IB DP Theatre Companion

IB DP Theatre

Production Proposal

PRODUCTION PROPOSAL · SL 30% / HL 20% of grade1984, Icke & Macmillan (after Orwell)

You are the director now. Twelve pages that demonstrate a complete staging of a published play: ideas, intentions, design and one moment, line by line.

Top band worked example

1984, Icke & Macmillan (after Orwell)

TOP BAND · FULL MARKSTop band candidate · 12 page proposal

Modern reframing of 1984 in the landscape of social media and cancel culture. Black box · 3 sided audience · live feed throughout. Walk through theme → intention → design → moment.

Ai

Key ideas and themes: straight into the themes, with a personal response

Examiner looks for

Go straight into the themes. Each theme needs a textual quote with a page reference and your personal response. Only bring in playwright context where the play is an adaptation and that context directly shapes your reading.

Step by step
  1. Go straight into the ideas the play addresses. You do not need to tell the examiner everything about the playwright.
  2. For each theme, pull a quote with page number, then explain what the play argues through it and give your personal response.
  3. Cover 3+ themes, each grounded in the text and your own reading.
  4. If the play is an adaptation, like 1984 from Orwell's novel, briefly distinguish the original author's intention from the adapter's intention where it shapes your staging. Otherwise leave the playwright's story out.
From the exemplar
Ai · step 2 Ai, theme: surveillance
"There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment" (p.g. 13). As exemplified by the quote, this unknown presence had made civilians fearful, forcing them to fall into submission to the party's wills.
Ai · step 2 Ai, theme: language as control
"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." (p.g. 38). The fact that he calls this process 'beautiful' alludes to the idea that it is with the limitation of language that their true desire, total control, is satisfied.
Ai · step 4 Ai, adaptation context (needed here: 1984 adapts Orwell)
"1984" is a dystopian play script adapted by American playwrights Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan in 2013 from George Orwell's original novel… Orwell had written the original novel during WWII. During this period, he realised that war propaganda was at its all time peak, being used as a powerful tool to shape public opinion.
Ai · step 4 Ai, original vs. adapter intention (an adaptation case)
While Orwell envisioned a future dominated by blatant authoritarian control, Icke and Macmillan (I&M) wanted to expose a covert type of control emerging. In 2013, when they adapted the play, the US National Security Agency's (NSA) post 9-11 vast network of secret citizen surveillance programs was newly uncovered.
7–8 · Adapter's intention isolated
Separates Orwell's 1948 intention from Icke & Macmillan's 2013 intention, then ties the adapters' choice to the NSA leaks. This works because 1984 is an adaptation. For a play that is not an adaptation, skip the playwright history and go straight into the themes.
Aii

Theatre maker intentions: why this play for an audience now

Examiner looks for

A clear intention for staging the whole play and why it would interest an audience now. Vague intentions ("think about freedom") cap at 5–6.

Step by step
  1. State what you want your production to do and why it would interest an audience now. That might be a modern parallel, but it does not have to be.
  2. Back every idea up with evidence from the scenes, or textual or line evidence.
  3. For every choice you make, think about the impact on the audience: what do you want them to think, what do you want them to feel and what do you want them to question?
  4. State your performance space, configuration, style, each choice serving the intention.
From the exemplar
Aii · step 1 Aii, why now: a modern reframing
In my production, I want to also focus on the self imposed censorship we are seeing in the rise of cancel culture… My production will explore how 'cancel culture' perpetrated by extremist groups manifests in control, pressuring self censorship through fear, leading to a society devoid of diverse viewpoints and open discourse.
Aii · step 2 Aii, evidence from the text
In the play script, no specific setting is described, only suggested: "it could be a library, a records room, it could be in a school…Rooms like this have existed all over the world for years" (p.g. 13). This leaves me the opportunity to set this story in the modern landscape of social media, which is in its own way a digital "records room" which exists both everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Aii · step 3 Aii, impact on the audience
I want Winston's story to serve as a cautionary tale: I want to use multimedia theatre to make the audience reflect on their own behaviours and tendencies. I ultimately want them to realise that if we do not challenge the notion of this self censorship, we will be living in a world dictated by extremists, and are they ready to accept that reality?
Aii · step 4 Aii, space serving intention
The play will be set in a Black Box theatre with the audience on three sides. This configuration will allow for the audience members to watch each other through the entirety of the play, achieving my intention of showing the audience that in the 21st century, through social media, we are constantly watching each other at all times.
7–8 · Reframing earned, not asserted
Finds a textual gap ("it could be a library, a records room") that allows reframing, then every staging choice serves it. Causal, not decorative.
B

Proposed design: every element backs up your intentions

Examiner looks for

Set, costume, lighting, sound, props, projection: each one has to back up your intentions. Choices that evolve across the play earn more than static ones.

Step by step
  1. Choose three, maximum four, main features of your design that you can keep coming back to and that highlight your overarching intentions.
  2. For each design element, describe state at start AND state at end. Static design ceilings at 5–6.
  3. For costume, do not overcomplicate it. You have not got long to write, so think of symbolism, colour and specific aspects of the costume that are easy to link back to intention.
  4. Include a couple of images or technical drawings with captions explaining the symbol. They do not need to cover every design area.
From the exemplar
B · step 1 B, a main feature that evolves
There will be a giant projected handprint which will fill up a majority of the stage floor. At the beginning of the play, the hand will be made up of spirals that include multi coloured words to exemplify how language and self expression, like biometrics, make us unique as individuals… However, over the course of the play, in moments of control exercised by BB, these words are gradually replaced by "CANCELLED" projections. And at the very end of the play, the stamps that once dominated it will disappear, making it a hollow white outline.
B · step 1 B, a main feature arguing the intention
In these moments the actors will go behind the scrim with a light being flashed behind them, achieving a silhouette of the two. The black silhouettes are a representation of the perceived anonymity that individuals believe they have when using social media. However, in these moments, there will be a live feed of the actors taken from behind the scrim projected on the perspex screens, shattering this perceived anonymity.
B · step 2 B, lighting that evolves
As the play moves forward, there will be a general white flood light that will slowly begin to redden, again symbolising BB's increasing control. While this occurs intensity of the box shutter will also increase, visually amplifying the contrast between the larger society and the others.
B · step 3 B, costume: symbolism and colour
Through the course of the play, the costumes will become more covered in red handprints, mirroring the reddening of the hand… The fact that the actors will put the paint on themselves and remove their own accessories symbolises how in the modern context, censorship is self imposed, relating this idea to the new paradigm of cancel culture.
7–8 · Main features that keep coming back
The handprint floor, the scrim and live feed, the reddening flood, the self applied paint: a small set of features that keep coming back, all backing up the same intention: surveillance is no longer external, it is us.
C

The moment: a single staged page, line by line

Examiner looks for

A specific page range, worked through line by line: performer action, voice, light, sound, meaning. A tight 2 pages is worth more than a vague half act.

Step by step
  1. Open by naming the exact page range and its place in the play's arc.
  2. Work through the moment line by line (1, 2, 3…) and describe each line as: physicality + voice + light + sound + meaning. Together, not separately.
  3. For each line, name the audience impact you are engineering. "False hope" earns more than flat tension build.
  4. Use concrete blocking: levels, distances, body angles, upstage/downstage relationships.
  5. Close on the final image and silence, not a line. End with a held image + a question for the audience.
From the exemplar
C · step 2 C, lines interweaving body+light+sound
As they move towards Winston, after each stop/start motion, symbolising the photo being taken, there will be a strobe flash effect that occurs in parallel emphasising how Winston's pain and suffering are being documented and exploited… With each application of the paint, there will be a "whoosh" delete sound effect, reinforcing the motif of erasure in 21st century cancel culture.
C · step 3 C, engineered false hope
The actor will start talking with a much lower volume and friendlier, high tone and pitch… The sudden shift from relentless torture through extended facial features and large volume to more calm ones could evoke emotions in the audience like a flicker of hope or even relief. Through this performance, the audience will be lulled into a false sense of security… This moment of reduced tension, as a result, only serves to heighten the subsequent tension when Winston doesn't heed his advice and is tortured.
C · step 4 C, concrete blocking with named meaning
At this moment, both O'Brien and Winston will be centre stage (centre of the palm/hand). Winston will be sat on a desk chair with O'Brien being stood on a box directly behind him holding the phone. The physical position and height exemplifies his dominant position… To further present the meaning, Winston will grab onto the arms of the chair, push his legs straight out and tilt his head up at a forty five degree angle, all while tensing up his arms, body and leg muscles with his widened eyes.
C · step 5 C, ending on held image + audience question
The scene will end with a final, deafening sound effect that echoes throughout the theatre. This will be paired with the strobe lights abruptly cutting out which leaves the audience in complete darkness. Through this silence, the audience is left to ponder the chilling implications… Is Winston a cautionary tale, or are we all subject to the same fate if we do not stand up to surveillance, censorship, and control in the 21st century?
7–8 · Line by line density across two pages
10 numbered lines across two pages, each interweaving body+voice+light+sound+meaning. Deliberate false hope mid scene (O'Brien softening) is the top band move.
How to structure this report

How to structure your Production Proposal

A 12 page proposal documenting how you would stage a published play. Examiners read it as a complete directorial argument: ideas → intentions → design → one moment. Every staging choice must trace back to an intention.

Criterion Ai · Ideas Addressed by the Play

This section asks you to explain the key ideas and themes in your chosen play text, using detailed examples from the script. The examiner wants to see that you genuinely understand what the play is about, not just its plot, but the deeper ideas the playwright is exploring and how those ideas are constructed through the text.

Approximately 2 pages.

Read this before you write

What will stop you getting a 7

  1. ✕

    Plot retelling / synopsis

    Ai is not a summary of what happens. It is an analysis of what the playwright wants the audience to think about, feel or question.

    Likely 2

  2. ✕

    Themes named with no textual reference

    Every claim about an idea needs evidence from the text, a quote, a specific moment, a structural choice. The examiner needs to see your ideas come from the play.

    Maximum 2

Ai

Ideas in the Play

“To what extent does the student explain the ideas addressed by the chosen play text, with reference to the play text?”

→ What does the play want its audience to think about, feel or question, and HOW does the text construct those ideas?

What it is · what it is not
✓ It is
  • Identifying what the playwright wanted the audience to question
  • 3–4 distinct ideas explored in depth
  • Specific references to the text (quotes, moments, structural choices)
  • Brief context only where it explains an idea
  • Explaining the playwright's purpose
  • Tracing ideas through multiple characters and events
✗ It is not
  • A synopsis or plot retelling
  • A long historical context essay
  • Themes named without textual support
  • A list of 5–6 themes covered superficially
  • Describing what happens without explaining why
  • Generic theme labels (e.g. "the play is about greed")
Framework
Frame Each Idea as a Question
Strong Ai responses identify 3–4 key ideas and treat each as a genuine dilemma the play raises. Naming each idea as a question signals you are engaging with it as an open question, not ticking off a theme from a revision guide. Examples:
Can money buy everything?
(The Visit, Dürrenmatt)
Can murder be ethical?
(The Visit, Dürrenmatt)
What makes a human?
(The Visit, Dürrenmatt)
Can we trust what we are being told?
(1984, Icke & Macmillan)
Step by step
  1. Go straight into the ideas
    You do not need a paragraph about the playwright's life. Only give context where the play is an adaptation and it explains an idea. Go straight into what the play wants the audience to think about, feel or question, with your personal response.
  2. Identify 3–4 key ideas
    Give each its own clearly labelled section. Examples: betrayal, freedom, injustice, power, complicity, corruption, dehumanisation. Frame each as a question if you can.
  3. Support each idea with specific textual references
    Direct quotes with page numbers, specific moments, scenes or characters, or structural choices (how the plot builds, how acts are organised, repetition, juxtaposition).
  4. Explain the WHY (not just the WHAT)
    Describe = what the idea is and where it appears. Explain = why the playwright constructed it this way and what they wanted the audience to understand.
  5. Use structure as evidence
    Strong Ai responses do not only quote dialogue. Explain how the play's structure reinforces ideas, how the plot builds, how repetition or juxtaposition is used.
Top band exemplar
★ Justice in The Visit (Dürrenmatt), top band
"This is the first main way justice is interacted with in the play, dealing with the concept in its practical, real world applications. Claire Zachanassian has been able to purchase everything in her life, including justice and both those who dispense it (her butler, the judge) and to whom it is dispensed (her death row manservants). When the Mayor proclaims that 'justice can't be bought' in Act 1 (31), we already know this to be false, as that is what Ill did years before by buying false testimonials 'with a quart of schnapps' (33)."
WHY THIS WORKS
  • Does not simply say "the play explores justice", shows HOW justice is constructed through the text
  • Traces the idea through multiple characters: Claire, the butler, the judge, the Mayor, Ill
  • Every claim grounded in a specific moment with a page reference
  • Uses the Mayor's false claim as dramatic irony, the student is reading the play, not just summarising it
  • Explains the idea by tracing it through events, not just naming it
Useful sentence starters
  • One key idea explored in the play is…
  • This idea is shown when…
  • In the moment where [describe], the theme of [idea] is reinforced by…
  • The structure of the play emphasises the idea of…
  • Through this, [playwright] wanted the audience to recognise that…
  • Furthermore, [idea] is not only [X] but also [Y], exemplified by…
  • The play asks us to consider whether… / This raises the question of…
What separates each mark band
1–2
Lists
Themes named but not developed. No textual references. Superficial or irrelevant.
3–4
Outlines
Ideas identified with some textual support, but lacking depth or explanation of how the text constructs the idea.
5–6
Describes
Ideas detailed, accurate and focused. Good textual references. Starts to explain the "why" behind the idea.
7–8
Explains
Ideas explained through the text. Playwright's intentions used to explain WHY. Thorough, insightful and discerning.
Self check before you submit
Self check · Ai 0 ticked

Criterion Aii · Theatre Maker Intentions for Staging the Play

Aii is the bridge between the ideas in Ai and the design choices that follow in B and C. The examiner is looking for evidence that you have a clear, specific vision for the play and that every staging decision serves a purpose. This is not a section about what the play is "about", that belongs in Ai. Aii is about what you are doing with it.

Approximately 2 pages.

Read this before you write

What will stop you getting a 7

  1. ✕

    Performance space OR style missing

    Students who do not include BOTH performance space AND performance style cannot score above the 5–6 band. This is the most common reason students lose marks in Aii. Both are non negotiable.

    Maximum 5–6

  2. ✕

    Style described as a genre

    Performance style is HOW your actors will work, not WHAT KIND of play it is. Drama, comedy, tragedy are genres. Naturalism, multimedia, physical theatre are styles.

    Likely 3–4

Aii

Theatre Maker Intentions

“To what extent does the student explain their intentions for the staging of the entire play?”

→ What is YOUR directorial vision? Why this space, this style, these intentions, this audience effect?

What it is · what it is not
✓ It is
  • A clear statement of YOUR interpretation/take on the play
  • 4–6 specific intentions, each targeted and unambiguous
  • Performance space (configuration and seating)
  • Performance style specified, creative and specific
  • Intended audience effect made explicit at every point
  • Every staging decision traced back to an intention
✗ It is not
  • Re describing the ideas from Ai
  • A bullet list with vague language ("modern", "interesting")
  • Performance space mentioned without explaining the audience stage relationship
  • Genre (drama, tragedy) instead of style
  • Detailed set/costume/lighting (that belongs in B)
  • Generic audience effect language ("the audience will enjoy/think/feel")
Framework
The Four Required Elements
Top band Aii must contain all four, each one explained, not just stated:
1. Your interpretation / take on the play (in 1–2 sentences)
2. 4–6 specific intentions for the production
3. Performance space (configuration, plus WHY: the impact on the audience and the link to your intention)
4. Performance style (creative and specific, plus WHY: the impact on the audience and the link to your intention)
Step by step
  1. State your interpretation
    One or two sentences naming your specific contemporary or conceptual frame. This is your "take", connect it to one or more ideas from Ai.
  2. List 4–6 specific intentions
    Each should name a precise audience experience: realise, shock, expose, sensory overload, cautionary tale. Vague intentions like "make the audience think" will not survive examiner scrutiny.
  3. Specify the performance space
    Black box, proscenium, traverse, in the round, thrust, promenade, site specific. Name configuration, audience stage relationship, seating arrangement. Connect each detail to an intention.
  4. Specify the performance style
    NOT a genre. Be creative and specific. Your style can be influenced by a practitioner or tradition, but it does not need to be. You get no marks for mentioning practitioners without a specific example from your own ideas. Explain what your style looks like in practice and why it serves your intentions.
  5. Make the audience effect explicit at every point
    Describing tells the examiner what your staging IS. Explaining tells them what experience the audience will HAVE, and why your choices produce that experience.
Top band exemplar
★ 1984 (Icke & Macmillan), top band
"My directorial approach can be described as a fusion of multimedia and naturalism much like the practitioner Katie Mitchell. I aim to use multimedia theatre to achieve my intention of overwhelming the audience to present the magnitude of cancel culture and self surveillance and their complacency towards it, for example, the use of live audience feeds. Although the setting will be abstract, I want the majority of the acting to be rooted in naturalism to allow the audience to connect with and see themselves within the character. The play will be set in a Black Box theatre with the audience on three sides. This configuration will allow audience members to watch each other throughout the play, achieving my intention of showing that in the 21st century, through social media, we are constantly watching each other. The small size makes self surveillance inescapable for the audience."
WHY THIS WORKS
  • Style is named (multimedia/naturalism fusion) and influenced by a practitioner (Mitchell), with a specific example from her own ideas
  • Style split into its two component parts so each can be justified separately
  • Multimedia is justified by sensory overload; naturalism by audience identification
  • Concrete example given (live audience feeds) so the examiner can picture it
  • Three space details (black box, three sided, raked) each explicitly connected to an intention
  • Audience watching each other → constant surveillance intention; close proximity → inescapability
  • Space ENACTS the play's themes on the audience
Useful sentence starters
  • My production will interpret the play through the lens of…
  • Reflecting on the ideas of [X] explored in the play, I want to focus on…
  • My intentions for this production are as follows…
  • I have chosen [space] because it allows the audience to…
  • My performance style is [X]. This will achieve my intention of…
  • The intended effect on the audience is… / By doing this I want the audience to…
  • This decision serves my intention of [X] by…
  • Influenced by [practitioner], my production will…
What separates each mark band
1–2
Lists
A bullet list with no detail. Vague language ("modern", "interesting"). Performance space and/or style missing entirely.
3–4
Outlines
Performance space and style mentioned but underdeveloped. Some staging ideas, but disconnected from intentions or audience effect.
5–6
Describes
Detailed account of space, style and intentions. Audience effect referenced. Lacks the WHY, staging is presented but not justified through the ideas.
7–8
Explains
Every staging decision explained in terms of how it achieves a specific intention. Performance space AND style fully justified. Intended audience effect clear at every point.
Self check before you submit
Self check · Aii 0 ticked

Criterion B · Proposed Design for the Entire Play

This section asks you to present your visual production ideas for the ENTIRE play and to explain how each element will achieve the intentions you set out in Aii. The examiner is checking that you can think across the whole play, not just one striking moment, and that every design choice you make is doing real work.

Approximately 3–4 pages.

Read this before you write

What will stop you getting a 7

  1. ✕

    Only describing the chosen moment

    If you only describe the design for the moment you are using in Criterion C, you have not fulfilled this criterion. Criterion B = whole play. Criterion C = one moment. Many students unintentionally write a longer version of Cii here, examiners spot this immediately.

    Whole play test failed

  2. ✕

    Treating B as a mood board

    B is not a design catalogue. Every element must serve a specific intention from Aii. Distribute intentions across elements; do not justify every choice with the same intention.

    Likely 2

B

Proposed Design

“To what extent does the student present their visual production design ideas with an explanation of how these will be used to achieve their intentions in the staging of the entire play?”

→ What does the WHOLE play look and sound like, and how does every design choice achieve a specific intention from Aii?

What it is · what it is not
✓ It is
  • Visual logic for the whole play (recurring motifs)
  • Set, lighting, sound, costume, props, multimedia
  • How motifs DEVELOP across the play
  • Each element tied to a specific intention from Aii
  • Justified exclusions ("minimal props because…")
  • Numbered, labelled images referenced in the body text
✗ It is not
  • A mood board or design catalogue
  • Design only for the Cii moment
  • A static design state for the whole play
  • Generic terms ("atmospheric lighting", "moody soundscape")
  • The same intention reused to justify every choice
  • Unreferenced images that pad the page count
Framework
The Rule of 3, What / How / Why
For every design idea, run through three layers:
WHAT, the design idea itself
HOW, how it looks or sounds on stage (technical specifics)
WHY, how it impacts the audience and achieves one of your intention bullet points
Step by step
  1. Begin with your visual logic
    Before listing individual elements, give the examiner a sense of the overall visual world. What are the recurring motifs? What is the dominant aesthetic? Two or three repeated motifs that develop across the play beat ten unconnected design ideas.
  2. Set, stage architecture and multimedia
    Describe the physical structure of your stage. Moving elements, raised platforms, projection surfaces, scrims. Each major element named, briefly described and tied to an intention. Multimedia belongs here unless your style integrates it elsewhere.
  3. Lighting that develops across the play
    Specify fixtures (gobo, fresnel, LED wash, strobe, follow spot, footlights), colour, intensity. A static lighting state can rarely justify itself for a full production, show how lighting transforms to mark changes in tension, emotion, atmosphere or meaning. Try your ideas on the lighting desk on this site: switch channels on, layer directions and colours and see what the state says.
  4. Sound, the most underused area
    Underscoring, sound effects, ambient sound, silence, music, vocal manipulation. Use sound to anchor mood, mark transitions and reinforce thematic motifs. Sound that contradicts the visual is particularly powerful.
  5. Costume and makeup as developing motif
    How does costume change across the play? Identify costume motifs that develop. Self applied transformations (paint applied by the wearer) carry more weight than applied to costume changes.
  6. Props, sparingly, justified
    Justify EXCLUSIONS as well as inclusions. One prop fully justified scores higher than ten listed. The strongest responses explain why most props are absent before introducing the few that remain.
Top band exemplar
★ Handprint floor + costume motif (1984), top band
"At the beginning of the play, the hand will be made up of spirals that include multi coloured words to exemplify how language and self expression, like biometrics, make us unique as individuals. However, over the course of the play, in moments of control exercised by BB, these words are gradually replaced by 'CANCELLED' projections. And at the very end of the play, the stamps that once dominated it will disappear, making it a hollow white outline. Through the course of the play, the costumes will become more covered in red handprints, mirroring the reddening of the hand. The fact that actors put the paint on themselves and remove their own accessories symbolises how censorship is self imposed in the modern context."
WHY THIS WORKS
  • Names the motif (handprint floor + red paint costume) and tracks it across the WHOLE play
  • Three stages: vibrant words → CANCELLED stamps → hollow outline
  • Each transformation tied to the intention (individuality → control → erasure)
  • Self application of paint = costume becomes staging, carries meaning rather than just identifying characters
  • Costume and set motif are interconnected ("mirroring the reddening of the hand")
  • Explain level: every detail has a WHY built into the sentence
Useful sentence starters
  • To achieve my intention of [X], the [element] will…
  • The [element] will be [description], chosen because…
  • At the start of the play, [element] will appear as [X]; by the climax, it will have transformed into [Y], reflecting…
  • These elements work together to create a coherent visual world by…
  • I have deliberately kept [element] minimal so that…
  • The intended effect on the audience is… / This will make the audience…
  • This continues the motif of [X] established earlier in…
  • Drawing on the work of [practitioner], I will…
What separates each mark band
1
Lists
Lists design ideas; limited; irrelevant; simplistic; superficial.
2
Outlines
Outlines how production elements will be used to achieve intentions. Underdeveloped, uneven.
3
Describes
Describes how elements will be used to achieve intentions. Focused, relevant, accurate.
4
Explains
Explains how each element achieves intentions across the WHOLE play. Excellent, discerning, insightful, thorough.
Self check before you submit
Self check · B 0 ticked

Criterion Ci · Performance Elements in One Specific Moment

Choose ONE specific moment from the play and explain how you will use PERFORMANCE elements (body, voice, gesture, posture, movement, blocking, manipulation of objects) to create Tension, Emotion, Atmosphere or Meaning (TEAM). This is not Criterion B repeated. B was the overall design of the whole play. C is the precise theatrical detail of one moment.

Approximately 1–2 pages (Cii is the same length, focused on the same moment).

Read this before you write

What will stop you getting a 7

  1. ✕

    No numbered annotation on the script

    Examiners must be able to read the script and your writing side by side and follow each staging decision in real time. The strongest Ci responses annotate the script numerically (1, 2, 3) and structure their writing around those points.

    Likely 3–4

  2. ✕

    Losing clarity between performance and production

    You can keep Ci and Cii separate if you want to, or splice them together, moving between performance and production choices as the moment unfolds. What stops you getting a 7 is the examiner not being able to tell which choices are performance (body and voice) and which are production (lighting, sound, set, projections). Keep each choice labelled and clear.

    Clarity lost

  3. ✕

    Generic acting language

    "Looks scared" or "nervous body language" is not specific enough. Top band requires muscle groups, exact positions, observable detail.

    Maximum 5–6

Ci

Performance Elements

“To what extent does the student explain how they would use performance elements to effectively create tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning ("TEAM") in one specific moment they have chosen to stage?”

→ For one tightly chosen moment, what does each actor's body and voice do, and which TEAM element does each choice create? Choose the technique, explain how it is used visually, then refer back to the impact it has in communicating your intention for that moment.

What it is · what it is not
✓ It is
  • ONE specific moment with precise page references
  • Numbered annotations on the script
  • Physically specific body, posture, face descriptions
  • Vocal specifics: volume, pitch, pace, pause, tone
  • TEAM element named for each choice
  • Ensemble movement as a deliberate physical language
✗ It is not
  • Generic acting language ("looks scared", "nervous")
  • A moment so long it cannot be analysed densely
  • Production elements (lighting, sound, set, projection)
  • Lists of performance choices without TEAM
  • Only addressing the protagonist (ignoring ensemble)
  • Repeating what the script already says
Framework
The TEAM Acronym
You do NOT need to address all four in every choice. You DO need to make TEAM creation explicit in your writing, examiners must see WHICH element each choice creates:
TENSION
audience or character feels tense
EMOTION
character or audience emotion
ATMOSPHERE
the mood on stage and the atmosphere created for the audience
MEANING
key themes communicated
Step by step
  1. Identify and frame the moment
    State the page numbers (from X to Y), what happens, briefly why you chose it. Moment should be tight enough to merit close analysis (typically 1–3 pages of script) and rich enough for 1–2 pages of writing across Ci and Cii combined.
  2. Number your annotations
    Annotate the script with numbered cues (1), (2), (3), then organise your response around those numbers. Examiners should be able to look at script and writing side by side and follow the staging in real time. This is not optional for top band work.
  3. Body and posture
    For each numbered moment, describe what the actor's body looks like with physical specificity. Tense or relaxed? Where exactly are the hands? Angle of the head? Which muscle groups are engaged? Think like a choreographer, every body part has a deliberate position.
  4. Face
    Eyes (widened, narrowed, closed), eyebrows (raised, furrowed), mouth (open, clenched, trembling), jaw (tense, slack). The face carries enormous dramatic information, do not waste it on a generic "distressed expression".
  5. Voice
    Volume, pitch, pace, pause, tone, articulation. Do not say "loud", specify the QUALITY of the loudness. Sharp? Booming? Hoarse? Punctuated? Sustained? Vocal contrasts within a moment are particularly powerful.
  6. Movement, blocking and physical levels
    Where do performers go? Geometry of the space? Object manipulation? Physical levels, stood on a box vs. seated on the floor, carry meaning around power and status.
  7. Ensemble choreography (where relevant)
    Stylised, robotic, fluid, fragmented? Synchronised or staggered? Formation? Ensemble movement often carries the strongest thematic load.
Top band exemplar
★ Winston in 1984, top band
"Winston will grab onto the arms of the chair, push his legs straight out and tilt his head up at a forty five degree angle, all while tensing up his arms, body and leg muscles with widened eyes. This tense body language presents the main idea of control and tenses the atmosphere. The actor will present wide eyes, a trembling of the lower lip and furrowed brows to convey the depth of Winston's confusion and fear. O'Brien will project this line at a high volume, punctuated by sharp, staccato outbursts. The actor will then start talking with a much lower volume and friendlier, high tone and pitch. The sudden shift from relentless torture to calm could evoke emotions like a flicker of hope, only serving to heighten the subsequent tension."
WHY THIS WORKS
  • Physical specificity at examiner level: hands on chair arms, legs straight, head at exactly 45 degrees, muscles tensed
  • Three precise facial choices (wide eyes, trembling lower lip, furrowed brows), each observable, each part of a coherent emotional picture
  • Two contrasting vocal states for the same character within a single moment
  • Volume, pitch and rhythm specified for each vocal decision
  • The CONTRAST itself is the dramatic engine, student explains how the SHIFT creates emotion (flicker of hope)
  • TEAM element named for each choice (atmosphere of control, tension, emotion)
  • This is director level direction, fully explained, not just described
Useful sentence starters
  • At point (n) on the script, the actor will…
  • The actor's body will [specific position], with [muscle group] [tense/relaxed]…
  • The actor will present [facial detail], conveying…
  • The line will be delivered at [volume], with [pitch/pace/tone]…
  • [Performer] will [move/be positioned] at [level], creating…
  • This creates [tension/emotion/atmosphere/meaning] by…
  • The intended effect on the audience is… / This will provoke…
  • The ensemble will [movement vocabulary], symbolising…
What separates each mark band
1–2
Lists
Performance elements named without explanation. No connection to TEAM. Generic descriptions of acting.
3–4
Outlines
Some performance choices made and linked briefly to TEAM. Physical specificity weak. Audience effect implied rather than stated.
5–6
Describes
Detailed physical and vocal decisions. Most choices linked to TEAM. Audience effect referenced. "Effective" not yet earned.
7–8
Explains
Each choice explained in physical detail. TEAM creation is precise, not implied. Audience effect explicit. The word "effectively" is justified by the specificity.
Self check before you submit
Self check · Ci 0 ticked

Criterion Cii · Production Elements in One Specific Moment

Take the SAME specific moment you used in Ci and explain how you will use PRODUCTION elements (set, props, costume, makeup, lighting, sound, multimedia) to create TEAM. This is not Criterion B repeated. B addressed the design of the WHOLE play. Cii addresses the precise design choices for ONE moment, often with greater depth than B allowed.

Approximately 1–2 pages, the same length as Ci.

Read this before you write

What will stop you getting a 7

  1. ✕

    Different numbering from Ci

    Cii must use the SAME numbered cues as Ci. Examiners should read your Ci and Cii together as a complete moment by moment direction.

    Coherence broken

  2. ✕

    Avoiding overlap with B

    Double dipping is ALLOWED and expected. If a production element appeared in B, revisit it here with greater depth. B sets whole play context; Cii drills into how the element functions in this moment.

    Likely 3–4

  3. ✕

    Treating production elements as a separate layer

    The strongest Cii responses show how production AMPLIFIES performance, how lighting intensifies a vocal decision, how sound punctuates blocking. The moment is a coherent whole.

    Likely 5–6

Cii

Production Elements

“To what extent does the student explain how they would use production elements to effectively create tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning ("TEAM") in one specific moment they have chosen to stage?”

→ For the SAME moment as Ci, what does each design element (lighting, sound, set, costume, props, multimedia) do, and how does it amplify the performance? You can keep Cii separate from Ci if you want to, or splice them together, weaving production choices between performance choices.

What it is · what it is not
✓ It is
  • Same numbered cues as Ci
  • Lighting fixtures, colours, intensity, angle
  • Sound effects, texture, ambient layers, silence
  • Set and multimedia functioning within the moment
  • Costume / makeup / prop transformations in the moment
  • Synthesis with performance choices from Ci
✗ It is not
  • A static design state for the whole moment
  • Repeating Criterion B verbatim
  • Generic terms ("atmospheric", "moody", "intense")
  • Production addressed in isolation from performance
  • Skipping the audience effect
  • Treating Cii as shorter or less important than Ci
Framework
Double Dipping Is Allowed
If a production element appeared in Criterion B, revisit it here with greater depth and specificity. The IB explicitly permits this. B sets the whole play context; Cii drills into how that element functions in this moment. Examiners EXPECT this overlap, do not avoid it.
Step by step
  1. Restate the moment and numbered cues
    Open by referencing the same moment as Ci. A single sentence of context is enough. Then run through the SAME numbered cues, addressing production at each point.
  2. Lighting in the moment
    Specify fixtures, colour, intensity, angle. How does it shift in real time? Lighting can transform a moment more drastically than any other production element.
  3. Sound in the moment
    Sound effects, underscoring, silence, vocal manipulation, ambient layers. Sound moves faster than any other production element, a single cue at the right moment can transform meaning. Punctuate or contradict the visual.
  4. Set, multimedia and projections
    How does the set function in this moment? Are projections live or pre recorded? Are screens revealing, concealing, magnifying? Multimedia is most powerful when it manipulates the audience's relationship with what they see on stage.
  5. Costume, makeup and props
    Within this moment, what is happening with costume / makeup / props? Is something added, removed, transformed? Stage blood, a torn garment, a dropped object, paint applied, each carries dramatic information.
  6. Synthesis with performance
    Read Ci and Cii together. If they could be written about different moments, you have not integrated them. Add a sentence at each numbered cue explaining how the production element interacts with the performance element.
Top band exemplar
★ Live feed + ensemble strobe (1984), top band
"The photograph will be a phone prop with a flashlight pointing directly down at Winston with the live feed projected onto the scrim as if his phone is recording. This will amplify his distraught facial expressions but simultaneously the tension the audience feel. The red flood lighting will be increasing in intensity and goes into the audience, creating a tense atmosphere throughout the entire venue. As the torturers move towards Winston, after each stop/start motion there will be a strobe flash effect occurring in parallel, emphasising how Winston's pain is being documented and exploited, conveying meaning as it exemplifies how cancel culture often amplifies and commodifies personal pain. With each application of paint there will be a 'whoosh' delete sound effect, reinforcing the motif of erasure. The scene will end with a final, deafening sound effect, paired with the strobe lights abruptly cutting out, leaving the audience in complete darkness."
WHY THIS WORKS
  • Lighting doing two simultaneous jobs: intensifies (tension) and spreads into audience seating (atmosphere extends into venue)
  • Each technical choice connected to thematic argument (BB's control / Winston's domination)
  • Live feed turns the actor's face into inescapable scenography, audience cannot look away
  • Strobe sync with ensemble movement = production and performance work as one unified mechanism
  • Recurring "whoosh" motif from earlier in the play pays off in the chosen moment
  • Final blackout + deafening sound withholds resolution, audience left in the same state as Winston
  • Production design as DRAMATURGY, not just technical work
Useful sentence starters
  • At point (n), the [production element] will…
  • The lighting will [colour, intensity, fixture, angle]…
  • The sound design here is [specific texture/effect], producing…
  • The projection / live feed will [action], magnifying…
  • At this point, the [costume/prop] will [action], reinforcing…
  • This creates [tension/emotion/atmosphere/meaning] by…
  • Working in tandem with the actor's [Ci choice], this production element…
  • The audience will [specific reaction], because…
What separates each mark band
1–2
Lists
Production elements named without explanation. No connection to TEAM. Generic descriptions.
3–4
Outlines
Some production choices made and linked briefly to TEAM. Specificity weak. Audience effect implied rather than stated.
5–6
Describes
Detailed design choices. Most choices linked to TEAM. Audience effect referenced. "Effective" not yet earned.
7–8
Explains
Each choice explained in technical detail. TEAM creation is precise, not implied. Audience effect explicit. Production amplifies performance to elevate the moment.
Self check before you submit
Self check · Cii 0 ticked
The exemplar library

The full exemplar

The extracts above are only the highlights. Read whole pieces start to finish and see exactly what a 7 looks like.

Full marks proposal

1984 · Icke and Macmillan

The complete 12 page proposal as submitted