NCEA Level 2 Drama flashcards
NCEA Level 2 Drama · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Dramatic intention
- The purpose or effect a drama aims to achieve for an audience, such as to inform, challenge, entertain, or provoke thought. It guides all creative and performance choices.
- Devising
- The collaborative process of creating original drama from stimuli, ideas, or improvisation rather than working from a pre-written script. It is central to AS91214.
- Scripted context
- A performance based on a written play text, where the actor interprets the playwright's words and stage directions. Assessed in AS91213 through sustained performance.
- Substantial acting role
- A role of significant length and dramatic weight within a full production, requiring sustained character development and interaction. Required for AS91218.
- Rehearsal log
- A record kept during the rehearsal process documenting decisions, challenges, and refinements. It provides evidence of process for internally assessed drama standards.
- Theatre form
- A recognised style or genre of theatre, such as commedia dell'arte, melodrama, or physical theatre, each with distinct conventions, performance skills, and staging traditions.
- Theatre period
- A historical era of theatre, such as Ancient Greek, Elizabethan, or Restoration, characterised by particular conventions, staging conditions, and social contexts.
- Playwright's purpose
- The intention behind a playwright's writing, including the themes, messages, and effects they aim to create for an audience within their social and historical context.
- Drama conventions
- Established techniques used in theatre, such as soliloquy, aside, tableau, or direct address, that shape how meaning is communicated to an audience.
- Drama elements
- The fundamental components of drama, including role, time, place, action, tension, focus, and mood, which combine to create dramatic meaning.
- Drama techniques
- The skills an actor uses in performance, including voice, body, movement, and use of space, applied to communicate character and intention.
- Performance technologies
- Technical elements such as lighting, sound, set, and costume that support and shape a production's meaning and atmosphere.
- Live performance analysis
- The examination of a performance witnessed in person, focusing on specific choices made by actors and technicians and their effect on the audience.
- Character development
- The process of building a believable character through physicality, voice, motivation, and relationships, sustained consistently across a performance.
- Ensemble work
- Collaborative performance where actors support and respond to one another, maintaining focus and energy as a unified group.
- Achievement criteria
- The statements describing what a candidate must demonstrate to achieve each grade - Achieved, Merit, or Excellence - for a drama standard.
- Externally assessed standard
- A drama achievement standard assessed through a national written examination, marked externally rather than by the candidate's own teacher.
- Drama processes
- The stages of creating theatre, including research, improvisation, rehearsal, and refinement, examined in AS91211 for how they shape final performance.
- Production choices
- Decisions made about staging, design, direction, and performance that shape how an audience interprets a drama's meaning and intention.
- Perceptive analysis
- A grade-level skill at Excellence requiring candidates to interpret deeper meaning and evaluate choices with insight, supported by specific evidence.
- Specific evidence
- Concrete references to particular moments, lines, or choices in a text or performance that support an analytical claim in an examination answer.
- Subtext
- The unspoken meaning beneath dialogue, revealed through delivery, pauses, and physicality. Analysing subtext demonstrates depth in examination answers.
- Proxemics
- The use of spatial distance between performers to communicate relationships, status, and tension. A key term for performance analysis.
- Status
- The relative power dynamic between characters, communicated through posture, eye contact, and vocal choices. Central to analysing interaction.
- Blocking
- The planned movement and positioning of actors on stage, used to focus attention, establish relationships, and shape the audience's reading.
- Pace
- The speed and rhythm of a performance, including the timing of dialogue and action, which influences tension and audience engagement.
- Historical context
- The social, political, and cultural conditions surrounding a drama or theatre period that influence its conventions and meaning.
- Theatrical convention
- A device accepted by audiences as part of theatrical storytelling, such as a chorus, mask, or aside, analysed in AS91212.
- Structured examination question
- A question typically divided into parts (a), (b), and (c), progressing from identification to analysis and evaluation, with marks allocated accordingly.
- Mark weighting
- The number of marks allocated to each question part, guiding how much time and depth a candidate should devote to each answer.
- Integrated evidence
- The combining of specific textual or performance references with analytical commentary, required for Excellence-level examination responses.
- Audience effect
- The impact a production's choices have on the audience's understanding and emotional response, central to analysis in external standards.