GCSE Drama – Live Theatre Evaluation

TIP In the nal paragraph of this response, where the candidate writes ‘believably’ (a positive comment) and ‘disappointed’ (a negative one), they have provided their personal response as an audience member, which will gain evaluation marks. Jenny Walser as the young Eva in Kindertransport . TASK 5 Read the example response below, then highlight the drama terminology that the writer has used. Think about why the words you have highlighted are helpful. In this production of Kindertransport , the actor playing Eva needs to age from a young girl of about nine to a teenager. The actor portrayed this change in her posture and stance . As a young girl, she stood upright, arms dangling at her side and feet slightly apart. When she didn’t understand something, she would tilt her head to one side questioningly. She had a strong German accent and pronounced her English words carefully. When she arrived in England, she shouted, ‘Stuff your stupid Hitler’ with unabashed joy and jumped to her feet, banging on the (imaginary) windows of the train. These performance choices created audience sympathy for Eva. In later scenes, as a teenager, after living in England for years, her German accent was almost entirely gone and her manner far more reserved. She hunched her shoulders and avoided making eye contact with her mother. The actor believably accomplished this transition from open, innocent child to more complicated teenager, who has adopted a new identity. However, after following Eva’s journey, I was disappointed to find so little of the appealing little girl apparent in the later scenes with her mother. Using moments of change Moments of change are useful for your analysis. In the example for Kindertransport , above, the writer has analysed the changes the actor made to show the character ageing. This might also be a focus in a review of Blood Brothers , for example, in which the main characters are shown at three different ages. Besides physical changes, you might also look for emotional changes (such as when Romeo and Juliet fall in love), changes in status (as when Macbeth becomes king) or when a character disguises their identity (such as Viola dressing as a boy in Twelfth Night ). TASK 6 Recall a performance you have seen and note any moments when a character underwent a change in: age emotions status identity. Then write a paragraph explaining how the actor used their acting skills to achieve this change. 19 CHAPTER 3 ANALYSING AND EVALUATING ACTING