NCEA Level 3 Drama case studies
NCEA Level 3 Drama · Put your knowledge to work in context.
NCEA Level 3 Drama is the final year of Drama study within the New Zealand National Certificate of Educational Achievement, delivered under The Arts learning area of the New Zealand Curriculum. It is aimed at senior secondary students who have worked through Levels 1 and 2 and want to deepen their understanding of performance, theatre history and dramatic process. The NCEA Level 3 Drama case studies are 5 cases and about 4,210 words.
1Route 47: adapting a devised piece after an injury
A Year 13 group of four is devising a 12-minute piece for the Level 3 devising standard. The piece, 'Route 47', is verbatim-style theatre about a bus route closure; it uses three interview transcripts, repeated choral movement and a single bench.
897 words, about 4 min2Directing 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter': concept, silence and tears
Three Year 13 students are directing an eight-minute excerpt from a new New Zealand play, 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter', for the Level 3 directing standard. The excerpt is a two-hander: a 17-year-old daughter reads a letter while her father repairs a lamp; there is a 40-second silence before the final line.
867 words, about 4 min3Lighting and sound for a 25-minute physical theatre work
A Year 13 student is the lighting and sound operator for a 25-minute physical theatre work in the school hall. The rig has eight fresnels, four LED wash units and 12 dimmer channels; there is no follow spot and no haze machine because a cast member has asthma.
862 words, about 4 min4Responding to a stylised 'Medea': building an argument from divided notes
A Year 13 student is writing a response to a live performance for the Level 3 response standard. They saw a touring production of 'Medea' in a 400-seat theatre.
805 words, about 4 min5Commedia dell'arte seminar: accuracy, memes and two masks
A group of three Year 13 students is preparing a six-minute seminar and a three-minute practical demonstration on Commedia dell'arte for the Level 3 theatre-form standard. They have four weeks, two half-masks (one Arlecchino, one Pantalone), no commedia-trained teacher, and one 50-minute workshop with a visiting physical theatre practitioner.
779 words, about 4 min