The three components
Devised performance
Students create an original performance piece collaboratively, typically drawing on named theatrical practitioners (Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Berkoff, Frantic Assembly, Lecoq, etc.). The piece is performed and recorded for external assessment. A reflective written portfolio accompanies the piece — documenting the creative process, practitioner influences, group decisions, and individual contribution.
Scripted performance
Performance of extracts from published plays — chosen from a board-specified canon. Assessed via visiting examiner or recording. Students perform individual roles within ensemble pieces; examiners assess vocal technique, physicality, characterisation, and ensemble work.
Written exam
Covers two set plays studied in depth plus a critical evaluation of a live professional production the student has seen during the course. Question types include detailed analytical essays on set-play characters / themes / staging choices, and a longer analytical piece on the live production.
What tutoring focuses on
Devising support
The single hardest component for most students. Devising original work is genuinely difficult — students often default to safe, familiar premises that don't show creative risk. Strong drama tutors (often working theatre-makers themselves) help groups:
- Develop distinctive concepts that reward 90 minutes of audience attention
- Choose practitioner influences that match the concept (Brechtian alienation for political work, Stanislavskian realism for psychological drama)
- Structure rehearsal time productively
- Integrate movement, voice, design, and ensemble work coherently
Set-text analysis
The written exam rewards detailed engagement with the set plays — character analysis, thematic interpretation, staging awareness, awareness of theatrical traditions and contexts. Tutors coach explicit essay structure (thesis, textual evidence, performance- aware analysis, considered interpretation) and broaden students' contextual reading.
Practitioner-influence depth
Strong students don't just name-drop practitioners — they understand and apply specific techniques. Stanislavski's emotion memory and given circumstances, Brecht's gestus and Verfremdung, Artaud's theatre of cruelty, Berkoff's physical stylisation, Frantic Assembly's hymns. Tutors drill explicit practitioner vocabulary and application.
Live theatre evaluation
Strong evaluations engage critically with named productions — design choices, directorial decisions, performance technique, audience experience. Tutors guide students towards seeing productions worth analysing (RSC, National Theatre, regional theatres of note, touring productions) and developing the critical vocabulary to write about them.
Choosing a Theatre Studies tutor
- Confirm the board — AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas. Set plays differ; devising approaches differ in subtle ways.
- Performance background matters — actively-working theatre-makers, directors, or trained actors bring practical experience that ex-school-teachers may not.
- Strong on set texts — different boards prescribe different sets; tutors who have taught the specific texts your child is studying save weeks of ramp-up.
- For devising support, look for tutors with directing or theatre-making credits, not just performance backgrounds.