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Section II (Elective): Studies in Drama and Theatre

9 dot points across 9 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

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)
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on Brecht. The political context of Weimar Germany, the conventions of epic theatre (verfremdung, gestus, narrative, songs), the major plays (Mother Courage, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Threepenny Opera), and the legacy in contemporary political theatre.
7 min answer →

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
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot points on Comedy of Manners and Australian Comedy. The Restoration tradition (Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve), the late nineteenth century (Wilde), the early twentieth century (Coward), and the Australian comic tradition from George Whaley through David Williamson, Jack Hibberd and Nakkiah Lui.
6 min answer →

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
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on Greek theatre. The Dionysian festival origins, the architecture of the Theatre of Dionysus (orchestra, skene, theatron), the conventions of chorus, mask, three actors, and the structural elements of tragedy (prologue, parodos, episodes, stasima, exodos).
7 min answer →

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
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on the three Greek tragedians. Aeschylus and the Oresteia, Sophocles and Oedipus the King and Antigone, Euripides and Medea and The Bacchae, and the differences in form, character and theme across the three writers.
7 min answer →

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)
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on physical theatre. The traditions from Lecoq, Decroux and Grotowski to contemporary companies (Frantic Assembly, DV8, Complicite), the conventions (the body as primary, ensemble, devising, integrating dance and acting), and the work of Australian physical theatre companies.
6 min answer →

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)
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on political theatre. The tradition from Erwin Piscator and Brecht through Joan Littlewood and Augusto Boal to contemporary Australian political theatre, the techniques (documentary methods, direct address, audience participation), and the political functions of the form.
6 min answer →

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
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on Beckett's Waiting for Godot. The two-act structure, Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, Lucky and the Boy, the circular plot, Lucky's monologue, the recurring tree, and the play's relationship to Camus and the post-war crisis of meaning.
7 min answer →

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)
A focused answer to the HSC Drama Studies in Drama and Theatre elective on Theatre of the Absurd. The post-war philosophical context, Camus and existentialism, the work of Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Genet, and the conventions of Absurdist drama (circular structure, breakdown of language, anti-character, meaninglessness).
7 min answer →

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
A focused answer to the HSC Drama elective dot point on verbatim theatre. The lineage from Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror (1992) and the Tricycle tribunal plays of the 1990s and 2000s through Roslyn Oades and Alana Valentine in Australia, the techniques for recording, editing and performing real testimony, and the ethical questions the form raises.
6 min answer →