§-Drama syllabus

Drama syllabus, dot point by dot point

Every dot point in the QLD Drama syllabus, in syllabus order, with a focused answer for each. Open any dot point for the answer, exam-style questions and links to related points.

Unit 3: Challenge

Unit overview →

How do the four types of dramatic tension hold an audience and drive dramatic action?

Understand and manipulate dramatic tension, including the tensions of task, relationship, surprise and mystery, to create and sustain dramatic action and engage an audience

6 min read →

What exactly are the dramatic languages, and how do they combine to create dramatic action and meaning?

Understand and manipulate the dramatic languages, the elements of drama, the skills of drama, the conventions and stagecraft, to create dramatic action and communicate meaning

6 min read →

How does Stanislavski's system of realism establish the baseline that Unit 3's challenging styles deliberately react against?

Understand and apply the conventions of Stanislavskian realism, including objectives, the magic if and emotion memory, and explain why challenging theatre styles reject its emotional absorption

7 min read →

What are the three drama processes, and how does every QCE Drama task draw on forming, presenting and responding?

Understand and apply the three interrelated drama processes, forming, presenting and responding, across making and analysing dramatic action in both units

6 min read →

How does physical theatre make the body, rather than the script, the primary carrier of dramatic meaning?

Apply the conventions of physical theatre, including ensemble, the expressive body and devised movement, to make and present dramatic action that communicates meaning through movement before words

6 min read →

How does Theatre of the Absurd use illogical form to challenge an audience's sense of meaning and purpose?

Apply the conventions of Theatre of the Absurd to make and present dramatic action that challenges an audience's assumptions about meaning, language and the human condition

7 min read →

How does verbatim theatre use real testimony to challenge an audience's understanding of an event?

Apply the conventions of verbatim and documentary theatre to make and present dramatic action drawn from real testimony that challenges audiences on issues of human conscience

7 min read →

How does Theatre of the Oppressed turn spectators into participants who rehearse social change?

Apply the conventions of Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, including Forum Theatre and the spect-actor, to make and present dramatic action that challenges oppression and explores alternatives

7 min read →

How does Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty assault the senses to challenge an audience beneath the level of words?

Apply the conventions of Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty to make and present dramatic action that affects an audience viscerally rather than through rational, text-based argument

7 min read →

How does epic theatre challenge an audience to think rather than simply feel?

Apply the dramatic languages and conventions of Brecht's epic theatre to make and present dramatic action that provokes critical reflection on social and political issues

7 min read →

How do you perform an excerpt of a published challenging text so that its dramatic purpose lands for a chosen audience?

Demonstrate the presenting process by performing an excerpt of a published text in a challenging style, applying the dramatic languages to realise its dramatic purpose for an intended audience (IA1)

7 min read →

How do you communicate a clear dramatic concept that shapes a challenging piece of theatre?

Develop and communicate a dramatic concept that interprets a challenging issue through a chosen theatre style, justifying choices of dramatic languages for an intended audience

7 min read →

Unit 4: Transform

Unit overview →

How can a director transform an inherited published text for a contemporary audience?

Transform an inherited published text through a directorial vision, manipulating dramatic languages to reframe its meaning for a contemporary audience

7 min read →

What does it mean to work as a director and deviser, shaping the dramatic languages into a coherent vision?

Apply the skills of directing and devising to shape dramatic action, communicating a coherent directorial vision through the manipulation of the dramatic languages

7 min read →

How do you write an extended analytical response that evaluates dramatic action under exam conditions?

Respond analytically to dramatic action, evaluating how dramatic languages and theatre styles communicate meaning, in an extended written response under examination conditions

6 min read →

What inherited conventions must a director understand before transforming a historical text?

Analyse the inherited conventions of Greek, Elizabethan and Neoclassical theatre and explain how they shape the dramatic action a director must negotiate when transforming a text

7 min read →

How does a practice-led project document and justify the transformation of a text?

Plan, realise and justify a practice-led project that transforms an inherited text, documenting how dramatic languages were manipulated to communicate a directorial vision

7 min read →