with extra work as a barber and as a subject in medical experiments. Despite Woyzeck s best efforts to support his woman, Marie, and their son Christian (a puppet in this production), he is unable to make enough money. Marie is attracted by the attentions of the Drum Major (an officer in the army) and betrays Woyzeck. Everyone in the village seems to know that he has been betrayed except Woyzeck. When he discovers her betrayal, Woyzeck kills Marie.

3 Dramatic conventions used to structure the play The power of Woyzeck lies in the theatrical focus on the life of a simple man driven mad by circumstances of war, poverty, and betrayal. The Splendid Theatre Company uses a range of acting techniques, dramatic elements, conventions, and simple technologies, to convey a complex and difficult situation in a powerful way. Through the use of song, soundscape, rapid scene-changes, direct address to the audience, mime, geste*, puppetry, a range of physical theatre techniques, multi-purpose props, set, and clever use of space, three actors portray a range of characters, situations, and reasons for the tragedy. * recurring symbolic physical action used to highlight a character s attitude. The Players 3 For copyright reasons, this resource cannot be reproduced here. Player 1 Franz Woyzeck Player 2 Marie The Captain Player 3 The Innkeeper The Drum Major Extracts in the video recording Extract 1 Prologue: The players introduce the story and summarise it. Extract 2 Scene 20 A man walks into a bar : Woyzeck is confronted by the Innkeeper. Scene 22 Hide the evidence in the water : Woyzeck throws his knife into the lake. Extract 3 Scene 4 A Gift : Marie admires her new gold earrings, sings a lullaby to baby Christian, and receives Woyzeck s wages. Extract 4 Scene 8 No she wouldn t! Yes she did! : The Captain and the Drum Major discuss Marie s betrayal of Woyzeck. Extract 5 Scene 11 The End of the World : A flashback to the moment of betrayal. Source: Woyzeck, dir. Lucy Cuthbertson and Mal Smith. DVD: Splendid Productions, 2010.

4 4 QUESTION ONE Imagine you are one of the three actors in this production of Woyzeck. You are to write a journal entry to analyse how TWO acting techniques, drama conventions, or theatre technologies contributed to the dramatic impact and power of your performance for the audience. You may like to refer (but are not limited) to: a range of physical gesture theatre techniques mime clever use of space direct address to the audience multi-purpose props and set puppetry rapid scene changes song soundscape. In your answers, you may wish to refer to a variety of techniques, conventions, and technologies used in the performance. For example, to explain your use of an acting technique you may also wish to refer to sound effects and scene changes. Note: Do NOT write about filming decisions. NOTES

5 5 (a) First technique, convention, or technology (i) Identify ONE acting technique, drama convention, or theatre technology used in the production (you may refer to the list on page 4). (ii) Analyse how this technique, convention, or technology contributed to the dramatic impact and power of your performance as an actor in the production of Woyzeck. Refer to the information on pages 2 and 3, and justify the points you make with specific reference to the video recording.

6 6 (b) Second technique, convention, or technology (i) Identify ANOTHER acting technique, drama convention, or theatre technology used in the production (you may refer to the list on page 4). (ii) Analyse how this technique, convention, or technology contributed to the dramatic impact and power of your performance as an actor in the production of Woyzeck. Refer to the information on pages 2 and 3, and justify the points you make with specific reference to the video recording.

7 7 QUESTION TWO Choose TWO live drama productions you have seen to answer this question. Carefully read the quotation below. Refer to it as you plan and write your answers. If drama is about meaning, it is the art form of theatre which encompasses and contains that meaning. N. Morgan and J. Saxton, Teaching drama: A mind of many wonders (Cheltenham: Stanley Thomas, 1987) The art form of theatre includes everything that takes place on stage to communicate meaning to an audience. Reflect on what meaning(s) were encompassed and contained by the art form of theatre in each of the two drama productions. In each drama production, the director will have chosen to deepen meaning by emphasising particular dramatic elements. Select ONE of the following dramatic elements of EACH production: focus tension action contrast, through use of light / darkness contrast, through use of sound / silence contrast, through use of movement / stillness symbol situation. Begin your answers on page 8. You may make notes and / or sketches in the spaces on pages 12 and 13 to help you formulate your answers.

8 8 (a) First live drama production Title: Playwright: Company / ensemble: Venue: Year of production: (i) Select ONE dramatic element (from the list on page 7). (ii) Reflect critically on how meaning was conveyed through the use of this dramatic element. Support your answer with specific details from the drama production. You may like to refer (but are not limited) to: acting techniques dramatic irony song chorus lighting design use of body costume design movement use of props delivery of dialogue, ritual use of space monologue or set design vocal techniques. spoken thoughts tableaux

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10 10 (b) Second live drama production Title: Playwright: Company / ensemble: Venue: Year of production: (i) Select ONE dramatic element (from the list on page 7). Note: The element must be different from the one you discussed in part (a). (ii) Reflect critically on how meaning was conveyed through the use of this dramatic element. Support your answer with specific details from the drama production. You may like to refer (but are not limited) to: acting techniques dramatic irony song chorus lighting design use of body costume design movement use of props delivery of dialogue, ritual use of space monologue or set design vocal techniques. spoken thoughts tableaux

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12 12 Sketch page for Question Two (a) You may make notes and / or sketches on this page to illustrate any part of your answers to Question Two (a). Label the sketch(es) to explain the point(s) you are making.

13 13 Sketch page for Question Two (b) You may make notes and / or sketches on this page to illustrate any part of your answers to Question Two (b). Label the sketch(es) to explain the point(s) you are making.

14 14 QUESTION NUMBER Extra space if required. Write the question number(s) if applicable.

15 15 QUESTION NUMBER Extra space if required. Write the question number(s) if applicable.

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