This Edexcel A2 Drama and Theatre Studies Study Guide is athoroughly revised new edition of A Students Guide to Drama and Theatre Studies for the Edexcel New Specification.

2nd edition - for exams from 2010 onwards.

This study guide will support you throughout your Edexcel A2 Drama and Theatre Studies course. The authors take you through the various elements of the course and explain the precise requirements of each unit, making sure you understand how to approach them and what the examiners are looking for in each case.

A chapter on Unit 3

Exploration of Dramatic Performance focuses on how to develop an original piece of theatre from your initial ideas through rehearsal to the final performance, whether you choose to perform, design or direct
Tips and suggestions for practical exercises to help you generate and develop your initial ideas
Approach model to devising from a published text, Animal Farm, and to devising from a variety of different themes, and provides guidance on completing your supporting written evidence document

The chapters of the book devoted to Unit 4

Theatre Text in Context cover the requirements of the examination in detail. The three set texts for Sections A and B of the unit Aristophanes Lysistrata, Marlowe Dr Faustus, and Buchner Woyzeck offer plot summaries, author biographies, contextual overview, a section-by-section breakdown of the texts with suggestions for practical work based on the plays, as well as guidance on how to succeed in the written examination, illustrated through annotated sample student responses.

Section C of Unit 4

Comment on the original performance conditions of a play from a designated period:

- Surveys the key playwrights from periods in theatre history and the most important modern productions of their plays.
- Provides a comprehensive list of annotated theatre reviews to guide your own writing.
- The chapter also offers handy tips on how to assemble supportive research notes in response to a piece of live theatre.

Alongside practical exercises, the guide contains a wealth of suggestions for further reading and individual research, providing you with comprehensive support across the theoretical and practical demands of the course.