Drama Achievement Standards (Level 2) - Internal Assessment
What internal Drama standards assess
Level 2 internal Drama assessment is practical. It asks you to apply drama techniques in a scripted context, devise and perform drama to realise an intention, and perform a substantial acting role in a scripted production. The assessor looks for deliberate choices that communicate role, intention, and meaning to an audience - not just accurate line delivery. Evidence usually combines a live or recorded performance with teacher observation and your own process journal or reflection.
Core requirements
- Techniques: voice (pitch, pace, pause, projection, tone), body (posture, gesture, facial expression), movement (gait, weight, levels, spatial pathways), and space (proxemics, staging, focus).
- Scripted work: interpret the script’s given circumstances, make active choices, sustain role, and respond in the moment to other performers.
- Devising: begin with a clear intention, use strategies such as improvisation, hot-seating, image work, status exercises, and rehearsal refinement, then shape a performance.
- Substantial role: enough stage time, dialogue, and character development to show range; ensemble awareness matters.
- Process evidence: journal entries, annotated scripts, rehearsal notes, and reflection should explain why choices changed.
Worked example
A student plays a character who moves from calm to panic in a short scripted scene. In the calm section they use a low, steady voice, relaxed shoulders, and centre-stage stillness. As panic builds, they shorten breath, raise pitch, tighten gestures, move upstage, and break eye contact. The reflection explains: ‘The stillness made the first threat feel controlled; the shift to upstage space isolated the character and let the audience see the loss of control before the line I can’t.’ This earns credit because each technique is linked to intention and audience effect.
Traps
- Describing the story instead of analysing choices.
- Using techniques without saying what they communicated.
- Dropping character or failing to listen and respond.
- Choosing a role that is too small to be ‘substantial’.
- Leaving process evidence until the end; journals should show revision.