ROSSHALL ACADEMY
Performing Arts Department: Higher Drama
Prelim Revision Booklet
EXAM DETAILS
Date: 6th February 2006
Time: 1.45pm – 3.30pm
(1 hour 45 minutes)
Format: Section A
One question based on ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller – 45 minutes
Section B
One Dramatic Commentary based on ‘The Crucible’ – 1 hour.
Ten Tips for Exam Success
REVISION
1) Know what you have to do.
Look at the format of the exam. This booklet will help you focus on the areas you should know. It will also help you discover the areas you need to revise most.
2) Make a revision plan
Well before your exams, set up a revision timetable. Many people don't do this, but it is essential. Set a realistic number of hours for revision each week. Plan to work through each of the topics in the period up to the exam, leaving time for final revision. Regularly review your plan and make changes in the light of your progress.
3) Revise effectively
Find a quiet private place to revise (try the drama studio or the library if there's no room at home), with a suitable, well-lit table or desk to work at and always have all the equipment you need at hand - class notes, plays, Study Guides, and previous essays. Work for a set period (30-40 minutes suits most people), and then have a 10 minute break away from your desk.
4) Revise actively
Don't just read through your class notes - revision needs to be more active than that if it's to stick. Working through this booklet, make your own revision notes (they'll come in useful for final revision), draw mind maps, to summarise points, make up word games (e.g. CAKES) to help memorise key points and, above all, keep testing yourself (or get a friend to test you).
5) Practise exam questions
Practice exam questions you have been given. Get used to the style of the questions and the words used by the examiner. It is most important to answer the question set and not one you would prefer to answer.
THE EXAM
6) Drink Water
Drink water before the exam, and inside the hall. Water is good for the brain and can help you concentrate.
7) Be Confident
It’smind over matter! Ifyou believe in your self on the day,you stand a betterchance of succeeding. Keep your distance from people who arenervous.
8) Reading and Planning Time
Give yourself time toread through the paper beforeyou attempt to answer the questions (between 5 and 10 mins). Remember, the dramatic commentary extract can help you with The Crucible essay. You want to ensure you answer what is asked rather than writing everything you know about each play. Draw a Mindmap OR write a linear plan for each answer.
9) Order
It doesn't matter what order you answer the questions in (as long as you make it clear to the examiner). It’s always a little more reassuring when you find a question that you CAN answer,so why not attempt those which you feel moreconfident with first!
10) Stay Calm
Try to relax. Brush up ona few relaxation techniques before theexam. Use breathing exercises which you have learned in drama. If you find a question difficult – ask yourself:
‘If I knew the correct answer to this, what would I write?’
You have the knowledge – show the examiner what you know.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
Background
q Historical Context
q 1950’s Parallel (McCarthy Trials)
q Modern Parallel – Terrorist Threat
q Arthur Miller
Themes and Issues
q Mass Hysteria
q Personal Integrity / Individual Conscience
q Witchcraft
q Puritanism
q Individual vs. authority (of employers / of the church)
q Materialism
Setting
q Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
q Society – beliefs and behaviour
q Dress
q Status of men / women
q Home environment
Relevance
q Universal Play
q Individual message for members of an audience
q Message / meaning for society in general
q Purpose – to entertain? To educate?
Structure and language
q Climax and/or most important scene
q Language style - taken from original court records.
Characters
q Protagonist
q Which characters are most central to themes, context and action
q Relationships and status
The Crucible: Performance Concepts
Each essay question will ask you to answer from the perspective of a director or an actor in preparation for a performance. You must be fully prepared to answer questions, with justification, based on every performance concept:
Staging
q Venue
q Stage type
q Location
Setting
q Dramatically viable ground plan for each act
q Viable scene and set changes
q Backdrops – e.g. cross
q Attention to colour, atmosphere, in keeping with the period
q Style of set e.g. naturalistic, representational.
Lighting
q Lighting state for each act – remember changes within Act 2 and Act 4
q Atmosphere
q Time of day and year
q Special Effects
q Significance of lighting to action of the play – e.g. Act 2: ‘What keeps you so late? It’s almost dark?’; Act 4: ‘What say you Proctor? The sun is soon up.’
q How will you create each lighting state? Gobos, gels, stage candles?
Sound
q Sound effects necessary in each act
q Suggested music to enhance atmosphere
q Significance of sound to action of the play – girls screaming?
q How will you create sound effects? Live music?
Costume
q Period – Salem 1692
q Status – differences in costume. E.g. judges.
q Costume changes?
q Suggestions for each character
Props
q Period – 1692
q Status – e.g. Hale’s books ‘weighted with authority’
q Necessary props – poppet
Characterisation: Voice
q Language
q 1692 Salem
q Accent
q Status and register
q Suggestions for each main character
Characterisation: Movement
q Fluidity
q 1692 Salem - historical accuracy
q Health
q Stage positionings as they affect status
q Changes in movement depending on status and situation
q Suggestions for each main character
Characterisation: Relationships
q Timeline of the play: How did relationships develop prior to the start of the play. Remember – each character has a history from birth until we meet them.
q How do important relationships change / develop throughout the course of the action?
Characterisation: Meaning
q Exemplification of themes through particular characters
q Exemplification of meaning and message through particular characters.
Make-up
q Period – 1692. Relate to costume.
q Health / climate
q Changes in make-up e.g. Elizabeth and Proctor in Act 4
Programme Notes
q Meaning of your production
q Influences which informed your interpretation
q Information you would wish to give to an audience
q Intended impact on audience
Vocabulary:
~ Theocracy
~ Puritanical Society
~ Concepts
~ Exemplification
~ Depicted
~ Significance
~ Convey
~ McCarthyism
~ Justification
~ Realise – 2 meanings
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Higher Drama Revision Booklet ~ A. Mitchell ~ January 2006