§-Drama syllabus
NSW · NESA← Drama
Drama syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the NSW Drama syllabus, with a focused answer for each. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions and links to related points.
Section I (Core): Australian Drama and Theatre
Module overview →How has Australian theatre developed as a distinctive national tradition, and what historical and cultural forces have shaped it?
The historical and cultural context of Australian theatre, including the development from colonial entertainment through to a distinctive national tradition from the 1950s onwards
Which contemporary Australian playwrights have shaped the twenty-first-century repertoire, and what unites and divides their work?
Contemporary Australian playwrights of the 2000s and 2010s, including Andrew Bovell, Hannie Rayson, Michael Gow, Patricia Cornelius, Joanna Murray-Smith and the major institutional companies that produce them
How does David Williamson use vernacular comedy and middle-class settings to dramatise Australian politics?
David Williamson and the tradition of Australian political comedy, including The Removalists (1971), Don's Party (1971), The Club (1977) and later works
How has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre transformed the Australian theatrical repertoire from the 1990s onwards?
Indigenous Australian theatre as a major movement in contemporary Australian drama, including Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, Jane Harrison, Andrea James, Nakkiah Lui, Leah Purcell, and the dedicated Indigenous theatre companies
How has Louis Nowra contributed to a darker, more European-influenced strand of Australian playwriting?
Louis Nowra and the development of Australian theatre beyond the New Wave, including Inner Voices (1977), Visions (1978), Cosi (1992), Radiance (1993) and the wider 1980s and 1990s playwriting
How did the New Wave of Australian theatre in the 1970s transform Australian playwriting and performance?
The New Wave of Australian theatre, including the Australian Performing Group, the Nimrod Street Theatre, the political and vernacular character of the work, and the playwrights who emerged from this period
How did Ray Lawler's Doll Trilogy establish a tradition of Australian dramatic realism?
Ray Lawler and the Doll Trilogy as a foundational movement of Australian dramatic realism, including the form, style, dramatic conventions and Australian cultural context
How does The 7 Stages of Grieving use dramatic form and Indigenous storytelling traditions to dramatise collective Aboriginal Australian grief?
Detailed dramatic analysis of The 7 Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman (1995), including form, structure, performance style and themes
How does Summer of the Seventeenth Doll dramatise the collapse of a working-class ritual through Lawler's structure, character, and symbolism?
Detailed dramatic analysis of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1955), including structure, character, dialogue, symbolism and themes of mateship, ritual and ageing
Practical Components: Group Performance and Individual Project
Module overview →How is the Group Performance devised, rehearsed and assessed, and what makes an effective collaboration?
The Group Performance as a practical assessment task, including the devising process, ensemble work, performance criteria, and the externally marked panel day
How is the Individual Project Critical Analysis approached, and what makes a strong essay?
The Individual Project Critical Analysis (Director's Folio) path, including the 3,500-word Folio requirements, text choice, research methods, and the Folio's relationship to the written paper
How is the Individual Project Design portfolio prepared, and what does each design specialty require?
The Individual Project Design path, including the four design specialties (Set, Costume, Lighting, Promotion and Program), the portfolio requirements, and the role of design in theatre
What are the five Individual Project options, and how should students choose between them?
The Individual Project as a practical assessment task, including the five options (Critical Analysis, Performance, Design, Scriptwriting, Video Drama) and the choice considerations
How is the Individual Project Performance approached, and what makes a strong six to eight minute solo piece?
The Individual Project Performance path, including monologue and devised solo options, rehearsal process, and panel-day performance
What does process documentation look like, and how should the logbook be kept across Year 12?
The logbook as process documentation for the Group Performance and Individual Project, including what to record, how to structure entries, and the function of the logbook in the assessment
Performance and Production Skills
Module overview →How do the four design elements (set, costume, lighting, sound) together construct the world of a theatre production?
The four design elements (set, costume, lighting, sound), including what each contributes to a production and how they work together to produce dramatic meaning
How does a director develop a vision for a production and bring it to performance?
The director's role in theatre, including the development of a directorial concept, the rehearsal process, working with actors and designers, and the major directorial traditions
What is focus in performance, and how is ensemble work developed and sustained?
Focus and ensemble work as performance skills, including individual focus, ensemble focus, listening, responding, shared rhythm, and the practices that build ensemble
How does a performer use the body as an expressive instrument, and how is physical performance developed?
Movement and physicality as performance skills, including posture, gesture, gait, stillness, spatial awareness, physical character, and the techniques used to develop physical performance
What are the production roles in a theatre company, and how do they work together to stage a play?
The production roles in theatre, including director, producer, dramaturg, stage manager, designers (set, costume, lighting, sound), and the relationships between them
How does a performer use voice as an expressive instrument in theatre?
Voice as a performance skill, including breath, resonance, articulation, pitch, pace, volume and accent, and the techniques used to develop vocal range and clarity
Section II (Elective): Studies in Drama and Theatre
Module overview →How does Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre use verfremdung, gestus and political form to make audiences think rather than feel?
Bertolt Brecht and epic theatre as an elective topic, including verfremdungseffekt (alienation), gestus, narrative theatre, and the major plays (Mother Courage, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Threepenny Opera)
What is comedy of manners, and how does it use social codes and witty dialogue to satirise its societies?
Comedy of manners and Australian comedy as elective topics, including Restoration comedy, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, and the tradition of Australian comic playwriting
What are the origins, conventions and dramatic functions of Greek theatre in fifth-century BCE Athens?
Greek theatre as an elective topic, including the Dionysian origins, the architecture of the amphitheatre, the conventions of mask, chorus and three actors, and the structure of tragedy
How do the three great Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, differ in their dramaturgy and concerns?
The three great Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), including their major plays, dramatic innovations and the philosophical concerns of fifth-century Athenian tragedy
What is physical theatre, and how does it use the body to communicate meaning beyond text?
Physical theatre as an elective topic, including its history (Jacques Lecoq, Decroux, Grotowski), its conventions, and the contemporary companies (Frantic Assembly, DV8, Complicite, Legs on the Wall)
What is political theatre, and how have practitioners used the stage to intervene in their societies?
Political theatre as an elective topic, including its history, central techniques, and key practitioners (Brecht, Piscator, Joan Littlewood, Boal, contemporary Australian companies)
How does Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot exemplify the conventions and philosophical concerns of Theatre of the Absurd?
Detailed dramatic analysis of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett (1953), including structure, character, language and the relationship between form and philosophical content
What is the Theatre of the Absurd, and how does it use form to dramatise a post-war crisis of meaning?
Theatre of the Absurd as an elective topic, including its philosophical context, central conventions, and major playwrights (Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter, Genet)
What is verbatim theatre, and how do its practitioners turn real testimony into staged performance?
Verbatim theatre as an elective topic, including its history (Anna Deavere Smith, the Tricycle tribunal plays, Roslyn Oades, Alana Valentine), techniques, and ethical questions