Notes · Drama and TheatreUK · A-Levels

Devising original drama

This topic explains how a group creates an original piece of theatre from a stimulus - the central task of Component 2, Creating Original Drama. It follows the devising journey from the first spark of a stimulus through research and idea generation, the practical exploration techniques that turn ideas into material, the structuring that shapes that material into a coherent piece with intention, and the rehearsal and refinement that ready it for performance. Throughout it treats devising as a disciplined, collaborative and iterative process, not a matter of inspiration alone.

5 sections~23 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 3 · Advanced 1

T·101010 / 15

Exam profile

AO1 · Create and develop ideas to communicate meaning for theatrical performanceAO2 · Apply theatrical skills to realise artistic intentions in live performanceAO4 · Analyse and evaluate the developing devised work

Operators:identifydescribeexplainapplydevelopstructure

basic level

AS-Level expects a group to devise an original piece from a stimulus and to understand the stages of the devising process and basic devising techniques.

higher level

The full A-level requires a sustained, self-aware devising process - disciplined exploration, deliberate structuring toward an intention, and iterative refinement - realised in a polished piece and documented in the Working Notebook.

Depth

Text

Contents · 5 sections

Devising original drama

What devising is#

FoundationAQA 7262 Component 2 (devising original drama)Ofqual GCE Drama and Theatre subject content

The devising process

Fig. 1Devising runs through stages from stimulus to performance, but loops back to explore and refine - an iterative, collaborative process, not a straight line.

Devising is the creation of an original piece of theatre by a group, without a pre-existing script - the company invents the material itself, usually starting from a stimulus and building the piece collaboratively through practical exploration in the rehearsal room. It is the defining activity of Component 2, Creating Original Drama, and it is a fundamentally different kind of theatre-making from interpreting a play someone else has written: here you are the playwrights as well as the performers, and every word, image, movement and moment is yours to invent, select and shape. Understanding devising as authorship - not improvisation for its own sake - is the first thing to grasp.

Because there is no script to fall back on, devising depends on a clear sense of intention and audience. From early on the group should be asking what the piece is about, what it wants to make the audience think and feel, and what its style will be; without this the exploration drifts and the finished piece lacks focus. The stimulus gives the starting point, the practitioner (studied in the next topic) gives the method and style, and the intention gives the destination. Good devising holds these three together, so that the ideas the group generates are always tested against 'does this serve what we are trying to say and do to our audience?'

Devising is collaborative and iterative, and these two qualities shape how it must be done. Collaborative means it is genuinely made by the group: ideas are pooled, tried, argued over, kept or cut, and the piece belongs to everyone - which requires listening, compromise, and a shared commitment to the intention over any one person's favourite idea. Iterative means it goes in loops rather than a straight line: the group generates material, tries it, reflects on it, and returns to refine or replace it, cycling through exploration and evaluation many times before the piece settles. Expecting this looping - and using it deliberately - is what separates disciplined devising from aimless play.

The devising process can be described as a sequence of stages - stimulus, research, idea generation, exploration, structuring, rehearsal and refinement, leading to performance and evaluation - and the rest of this topic works through them. But the stages are a map, not a rigid timetable: in practice a group moves back and forth between them, researching more when a new idea appears, restructuring when an exploration changes the meaning, refining throughout. Knowing the stages gives you a shared language and a sense of progress; using them flexibly, always in service of the intended effect on the audience, is what makes the process productive.

Worked example

Recognising devising from interpretation

Two groups are working. Group A is staging a scene from a published play in the style of a practitioner; Group B is building a fifteen-minute piece from a news photograph, inventing all the material themselves. Which is devising, and why does it matter?

Test for a script
Group A works from an existing published text; Group B has no script and invents its own material - the presence or absence of a pre-existing text is the key test.
Test for authorship
Group B are the authors of their piece, creating the content from a stimulus (the photograph), which is exactly what devising means; Group A are interpreting someone else's writing.
Name the components
Group B is doing Component 2 (Creating Original Drama, devising); Group A is doing the interpretive work of Component 3 (Making Theatre) or Component 1 set-play study.
Say why it matters
It matters because devising is assessed for creating and developing original ideas (AO1) as well as realising them, so Group B must show invention and shaping, not just performance skill.

Result: Group B is devising - authoring an original piece from a stimulus with no script - which is why its assessment rewards original creation, distinguishing it clearly from interpreting an existing text.

Typical mistakes

Treating devising as improvising scenes for fun rather than authoring a shaped piece with a clear intention for an audience.
Expecting the process to run in a straight line, instead of looping through exploration and evaluation to refine the material.

Active revision

In two sentences, define devising in your own words and name the three things that hold a devising process together (a stimulus, a practitioner's method, and a clear intention for the audience).

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Drama and Theatre (7261 / 7262) specification (AQA)

From stimulus to ideas: research and generation#

StandardAQA 7262 Component 2 (stimulus and research)Ofqual GCE Drama and Theatre subject content

Sources of stimulus

Fig. 2A devising stimulus can take many forms - each a different door into original material, to be interrogated rather than taken literally.

A stimulus is the starting point for devising - the seed the whole piece grows from. Stimuli come in many forms, and part of the skill is reading a stimulus openly and richly: it might be a visual image (a photograph, painting or sculpture), a text (a poem, a headline, a letter, a factual account), an object, a piece of music, a theme or issue (identity, migration, grief), a place, or a real event. A good group does not treat the stimulus literally or narrowly; it interrogates it - asking what it suggests, what it hides, what feelings and questions it raises, what stories or perspectives lie within or around it - so that the stimulus opens up possibilities rather than dictating a single obvious response.

Research turns a stimulus from a spark into a body of material to draw on, and it is easy to undervalue. If the stimulus is a photograph of a strike, the group researches the event, the people, the period, the arguments on all sides; if it is a theme like homelessness, it gathers facts, testimonies, statistics and stories. Research can be factual (background, context, real accounts) and it can be theatrical (how other theatre makers or the chosen practitioner have handled similar material). Good research deepens the piece, grounds it in reality, and protects it from cliché and superficiality - the difference between a devised piece that feels informed and truthful and one that feels thin.

Idea generation is the deliberate production of possibilities before any are chosen. The aim at this stage is quantity and range, not judgement: the group brainstorms and mind-maps associations from the stimulus and research, lists images, moments, characters, questions and forms the piece might take, and follows tangents without prematurely settling. Techniques like free association, listing 'what if' questions, and responding to the stimulus in different modes (a still image, a single line, a sound, a movement) all multiply the raw material. Holding off judgement here is important, because the strongest ideas are often not the first or the most obvious, and a group that fixes too early narrows its options and its potential.

Across stimulus, research and generation, the group should already be forming a sense of intention and audience without closing down too soon. As ideas accumulate, a direction usually begins to emerge - a feeling the group wants to create, a question it wants to raise, a story it is drawn to - and it is worth naming this provisionally so the exploration that follows has focus. But the balance is delicate: enough openness to discover something surprising, enough direction to avoid drift. The best early devising work generates a rich, researched pool of possibilities and begins to sense which of them speak to what the group most wants to say.

Worked example

Opening up a stimulus

Your stimulus is a single photograph of an empty chair by a window. How do you move from this image to devising material without taking it literally?

Interrogate the image
Ask questions of it: whose chair is it? Why empty - waiting, loss, departure, freedom? What was here before, what is coming? What does the window (looking out, being trapped, longing) suggest?
Research around it
Follow the strongest questions into research - for instance, if the empty chair suggests absence and loss, gather real testimonies about waiting for someone, or the ritual of keeping a place for the missing.
Generate without judging
Brainstorm moments, images and forms: a family holding a place at a table; a monologue to the empty chair; a series of people who sat there; the chair as a recurring visual motif; the window as a threshold between worlds.
Sense a direction
Notice which ideas the group is drawn to and what they share - say, a felt intention to make the audience experience absence and waiting - and name it provisionally to focus the next stage.

Result: The literal image becomes a rich field of researched possibilities and an emerging intention (absence and waiting), showing how interrogation, research and judgement-free generation open a stimulus into devising material.

Typical mistakes

Responding to a stimulus literally and narrowly, taking the first obvious idea instead of interrogating what it opens up.
Skipping research, so the piece stays thin and cliched, or judging ideas too early and narrowing the options before exploring.

Active revision

Take any image as a stimulus and spend ten minutes generating without judging: list at least fifteen associations, questions, moments or forms it suggests, and note two things you would research to deepen them.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications (Ofqual)

Exploration and devising techniques#

StandardAQA 7262 Component 2 (exploration techniques)Ofqual GCE Drama and Theatre subject content

Developing a stimulus into a scene through exploration

Fig. 3Exploration turns a stimulus into scene material through practical techniques, capture and evaluation - the working loop of devising.

Exploration is where ideas become theatre - the practical, on-your-feet stage of devising in which the group tests possibilities in the rehearsal room rather than only discussing them. Devising is a physical, experimental craft: an idea that sounds good in conversation may die on the floor, and an unpromising fragment may spark a whole scene when tried practically. The habit to build is to get material up and moving quickly - to try, watch, and respond - because theatre is made of what actually happens between bodies in space, not of plans on paper. A group that talks too much and explores too little rarely finds anything surprising.

A set of established devising techniques gives the group tools for exploration. Improvisation - both free and structured around given circumstances - generates dialogue, character and situation spontaneously. Still image (or tableau) freezes a moment into a picture the group can read and refine, and thought-tracking (speaking a character's inner thought aloud) opens up subtext. Hot-seating (questioning a performer in role) builds character depth. Physical and movement-based exploration - responding to the stimulus through the body, building sequences from gesture - is central to physically devised work. Building blocks (making short units of material that can be combined and reordered) let the group construct a piece from parts. Each technique produces a different kind of material, and skilled devisers choose the technique that suits what they are trying to discover.

Exploration must be recorded and reflected on, or its discoveries are lost. Because a devised piece is invented and not scripted, the group needs to capture what works - through notes, filming, or writing down the shape of a successful improvisation - so it can be repeated, developed and built upon; an unrepeatable good moment is not yet material. Equally, exploration should be evaluated as it goes: after trying something, the group asks what it revealed, whether it served the intention, and what to try next. This constant loop of trying and reflecting is the engine of devising, and it is exactly the process the Working Notebook is designed to document.

The chosen practitioner shapes which techniques the group reaches for, linking this stage to the next topic. A group working in a Brechtian style might explore through gestus and demonstration; a physically-led group influenced by a company such as Frantic Assembly might build material through movement and 'building block' sequences; a group working from Stanislavskian principles might improvise deeply around the given circumstances to find truthful behaviour. The techniques are not neutral - they carry a style and a set of values - so choosing exploration methods that match the intended style is part of making a coherent piece, and part of evidencing the practitioner's influence on the work.

Worked example

Choosing a technique for what you want to discover

Your group has an idea for a character haunted by a decision but does not yet know what the character feels beneath their calm surface. Which devising techniques would you use, and why?

Name what you want to find
You want the character's hidden inner life - the subtext beneath the calm surface - so you need techniques that expose inner thought and history.
Use thought-tracking
Play a calm surface scene and pause it to speak the character's private thoughts aloud, revealing the gap between what they show and what they feel - material you can build into the scene.
Use hot-seating
Question the performer in role about the decision and its aftermath, deepening the character's backstory and motivation so the haunting has specific roots.
Capture and shape
Note the strongest discoveries - a particular buried thought, a specific memory - and use them to shape a scene where the surface calm cracks, then evaluate whether it serves the piece's intention.

Result: Thought-tracking and hot-seating are chosen because they expose the subtext and backstory the group needed, showing how devisers pick techniques for what they want to discover, then capture and shape the results.

Typical mistakes

Discussing ideas endlessly instead of getting material up on its feet, where devising discoveries actually happen.
Failing to capture successful exploration, so good moments are lost and cannot be developed into repeatable material.

Active revision

Choose one devising technique (still image, improvisation, thought-tracking or a movement sequence) and use it to explore a moment from your stimulus; then write two sentences on what it revealed and what you would try next.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Drama and Theatre (7261 / 7262) specification (AQA)

Structuring and shaping the piece#

StandardAQA 7262 Component 2 (structuring devised material)Ofqual GCE Drama and Theatre subject content

Structures for a devised piece

Fig. 4Devised theatre can be structured in several ways - the order of material makes meaning, so the structure should match the intention and style.

After exploration a group has a pool of material - scenes, images, movements, moments - and structuring is the crucial work of selecting from it and ordering it into a coherent piece. This is the point where devising becomes composition. The group must be willing to cut: not everything discovered will earn its place, and material that is good in itself but does not serve the intention or fit the shape has to go. Selection is guided by the intention (does this help say what we want to say?), by variety and balance, and by the piece's overall length and pace. Ruthless, intention-led selection is one of the hardest and most important devising skills.

The order in which material is placed creates meaning, and devised theatre can be structured in many ways. A narrative (linear) structure tells a story in chronological order and builds cause and effect. An episodic or montage structure - characteristic of Brechtian and much devised theatre - assembles separate scenes or fragments that comment on a theme without a continuous story, so meaning comes from the juxtaposition of parts. Other structures include the cyclical (ending where it began), the fragmented or non-linear (jumping in time), and the thematic (organised around ideas rather than plot). Choosing a structure is an artistic decision that shapes how the audience makes sense of the piece, and it should match the intention and the practitioner's style.

Beyond overall structure, shaping uses devices that give a piece unity and impact. A motif - a recurring image, sound, movement or line - threads through the piece and builds meaning by repetition and variation. Contrast (of pace, mood, volume, stillness and movement) keeps the piece alive and points up its meanings. The piece needs an overall shape or dynamic arc - a beginning that draws the audience in, a development that builds, a climax or turning point, and an ending that lands the intention - and it needs deliberate rhythm and pace. These compositional devices are what turn an ordered sequence of good material into a piece that grips and moves an audience.

Throughout structuring, the intention is the constant test. Every decision about what to include, where to place it, and how to shape it should be measured against what the group wants the audience to think and feel. A piece can contain excellent moments and still fail if they do not add up to a coherent, purposeful whole; conversely, modest material, well-selected and shaped toward a clear intention, can make powerful theatre. The mark of a well-structured devised piece is that an audience can follow it, is moved or provoked as intended, and senses a shaping intelligence behind it - the group's collective authorship made coherent.

Worked example

Choosing and shaping a structure for an intention

Your piece wants the audience to see how one social issue affects many different people, without telling a single story. How would you structure and shape it?

Match structure to intention
Because you want breadth (many people, one issue) rather than a single story, an episodic/montage structure fits - a series of short scenes on the issue, juxtaposed to build a cumulative picture.
Select the material
Choose scenes that show genuinely different perspectives and cut those that repeat a viewpoint already covered, keeping variety of tone and situation so the montage stays alive.
Add a unifying motif
Thread a recurring image, sound or line through the scenes - a shared object or phrase - so the separate episodes feel like one piece and the theme accumulates.
Shape the arc
Order the episodes for rising impact, place the most powerful near the end, and use contrast in pace to build to a climax that lands the intended understanding, then a resonant close.

Result: An episodic structure, intention-led selection, a unifying motif and a shaped arc turn scattered scenes into a coherent montage that fulfils the intention - the composition work that structuring a devised piece requires.

Typical mistakes

Keeping every good moment regardless of whether it serves the intention, producing a shapeless, over-long piece.
Ordering material without thought, so the structure creates no meaning and the piece has no arc or climax.

Active revision

Take five pieces of material (real or imagined) from a devising project and arrange them in two different orders - one narrative, one episodic; then note how the meaning changes and which better serves your intention.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications (Ofqual)

Rehearsal, refinement and realisation#

AdvancedAQA 7262 Component 2 (rehearsal and refinement)Ofqual GCE Drama and Theatre subject content

From rehearsal to realisation

Fig. 5Rehearsal makes the piece repeatable, refinement edits it toward the intention, and realisation integrates every element into the finished performance.

Once a piece has a structure, rehearsal turns rough material into polished, repeatable performance. Rehearsing devised work is different from rehearsing a script, because the group is still refining what the piece is even as it learns to perform it: fixing the sequence and timing of scenes, honing performances and design, tightening transitions, and making the whole reliably repeatable so it can be performed for assessment. Discipline matters here - agreeing and recording decisions, running sections until they are secure, and resisting the temptation to keep changing everything - while remaining open to the improvements that rehearsal reveals. The balance between fixing the piece and continuing to improve it is the central skill of this stage.

Refinement is the deliberate improvement of the piece through feedback and editing. The group watches its own work (live or on film), invites responses, and asks hard questions: is the intention clear, does each moment earn its place, where does it drag or confuse, does the ending land? On the strength of these judgements it edits - cutting, reordering, sharpening, adding - not randomly but toward the intention. This is AO4, analysis and evaluation, working in real time on the group's own work, and it is where a competent piece becomes a strong one. The willingness to change or cut cherished material in the light of honest evaluation is what refinement demands.

Realisation is the bringing-together of all the elements into the finished performance. By now the performances, and any design elements (set, costume, lighting, sound the group can manage), the transitions and the technical running of the piece must be integrated so that the audience experiences a coherent whole. Each member realises their contribution - as performer, or in a design or directorial role - to the standard the piece needs, and the group ensures the parts combine rather than compete. Realisation is where the intention finally meets the audience, and where the practical theatrical skills the component assesses (AO2) are demonstrated.

The whole process from stimulus to finished piece is iterative and self-aware, and keeping that awareness is what the assessment ultimately rewards. A strong group does not just make a piece; it understands how and why it made the choices it did, evaluates its own effectiveness honestly, and can articulate what worked and what it would change - the reflective intelligence documented in the Working Notebook (the next topics). Devising well, therefore, is not only a matter of creativity and craft but of disciplined process and critical self-awareness: generating rich material, shaping it with intention, refining it through honest evaluation, and realising it so that it communicates powerfully to an audience.

Worked example

Refining a piece that is not landing

In a run-through, the feedback is that your devised piece is powerful in places but confusing overall and the ending falls flat. How do you refine it?

Diagnose against intention
Re-state the intention and watch the piece asking where an audience would lose the thread and why the ending does not deliver the intended feeling - locating the specific problems, not just the general one.
Clarify the through-line
If it is confusing, the structure or a motif is unclear; strengthen the connective tissue - sharpen transitions, make a unifying motif more visible, cut a scene that sends a false signal.
Rebuild the ending
If the ending falls flat, it is probably not paying off the arc; reshape it so it resolves or crystallises the intention - perhaps returning to the opening image transformed, or landing the strongest moment last.
Re-run and re-evaluate
Rehearse the edited version, watch again, and check the changes solved the problems without creating new ones - iterating until the piece is coherent and the ending lands.

Result: Honest diagnosis against the intention, targeted edits to clarity and ending, and re-evaluation turn a patchy run into a coherent piece - the intention-led refinement (AO4) that readies devised work for performance.

Typical mistakes

Never fixing the piece - changing everything up to the performance so nothing is secure or repeatable.
Refining randomly or defensively instead of editing honestly toward the intention, keeping weak material out of attachment.

Active revision

Watch a recording of a rehearsed devised piece (yours or a class piece) and write three specific edits you would make - a cut, a reorder and a sharpening - each justified by how it serves the intention.

Active recall

Recall the key points — then reveal.

Sources: AQA AS and A-level Drama and Theatre (7261 / 7262) specification (AQA)

References & sources

Sources

AQA

AQA AS and A-level Drama and Theatre (7261 / 7262) specification

Ofqual

Ofqual - GCE AS and A level qualifications

Devising original drama

5 sections~23 min reading time3 competenciesLevel Foundation 1 · Standard 3 · Advanced 1

Devising original drama

Key points

Recognising devising from interpretation

Key points

Opening up a stimulus

Key points

Choosing a technique for what you want to discover

Key points

Choosing and shaping a structure for an intention

Key points

Refining a piece that is not landing

Sources

Devising original drama

Key points

Recognising devising from interpretation

Key points

Opening up a stimulus

Key points

Choosing a technique for what you want to discover

Key points

Choosing and shaping a structure for an intention

Key points

Refining a piece that is not landing

Sources