Creating and Devising
KS4DR-KS4-D001
Creating original dramatic work through collaborative and individual devising processes, using a range of stimuli, dramatic forms and theatrical techniques to develop and communicate meaning. Devised work constitutes a major assessed component in most GCSE Drama specifications.
National Curriculum context
Devising at GCSE requires pupils to engage in the full creative process from initial stimulus through to performed and evaluated outcome. Unlike scripted performance, devising demands that pupils make fundamental decisions about form, content, structure and theatrical style, demonstrating creative ownership of the work. The collaborative dimension of devising develops skills of creative negotiation, ensemble cohesion and collective decision-making that reflect professional theatrical practice. Pupils must document their devising process — recording decisions made, approaches tried and rejected, and the evolution of the piece — as this process documentation constitutes part of the assessed submission alongside the performance itself. The range of stimuli from which devising work can develop is broad: image, text, music, physical object, social theme, historical event.
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Concepts
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Clusters
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Prerequisites
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With difficulty levels
Lesson Clusters
Create and devise drama using a range of forms, genres and theatrical techniques
practice CuratedSingle concept domain. Dramatic Form and Genre is the core conceptual knowledge underpinning all devising work at GCSE: understanding form and genre enables pupils to make informed creative choices about structure, style and theatrical language when creating original work.
Concepts (1)
Dramatic Form and Genre
knowledge Specialist TeacherDR-KS4-C002
Dramatic form refers to the structural and stylistic principles that shape a piece of theatre: whether it is naturalistic or stylised, linear or non-linear, scripted or devised, text-based or physical, site-specific or presented in a traditional theatre space. Genre encompasses the conventional categories of dramatic work — tragedy, comedy, melodrama, farce, documentary theatre, physical theatre, verbatim theatre — each with characteristic structural patterns, theatrical conventions and audience relationships. At GCSE, pupils must understand a range of dramatic forms and genres both analytically (for evaluative writing) and practically (for devising and performing).
Teaching guidance
Teach dramatic form and genre through practical exploration: work in a range of styles and forms rather than focusing exclusively on naturalistic scripted performance. Develop pupils' understanding that form and content are inseparable: the choice of form is a statement of meaning. Explore how the same story or theme can be treated in radically different ways by changing the dramatic form. Use practitioner study to introduce pupils to forms they might not encounter otherwise: Brechtian epic theatre, Artaudian theatre of cruelty, physical theatre. For analytical writing, develop pupils' ability to identify specific formal and generic features of theatre they have seen and explain how these features serve the work's meanings and intentions.
Common misconceptions
Many pupils are familiar only with naturalistic drama and may treat it as the default form, understanding stylised or non-naturalistic theatre as 'unusual' rather than as an equally legitimate set of conventions. Broadening exposure to diverse theatrical forms challenges this. The conflation of 'form' (structural approach) with 'genre' (category of drama) is common; teaching these as distinct but related concepts develops more precise critical vocabulary. Pupils may assume that experimental or non-naturalistic forms are necessarily more sophisticated than naturalistic ones; appreciating the distinct challenges and possibilities of each form develops more nuanced theatrical understanding.
Difficulty levels
Recognises basic dramatic forms (comedy, tragedy, mime, musical theatre) and can identify structural features of a performance such as beginning, middle, and end.
Example task
Watch a short performance and identify its dramatic form. Describe the basic structure — how does it begin, develop, and end?
Model response: The performance is a comedy. It begins with two characters meeting for the first time at a bus stop — the situation is normal. It develops through a series of misunderstandings that get increasingly ridiculous — each misunderstanding builds on the last, making the situation funnier. It ends with the truth being revealed and both characters laughing at the confusion. The comedy comes from the audience knowing the truth while the characters do not (dramatic irony).
Identifies and uses dramatic forms (naturalistic, non-naturalistic, physical theatre, verbatim, devised) and structures (episodic, linear, circular, montage). Understands how form shapes audience experience and meaning.
Example task
Explain the difference between a naturalistic and an episodic structure. Why might a devising company choose an episodic structure for a piece about homelessness?
Model response: A naturalistic structure follows events chronologically with a clear cause-and-effect chain — like real life unfolding in real time. An episodic structure presents a series of separate scenes or episodes, possibly out of order, connected by theme rather than chronological plot. For a piece about homelessness, an episodic structure allows the company to show multiple perspectives (different individuals' stories), different time periods (how someone became homeless, their current situation, a possible future), and different locations, building a complex picture of the issue rather than a single individual's story. It also allows direct address, statistics, and documentary material to be woven between scenes. The episodic form serves the social/political purpose of showing homelessness as a systemic issue, not just a personal story.
Analyses how dramatic form, structure, and genre conventions are used to construct meaning in studied texts and in personal devised work. Evaluates how different forms serve different purposes and create different audience relationships. Applies understanding of form to make informed creative decisions in devising and scripted work.
Example task
Evaluate how the form and structure of a play you have studied contributes to its meaning and impact. How would the meaning change if it were structured differently?
Model response: DNA by Dennis Kelly uses an episodic structure alternating between two locations: a street scene (where Leah monologues to the silent Phil) and ensemble scenes showing the group's actions. The alternating structure creates dramatic irony — the audience understands the psychological impact (from the street scenes) that the group scenes conceal beneath collective action. The non-linear revelation of what happened to Adam builds suspense and mirrors how the characters themselves are suppressing and distorting the truth. If the play were structured chronologically (starting with the bullying incident, then the cover-up), the audience would follow a clear cause-and-effect narrative. The moral complexity would be reduced because the audience would judge from the outset. Kelly's fragmented structure forces the audience to piece together events, implicating them in the process of constructing a narrative from partial information — which mirrors the characters' own selective storytelling. The form and the theme are inseparable.
Demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how form, genre, and structure are cultural conventions that can be used, subverted, and combined to create new theatrical meanings. Critically evaluates how contemporary theatre-makers challenge traditional forms.
Example task
Evaluate how a contemporary theatre company breaks or challenges traditional dramatic form. Analyse the effect on the audience and discuss whether the innovation is successful.
Model response: Forced Entertainment's work (e.g. Quizoola!, 6-hour improvised quiz performance) challenges every convention of dramatic form: there is no script, no characters, no plot, no beginning-middle-end structure, and no clear distinction between performer and role. Two performers ask each other increasingly personal, absurd, or philosophical questions and answer (or refuse to answer) in real time. The audience can come and go. This challenges traditional form by: making the performance unrepeatable (no script, no fixed structure), dissolving the performer-character boundary (are they 'acting' or being themselves?), and replacing narrative tension with durational endurance (6 hours tests the performer's stamina and the audience's commitment). The effect on the audience shifts from passive consumption to active decision-making — what to watch, when to leave, how to interpret ambiguous responses. Success evaluation: the work is effective at questioning what 'theatre' is and at creating genuinely unpredictable live moments that scripted theatre cannot achieve. However, it risks inaccessibility — audiences unfamiliar with experimental form may find it boring or confusing. The work requires an audience willing to abandon narrative expectations. Its significance lies not in mass appeal but in expanding the boundaries of what performance can be, which influences mainstream theatre practice over time.
Delivery rationale
Drama concept — requires embodied performance, devising, and real-time ensemble work.