Paper 2A: Drama

Worked examples (6)

• 1Analysing a STAGE DIRECTION for meaning (primary evidence, not decoration)
• 2Analysing DIALOGUE: who controls the exchange (register, length, interruption, stichomythia)
• 3Analysing a SOLILOQUY or ASIDE (interior life leaking out; audience complicity)
• 4Analysing DRAMATIC IRONY for audience effect (the audience knows what characters don't)
• 5Analysing SILENCE and SPATIAL STAGING (the pause and the stage picture as method)
• 6Reading the PERFORMANCE MOMENT (what the audience SEES, not just reads)

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style

Worked examples (6)

• 1Analyse how ONE line constructs character (method → trait → effect)
• 2Trace a character's DEVELOPMENT across the play (the arc)
• 3Analyse a STAGED conflict (power and opposition, not 'an argument')
• 4Trace a THEME across the whole text (introduced → complicated → judged)
• 5Show character, conflict and theme INTERLOCKING in one scene (Stretch)
• 6Build an interpretive ARGUMENT about a theme (and complicate it) (Stretch)

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama) style

Worked examples (6)

• 1Build a themed quotation bank (the closed-book currency of AO2)
• 2Map characters, relationships and conflicts (and how they CHANGE)
• 3Track dramatic structure and turning points
• 4Identify and INTEGRATE illuminating context (AO1, not decoration)
• 5Prepare FLEXIBLE material that adapts to any question
• 6Memorise and deploy quotation from memory ACCURATELY

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A style (preparation artefact)
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A Drama style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A style (preparation artefact)
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A Drama style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A Drama style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A Drama style

Worked examples (6)

• 1Decode an OPEN (a) question into a thesis
• 2Plan a whole-text OPEN essay (range as argument, not coverage)
• 3Decode a PASSAGE (b) question (spot the outward-link demand)
• 4The PASSAGE-essay method (close analysis → relate outward)
• 5Relate an extract OUTWARD without losing close focus
• 6Choose strategically between (a) open and (b) passage

Model answers (6)

• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, passage-based) style — single-paragraph exemplar
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, open) style — thesis + single-paragraph exemplar
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, passage-based) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, open) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, open) style
• ✓Model answer — Cambridge 8695 Paper 2 Section A (Drama, passage-based) style — modern set text (bracketed description)