Grade 7 Acting: The Knowledge Section

A hand out for your students

Below is another hand out focusing on the very tricky Grade 7 Acting Knowledge questions. The “objectives” and “role of the character” questions are repeated from Grade 6, but there are two more questions that I think are among the hardest across all of the exams. They are hard not only because of the content of the question but also because of the amount of research that is required - answers need to be prepared for all three plays, even though they will only be assessed on one of them.

When the knowledge section came into existence 20 years ago, Grade 7 acting students were always asked about the writer’s style and period of writing, and how this was applied to or influenced their own performance. So I heaved a sigh of relief back in 2019 when this question was simplified to:

4.3 Give an explanation of the writing style, and the period in which the chosen author was writing

So knowledge of the writing style and period of writing was still essential, but they no longer had to apply this knowledge to their own performances. A much more straightforward question, asking students to research all three of their plays (although the examiner would only ask them about one).

Well the sigh of relief lasted 5 years… because now they’ve made the question even harder than it was back in the day. In fact, it’s now TWO questions:

4.3 Explain how your research into the dramatic style of the period of the piece affected the way you performed

AND

4.4 Explain how the work and influences of the author are reflected in the piece as a whole

So once again they have to think about how their own performance was influenced by the style of the period, and in addition, they also have to think about how the period of writing and the influences at the time of writing are reflected in the whole play/screenplay. And they have to do this for all three pieces. They are really making them earn those UCAS points!

I used to separate out STYLE (verse/prose/melodrama/verbatim/kitchen sink etc etc) from PERIOD (the time and place the play was written). But this has been turned on its head by the the new wording in 4.3 (“the dramatic style of the period of the piece”) which has thrown these two separate things together. Obviously style and period are SOMETIMES linked (Greek Tragedy is a good example) but for modern plays there are so many different styles of writing all being produced within the same period…

Anyway, before our heads spin too much, and before I get to the actual worksheet in which I attempt to untangle all of this in a way that most 15 year olds will find accessible, the most important things to remember are: