Unit 2 – Area of Study 3: Analysing and evaluating a theatre production

Outcome 3

Analyse and evaluate a theatre production.

Examples of lear​ning activities

• Select a script from the modern era to read; consider ways in which the play might use theatrical styles; write an evaluation of the difficulties of performing the piece exactly as written, staying as true to the playwright’s intention as possible, e.g. consider the inherent difficulties in staging The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
• Select a work from the modern era and use the internet and/or printed sources to find at least three reviews of it in performance; discuss the different ways in which the performance was analysed and evaluated in the reviews; consider the intentions of the playwright, the intentions of the performance and the intentions of the critics.
• As a director, initiate ideas for an interpretation of a play from the modern era and explore how these might be interpreted in other production areas; justify your decisions, e.g. The Spook by Melissa Reeves.
  
• Choose two production areas and discuss how these effectively enabled the elements of theatrical composition to construct meaning from the script in the performance.
• 
  Prepare a report that analyses and evaluates the application of production areas in a play from the modern era.
  

 

​​Detailed example

Analysing a play in performance

Students view a play from the modern era in performance and discuss:

• ways in which acting techniques, theatrical styles and the use of production areas contributed to how the audience constructed meaning from the play
• which, if any, of the above elements was most important in the construction of meaning for the audience
• similarities and differences between the contexts of the script and the performance
• which acting techniques used were based on naturalism and which ones were based on non-naturalism
• ways in which elements of theatrical composition to create meaning were present in the performance
• influences of major practitioners from the modern era in the staging, presentation, acting techniques and application of production areas. 

Students prepare a report based on this discussion in which they analyse and evaluate the application of production areas in the play viewed.