Director's Notebook (example with high marks in all but artistic influences)

https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/proof/apps/va-carousel/index.html?doc=Theatre_Example_7_e&sample-count=21

Example 7: Director’s notebook

The Pitmen Painters by Lee Hall

Assessment

Criterion		Markband achieved
A	Theatre in context: The play text, its context and the ideas presented	7–8
B	Theatre processes: Artistic responses and live theatre experiences	1–2
C	Presenting theatre: The director’s intentions and intended impact	5–6
D	Presenting theatre: The staging of two moments of the play	7–8

Examiner comments

1. The student presents their research and explains the context from which the play originated in detail. The student explains the play’s historical, cultural and contemporary significance and the importance of its geographic setting. The student also addresses the play’s theoretical context as a piece of community and political theatre. The student clearly explains the ideas presented by the playwright and demonstrates their relationship to the context.
2. Though the student has titled this section Artistic Responses and Live Theatre Experiences they begin by presenting their artistic intention which is assessed under criterion C. There is little here that can be assessed as artistic responses or creative responses prior to developing their directorial intention but there is some evidence of interpretation. The student cannot be assessed twice (under this criterion and under criterion C) for the ideas they present as part of their directorial intention and the examiner has therefore assessed most of this section under Criterion C. The student’s links to productions they have experienced as a spectator is limited. They have not addressed how directors have created moments of tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning.
3. The student explains their appropriate and feasible directorial intentions for the staging of the entire play text but this is not consistently supported by production and performance ideas. The student explains the impact they want the entire play to have on the audience both in this and in the previous section. They describe some production elements and how these would create this intended impact on the audience but more detail is needed regarding these and performance elements.

4. The student explains how they would stage two selected moments of the play and ties this to their intention and impact, and to the ideas and context of the play. The student explains how they would use performance and production elements in the two selected moments of the play to effectively create tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning for an audience. The student shows a good understanding of how tension, emotion, atmosphere and/or meaning can be created.