THEATRE STUDIES COURSE OUTLINE
Unit 3: Production development
This unit focuses on an interpretation of a playscript through the four designated stages of production:
planning, production development, production season, and production evaluation. You will specialise in
two areas of stagecraft, working collaboratively in order to realise the production of a playscript. You will
analyse the influence of stagecraft on the shaping of the production. You will also attend a performance
selected from the prescribed Theatre Studies Unit 3 Playlist published annually in the VCAA Bulletin, and
analyse and evaluate the interpretation of the playscript in the performance.
Stagecraft
In this unit stagecraft includes acting, costume, direction, dramaturgy, lighting, make-up, multimedia,
properties, promotion (including publicity), set, sound and stage management. In this unit, you need to
select and apply two areas of stagecraft across the four designated stages of production to interpret a
playscript.
You will also analyse the influence of the areas of stagecraft you have selected on the shaping of the
production across the four stages of the production process.
Outcome 1Application of stagecraft (50 Marks)
On completion of this unit you should be able to apply stagecraft to interpret a playscript for performance
to an audience and demonstrate understanding of the stages of the production process.
- Production planning including developing initial concepts for the production
- Production development including exploring and trialing approaches to achieving production aims
- Production season including involvement in bump-in, technical/dress rehearsal/s, performance/s and
bump-out
- Production evaluation including debrief meeting;
Outcome 2 Production Folio (25 Marks)
You will study the background, contexts, language and theatrical possibilities of a playscript as a way of
informing the development of an appropriate interpretation for the production. You will need to
document and analyse how the two areas of stagecraft you applied, influenced, shaped and informed this
interpretation and contributed to the creation of meaning in the presentation of the work to an audience
across the four stages of the production process. Consideration of the influence of stagecraft across the
four stages of the production process should focus on:
- Production planning: the written playscript and initial aims and concepts for the production as agreed by
the production team.
- Production development: ways production aims and concepts are collaboratively realised through
application of different areas of stagecraft, for example explorations, experiments and/or trial approaches
to achieving production aims.
- Production season: contribution of specific areas of stagecraft to bump-in, technical/dress rehearsal/s,
performance/s and bump-out including refinements to application of specific stagecraft to realise
production aims and concepts.
- Production evaluation: ways specific stagecraft contributed to realisation of production aims and
concepts.
Outcome 3 Performance Analysis (25 Marks)
On completion of this unit you should be able to analyse and evaluate ways in which a written playscript
selected from the prescribed playlist is interpreted in its production to an audience. This area of study
focuses on the analysis and evaluation of an interpretation of a playscript in a production from the
prescribed Theatre Studies Unit 3 Playlist.
You will analyse and evaluate the relationship between the written playscript and its interpretation on
stage. In doing so you will study ways the interpretation on stage draws on and/or changes the historical,
cultural and social contexts in the playscript. This includes the decisions that have been made when
interpreting the playscript, for example decisions pertaining to design, direction and acting.
You will also evaluate ways individuals, for example, the director, the lighting designer or the stage
manager, have contributed to the performance through the application of stagecraft. You will need to
study how the theatrical styles implied in the written playscript are interpreted when the play is
performed to an audience.
THEATRE STUDIES COURSE OUTLINE
Unit 4: Performance interpretation
In this unit you will study a scene and associated monologue from the Theatre Studies Performance
Examination (monologue list) published annually by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority,
and develop a theatrical brief that includes the creation of a character, stagecraft possibilities, and
appropriate research. You will interpret a monologue from within a specified scene through acting and
other appropriate areas of stagecraft. You will attend a performance selected from the prescribed Theatre
Studies Unit 4 Playlist published annually in the VCAA Bulletin and analyse and evaluate acting in the
production.
Stagecraft
In this unit stagecraft includes acting, costume, direction, dramaturgy, make-up, multimedia, properties,
set, and sound. Note, in this unit, appropriate stagecraft does not include lighting, stage management or
promotion (including publicity).
Outcome 1 Monologue (Externally Assessed Performance Exam)
On completion of this unit you will perform an interpretation of a monologue from a playscript. You will need to:
• interpret the text of the monologue, as informed by the scene and the playscript;
• convey the contexts of the monologue through performance;
• convey intended meaning/s of the monologue through performance;
• apply theatrical style/s to the monologue;
• interpret the monologue by applying acting and other stagecraft;
• present an interpretation of the monologue.
Outcome 2 Scene Interpretation (25 Marks)
This area of study focuses on the development of a theatrical brief that outlines an interpretation of a prescribed
scene. You will need to outline an interpretation of the scene focusing on the ways in which the scene could be
approached as a theatrical performance, including its place within the playscript, its specific structure, its
character/s, its themes, images and ideas, its theatrical possibilities, its theatrical style/s and the ways in which
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stagecraft could be employed to convey its intended meaning/s. You will also study the scene in relation to the
historical, cultural and social contexts of the playscript and influences on the playwright. In your theatrical brief, you
also need to demonstrate an understanding of the creation of character, possible application of other stagecraft,
research that helps to inform an interpretation and decisions made.
Outcome 3 Performance Analysis (25 Marks)
You will attend a production selected from the prescribed playlist. You will analyse and evaluate how actor/s
interpret the playscript in the performance. In doing so you will study the character/s in the play and how the actor/s
interpreted them on stage. You will develop an understanding of the expressive skills used by the actor/s to portray
the character/s, including facial expression, voice, gesture, movement, stillness and silence. You also develop an
understanding of other aspects of acting including, focus, the use of the acting space, the use of verbal and nonverbal language to convey the intended meaning/s of the play, the use of stagecraft by the actors in the production,
and the establishment and maintenance of actor–audience relationship. Your understanding of the techniques being
used by the actors is informed by techniques you use to perform the monologue selected for Outcome 1.
Assessment
ASSESSMENT Units 3 and 4
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority will supervise the assessment of all students
undertaking Units 3 and 4. In the study of VCE Theatre Studies students’ level of achievement will be
determined by School-assessed Coursework, an end-of-year performance examination and an end-of-year
written examination.
Percentage contributions to the study score in VCE Theatre Studies are as follows:
• Units 3 and 4 School-assessed Coursework: 45 per cent
• Units 3 and 4 end-of-year performance examination: 25 per cent
• Units 3 and 4 end-of-year written examination: 30 per cent.
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