Higher Drama Study Materials

1. Higher Drama Study Materials Fraserburgh Academy Faculty of Performing Arts

2. Approaches to Section A • You have been studying Antigone for some time and should be aiming for an understanding of the text in these areas: • Character and Plot; • Historical & Social Context; • Original Audience Vs Contemporary Audience; • Style; • Genre; • Structure; • Language; • Original Staging & Architecture; • Original Theatrical Effects. These features will inform your answering of the first part of Section A essays.

3. Secondly you are aiming to understand the text within a theatrical context. This means that you will be developing strong concepts about your own staging of Antigone especially in regards to: • Characterisation; • Motivation of character; • Relationships; • Character development; • Design; • Impact on Audience; • Themes & Issues; • Actor/audience relationship; • Theatre Space; • Venue. These features will inform your answering of the second part of Section A essays.

4. The A/B Essay • For Section A you are wise to practise structuring your paragraphs in the A/B technique: • Put simply: you raise a point of discussion which refers to the first part of the question (Part A) before going on to explain how this would affect your own direction/acting of the text. (Part B). • Say Part A of the question is about a character relationship, it may specify a relationship of conflict or trust. To approach the question you would consider several aspects of a single relationship in Antigone. That between Antigone & Creon would be ideal. A typical ‘Part A’ point could be to describe the use of language in the Agon in Episode 1. You would discuss Creon’s dismissive comments, perhaps his misogynistic ones, and maybe even the masculine language delivered by Antigone. Clearly this gives scope for direct quoting. You should ensure you quote at least once per ‘part A’ paragraph.

5. A/B Essays… Part B. • Now here is the technique: • You have successfully discussed a single aspect of a relationship, and as the question states, you’d be wise to make some comment as to why you think this is evidence for it being a ‘conflict’. Before you move on to another aspect - say, the way both characters treat a mutual relative: Ismene… - you should undertake a paragraph answering ‘Part B’ of the question. • The question will ask you take imagine you are either a director or an actor approaching the text. Clearly the above information is about more than one character so the question would most probably be aimed at getting you to explain how you would bring out the conflict in the relationship through your direction of the actors. • As our paragraph for part A was about language you would naturally explain how your actors would deliver these lines. Be specific: “when directing the Agon between Antigone and Creon in Episode one both actors would go through major changes in their deliveries. This is prompted by the changes in their language uses. At the beginning of the scene Creon is disheartened by his niece’s betrayal but is ignorant to the depth of her conviction, I would direct Creon to be dismissive in tone, and quite patronising. Compared to this his outright fury at ‘defending our city’ would seem a high contrast. To help the actor I would direct him to build his frustration throughout the early parts of the scene, and imagine himself as losing composure because of Antigone’s unexpected eloquence. To communicate his fury I would coach the actor up to a booming level of volume in rehearsal and make this outburst seem to explode by a sudden ‘spit-flying’ moment of heavy emphasis of each syllable. Antigone on the other hand would maintain her composure and communicate her surprising maturity through carefully articulated speech and a delivery which smacks of the pious suffragette. In these ways the use of voice in the agon would be important in my direction of this conflict between the characters.