VCE Drama case studies
VCE Drama · Put your knowledge to work in context.
VCE Drama is a Victorian Certificate of Education study accredited under a study design with an accreditation period from 2025, published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. It suits senior secondary students who want to create and perform drama and to analyse the work of others in written form. The VCE Drama case studies are 5 cases and about 1,895 words.
1Choosing the Right Focus for a Solo Performance
A student is building a solo performance around a devised character: a 17-year-old night-shift bakery worker who dreams of competitive swimming. The student has three possible 'focus' options to anchor the piece: (1) the character's obsessive morning ritual of timing laps in a public pool before school; (2) a single confrontation with the bakery owner about a missed shift; (3) a montage of the character's five favourite songs across a week.
397 words, about 2 min2Structuring a Non-Linear Solo Around a Single Object
A student wants to perform a solo about a grandmother's migration story, using a single wooden spoon as a prop. The student plans a non-linear structure that jumps between three time periods: the grandmother at 20 leaving her village, the grandmother at 60 cooking for family, and the student at 16 finding the spoon after the grandmother's death.
387 words, about 2 min3Responding to a Written Exam Prompt on Dramatic Elements
In a written examination, a student faces a question asking them to analyse how a performer they studied used two dramatic elements to create tension in a specific scene. The student studied a solo performance in which the performer used contrast, symbol, and climax.
378 words, about 2 min4Interpreting an Unfamiliar Performance Stimulus in the Written Exam
A written exam presents a short description of a performance the student has not studied: a solo in which a performer plays a factory worker who silently assembles and disassembles the same object for six minutes while a recorded voice lists production targets. The question asks students to discuss how the performer used two theatrical conventions to communicate a theme.
352 words, about 2 min5Deciding What to Cut When a Solo Runs Over Time
A student's solo performance runs 9 minutes 40 seconds, but the examination limit is 8 minutes. The piece has four sections: an opening monologue (2 minutes), a movement sequence representing a storm (3 minutes), a dialogue with an imagined sibling (2 minutes 40 seconds), and a closing song (2 minutes).
381 words, about 2 min