Syllabus details

Introduction

Throughout the two-year course there is an emphasis on learning through experience. Part of this process involves a continual reflection on that experience. From the beginning of the course, and at regular intervals, students are required to record significant experiences and their responses to them in a journal.

All areas of the HL and SL syllabus are complementary and can be delivered in ways to support and advance the learning outcomes of each. Teachers are encouraged to interpret the syllabus creatively according to local circumstances. No time allocation is given for any individual area of the syllabus because most activities may cover several different aspects of the course. Careful planning of class activities and productions, and also, where feasible, of visits to see external productions and workshops with theatre practitioners, is needed to make the best use of the time and resources available.

The syllabus has been designed to reflect the dynamic and transformative nature of theatre. It also clearly indicates a differential between HL and SL and allows for greater breadth and depth in the teaching and learning at HL.

The journal

Introduction

Students at both HL and SL should keep a journal from the outset of the course. This is the student’s own record, charting development, challenges and achievements, and, as such, students are free to determine what form it should take (written, audio and/or visual). The aim of the journal is to support and nurture development and reflection, and it is expected that much of the students’ assessed work will emerge from it. Students should also be encouraged to explore connections between different areas of learning throughout the course. The journal is not directly assessed or moderated but, since what it contains will reflect the sensibility of individual students, and will contain their responses to the different areas of learning, it should be regarded as a fundamental activity of the course.

Focus and selection of material

The journal should contain an objective review of the work done during the course, and the student’s reflection on his or her own progress. It should focus specifically on learning experiences, rather than being simply a record of triumphs or an exhaustive chronicle of everything the student experiences in theatre. Therefore, students should select carefully those experiences from the course that illustrate personal growth and understanding of theatre. It should indicate development and progress that reveal the extent and direction of the student’s journey throughout the course. Challenges and obstacles in activities should be included, as well as steps forward.

Students should develop a critical relationship with theatre and may use the journal to debate theory and practice in their own work. They may use it as a space for experimentation, where different stylistic approaches to acting or theatre design could be articulated either in words or visuals. Critical responses to external productions should also be included, where students can test their own ideas about performance against what contemporary productions offer.

Students should not use the journal to engage with their personal emotions, but should strive to reflect on and analyse their experiences at various stages of development. Before adding anything to it, students should ask the questions “Why am I including this?” and “How is this a reflection of my experience of theatre, my discoveries in theatre, and the development of my knowledge, understanding and skills?” Students should draw upon the journal as a useful resource once they start work on their independent project portfolio.

Theatre in the making

Introduction

This area of the course allows students to explore the different processes involved in making theatre, to develop the skills required to make theatre and to observe and reflect on different theatre practices. By working in this area, students should be encouraged to uncover a pathway to performance by investigating theory and practice. Students are required to explore this area from the perspective of dramaturg, director, performer, group ensemble, production team and spectator.

Focus

The syllabus should be flexible enough to ensure that students acquire the necessary skills and practical knowledge to be used in performance. This applies directly to the performance, design and technological aspects of theatre making. Students should develop both breadth and depth in their skills and understanding. This involves the following essential elements of the performance and production processes.

Preparing for performance

The dramaturg: an appreciation of the work of major theorists and theatre practitioners and a critical understanding of how different theories and production elements function and interact.
The director: a knowledge and appreciation of the director’s role in realizing a text and/or concept upon a stage. This can include evaluating the similarities and differences in directorial techniques from diverse theatrical traditions and cultural backgrounds, and experience of defining a vision of performance through words and drawings.
The performer: personal planning, communication skills, voice, body, movement, focus, relaxation.
The group ensemble: cooperative organization, building an ensemble, complicité, group unity, choral speaking, dance chorus.
The spectator: responding to external productions and reflecting on the impact of these on the student’s own work.

Creating the performance

Varieties of approaches to performance.
Rehearsal techniques/systems.
Practical knowledge and skills specific to theatrical practices from around the world and/or from different historical periods.
Performance analysis.
Post-performance analysis: the impact the performance leaves on spectators.

The production process

Design and technical skills.
An awareness of creative processes, conventions and techniques relating to theatrical practices from around the world and/or from different historical periods.
The aesthetic and symbolic choices made in production: the impact these have on a performance.

Content

During the course students must participate in and observe a range of practical work, which may take different forms. Students at HL should explore two different stimuli and, from these, develop plans for a variety of performances. Students at SL should explore one stimulus and develop plans for a variety of performances. Teachers should ensure that the opportunity exists for students to work in at least one area of each of the performance and production processes described above.

Students should record their experiences and learning, together with impressions, reflections, critical responses to performances and any relevant research, in the journal. The work they undertake can be recorded as a collection of drawings, models, scenarios or blocking plots that contribute to the shaping of the original stimulus into a piece of theatre. The pieces of theatre envisaged need not be fully performed, but practical involvement of some form should be undertaken and recorded in the journal.

Syllabus requirements

Teachers have a free choice in selecting source materials, workshop topics, activities and performance skills. However, they should ensure that students gain experience in the following areas.

Researching: locating, selecting and applying theatre knowledge from different cultures and historical periods that is of direct, practical use in performance.
Doing: experiencing and understanding the different ways of acquiring performance skills through a variety of approaches—by rote, from generation to generation, by direct application, by trial and error in workshops and/or rehearsal, by experimentation, by a variety of teaching approaches.
Observing: viewing and reflecting on their own work and the work of others.
Recording: reflecting on the practical and theoretical processes involved in making theatre.

Theatre in performance

Introduction

This area of the course involves students in presenting theatre performances, where their practical theatre skills can be applied, either solely or collaboratively, in a wide range of theatre practices. Theatre performance can take many forms and allows students to experience the many different roles that are necessary to present theatre works to spectators. Students are required to explore this area from the perspective of dramaturg, director, performer, group ensemble, production team and spectator.

Focus

The syllabus should be flexible enough to ensure that students can participate in a wide range of performance and production tasks. Students should also experience a variety of performance styles and approaches to theatre making. An integral part of this experience is the process of self-reflection and an awareness of how spectators engage with a performance.

This area of the course requires that students develop the following skills.

Understanding, application of and experience in different types of performance skills
Knowledge and appreciation of different technical skills used in performance
Understanding and appreciation of the collaborative nature of performance
An appreciation of the commitment and dedication necessary to realize a performance

Content

Throughout the course students at HL should participate in at least three performances, working from a different perspective in each one. Students at SL should participate in at least two performances, working from a different perspective in each one. Teachers should ensure that students at both HL and SL experience a diverse range of performances in terms of the number of participants, cultural source and historical period.

Students should record their experiences and learning, together with impressions, reflections and any relevant research, in the journal.

Syllabus requirements

Teachers have a free choice in the selection of material for performance. The material chosen should stimulate students to research and explore the phases of preparation, rehearsal, performance and post-production. Students should also experience the responsibilities, demands and challenges of a specific duty or assignment involved in realizing a theatre performance. These may include the following.

Acting a role in a performance or a performance extract
Devising with others an original piece of theatre from a variety of stimuli
Engaging in aspects of production: scenography, sound and light design, technical management and coordination
Writing an original piece of theatre (fragment or full-length script)
Directing, creating or contributing to a production
Performing the role of the dramaturg

Theatre in the world

Introduction

This area of the course allows students to explore theatre traditions and practices from a range of cultures around the world. The primary aim of this area is to encourage students to investigate theatre in its historical and cultural context. It is expected that students will acquire a knowledge and understanding of the theatrical traditions of their own culture, as well as of those cultures that are unfamiliar to them. The major objective of this component is to enrich students’ development throughout the course by ensuring they experience theatre from a variety of performance traditions, both in theory and practice. Students are required to explore this area from the perspective of dramaturg, director, performer, group ensemble, production team and spectator.

Focus

The syllabus should be flexible enough to ensure that both independent inquiry and group work take place. Students should be encouraged to balance an investigation and appreciation of the theatre traditions and practices of their own culture with the discovery and understanding of theatre traditions and practices of other cultures. To achieve this, students should be guided towards theatre traditions with which they are unfamiliar, and which represent distinct differences in practice from theatre in their own cultures. Students are required to develop the following skills.

Performance skills in theatre from a variety of cultures, either through workshops or an exploration of text and/or performance conventions.
The ability to research and analyse performance traditions from a variety of cultures and historical periods, and to compare them with the performance traditions of their own culture/historical period.
The ability to appreciate critically theatre performances from a diverse range of practices from different cultures and historical periods, and to discern the relationship between performance and any theory that may underpin it.
An appreciation of the political, social, aesthetic and intellectual context from which theatre evolves and to which it contributes.
The skills to argue and debate the significance of theatre practice to the lives of particular communities within a specific historical and cultural context.

Content

Students should study at least two contrasting theatrical practices from more than one culture/historical period, one of which should be a non-text-based theatre tradition.

Students should record their experiences and learning, together with impressions, reflections and any relevant research in the journal.

Syllabus requirements

Teachers have a free choice in the selection of plays, playwrights, theatre traditions and practices, theatrical forms, movements, styles, genres and theorists for study.

Students may approach their study of theatre in the world in a number of ways. The following represent some examples of possible approaches.

Independent research of a theatre practice, and performance of an aspect of that tradition to the class
Group work on a short extract of text
A short presentation to the class, based on the student’s research and performance
Group workshopping of a theatre piece from an unfamiliar theatre practice

Independent project (HL only)

The independent project allows students to pursue an independent interest in theatre, which may have arisen during the course. The project should be practical in nature and may involve the student working alone, with a class group, or with other people from outside the theatre course. Students at HL are required to produce an independent project that explores theatre practice, which should be underpinned by theoretical research into performance. Students must choose between either option A, which involves a practical examination of the processes involved in devising a performance; or option B, which involves a practical examination of the theories and philosophies that inform the performance process.

The project should be largely self-motivated and directed. It should be undertaken in the second year of study, when it will be informed by students’ increased maturity and experience in theatre. The work undertaken by students for the independent project must not be a duplication of work undertaken in other areas of the course.

Option A: Devising practice

Introduction

This option allows students to work in the role of a director/theatre-maker to explore in depth the devising and actualization of a performance. Using their knowledge gained in the core syllabus, students are required to investigate the processes through which ideas are effectively translated into a theatre performance.

Focus

This option is directed towards the actualization of a performance. Students should work towards transforming the stimuli or concepts into an actual performance. A knowledge and understanding of different theatre practices around the world, and the various ways in which these are developed, should inform this process. The study of this option may include the following.

Exploring in depth concepts or stimuli for the potential they offer for performance
Acquiring knowledge, experience and understanding of alternative ways of developing an idea from stimuli or concepts into a theatre performance
Demonstrating a clear and thorough understanding of the nature, function and interaction of the various production elements that are necessary to create a theatre performance.

Content

Students should create and present an original piece of work. The concept for this work should be inspired by any source of the student’s choice, which can be of any origin.

Syllabus requirements

Students have a free choice in selecting materials to help them understand the role of the director/theatre-maker in creating a theatre performance. To help them identify their particular strengths and interests, students should discuss the nature of the project with the teacher before starting work on it. Possible activities may include the following.

Practical engagement in realizing a performance of a playtext
Practical realization of a self-devised performance
Practical creation of a performance developed from non-text-based sources

Option B: Exploring practice

Introduction

This option allows students to undertake a practical study of aspects of theatre practice. It encourages students to engage actively with one or more theatre forms, practitioners, theorists (or practitioner/theorists) or genres that have had an impact on the development of theatre.

Focus

This option is directed towards an understanding of the techniques employed by, or the relationship between, one or more theatre forms, practitioners, theorists or genres. The practical study of this option may include the following.

Examining the theories and work of one or more theatre forms, practitioners, theorists or genres
Critically evaluating the similarities and differences between the chosen subjects and, if appropriate, demonstrating an understanding of the relationship between the work of the chosen theatre forms, practitioners, theorists or genres
Demonstrating an understanding of theatre techniques by undertaking a specific practical role in a performance

Content

Students should select and explore one or more theatre forms, practitioners, theorists or genres. They should study and critically evaluate their chosen areas, which will be demonstrated in either their research or practice, or in a combination of both.

Syllabus requirements

Students have a free choice in selecting material as a basis for their practical study. To help them identify their particular strengths and interests, students should discuss the nature of the project with the teacher before starting work on it. Possible activities may include the following.

Investigation of the practical explorations of influential theatre practitioners
Investigation of links between theory and practice within theatre generally, and in their chosen subject(s) specifically
Application of the explored theories to the student’s own practice through the creation of a workshop or rehearsal system
Critical evaluation of the explored theories and the student’s practical application of those theories
A comparative investigation of rehearsal systems and techniques of structuring the devising and/or rehearsal process

Independent project (SL only)

Introduction

The independent project at SL allows students to pursue an independent interest in theatre, which may have arisen during the course. The project should be practical in nature and may involve the student working alone, with a class group, or with other people from outside the theatre course.

Focus

The independent project should increase the student’s knowledge and skills in a specific area of theatre—one that allows for creative freedom, a marked degree of individual expression and an opportunity to pursue a specialized interest with persistence and imagination. It should encourage spontaneity, creative inquiry and problem solving.

Content

Students should create and present an original piece of work. The concept for this work should be inspired by any source of the student’s choice, which can be of any origin.

Syllabus requirements

To help them identify their particular strengths and interests, students should discuss the nature of the project with the teacher before starting work on it. Possible activities may include the following.

Devising and presenting a solo performance
Creating and developing a role in a performance
Writing a piece of theatre
Directing a piece of theatre
Undertaking a technical project such as creating and staging a sound and/or lighting design
Designing costumes
Running a workshop