Working Notebook

A student writes: 'This week we worked on the opening. We tried starting with a monologue but decided to start with the movement sequence instead.' How should this be rewritten for the Working Notebook?

1. 01Identify what is missing

   The entry narrates a decision but gives no reasoning, no intention and no evaluation - it is a diary line, so it earns few marks as it stands.

2. 02Add the intention

   State what the opening needed to do: we wanted to grip the audience immediately and establish the physical style, so the opening had to signal both tension and our movement-led approach.

3. 03Analyse the options tried

   Explain why each option was tested and what it revealed: the monologue gave information but slowed the start and felt naturalistic, against our style; the movement sequence created immediate tension and announced the physical language of the piece.

4. 04Evaluate the choice

   Judge the decision by its effect: starting with movement was more effective because it hooked the audience and set up the style, though we noted it risked confusing them about the situation, which we addressed later - an honest evaluation.

Result: The diary line becomes an analytical, evaluative notebook entry - intention, reasoning and judgement of effect - demonstrating exactly the kind of writing the notebook rewards.

Your group used Boal's forum-theatre ideas while devising a piece about workplace bullying. How should the notebook document this, rather than just naming Boal?

1. 01Explain the method briefly

   State accurately what you used: Boal's forum theatre presents an unresolved problem and invites the audience (spect-actors) to intervene and try solutions, aiming to rehearse change - a participatory, political method.

2. 02Show why it suited the piece

   Explain the fit: because the piece was about a social problem you wanted the audience to engage with actively, Boal's participatory approach matched the intention of provoking thought and agency.

3. 03Show how it shaped decisions

   Give specific applications: you structured a key scene to stop at the moment of injustice and invite intervention, and used image theatre in rehearsal to explore the power dynamics before scripting them.

4. 04Evaluate the effect

   Judge how well it worked: the forum structure made the audience complicit and thoughtful, though you note that managing intervention live was risky, and reflect on how you prepared for it - honest analysis, not a claim.

Result: The notebook documents Boal by explaining the method, its fit, its specific application and its evaluated effect - the analytical treatment that turns naming a practitioner into evidence of genuine, understood influence.

Halfway through, your group abandoned a whole sub-plot. How do you record this in the notebook so it earns marks rather than looking like failure?

1. 01State the original intention

   Record why the sub-plot existed: it was meant to add a second perspective on the theme, giving the piece breadth.

2. 02Analyse what exploration revealed

   Explain what testing it showed: in run-throughs the sub-plot diluted the focus and slowed the pace, and the audience feedback lost the main thread - a specific, evidenced problem.

3. 03Justify the decision

   Give the reasoning for cutting it: sacrificing breadth for focus better served the intention of a tight, intense piece, so removing the sub-plot strengthened the whole even though it lost material.

4. 04Evaluate the outcome

   Judge the result honestly: the cut sharpened the piece and clarified the theme, and reflect on what the episode taught you about serving the intention over attachment to material - turning a 'failure' into analysis.

Result: The abandoned sub-plot becomes strong notebook material - intention, evidenced problem, justified decision and honest evaluation - showing that recording dead ends analytically is exactly what earns marks.

In your devised piece you chose to play a grieving character with almost no movement and a flat voice. Write an evaluation of this choice for the notebook.

1. 01State the intention

   Explain the aim: the stillness and flat voice were meant to convey the numbness of grief and to contrast with the more physical scenes around it, making the audience feel the character's emptiness.

2. 02Analyse how it worked

   Explain the mechanism: the restraint drew the audience in and made small movements read as significant, and the contrast with the surrounding physicality heightened the sense of a person shut down by loss.

3. 03Evaluate the effect with evidence

   Judge the effectiveness: in performance the stillness held the audience in early scenes, but feedback suggested the flat voice became monotonous over a long scene and lost some engagement - a mixed result, honestly reported.

4. 04Say what you would change

   Propose an improvement: I would keep the physical stillness but introduce more vocal variation - moments where the flatness cracks - to sustain engagement while preserving the numbness, showing reflective learning.

Result: The performance choice is genuinely evaluated - intention, mechanism, honest judgement with evidence, and an improvement - the self-aware, critical reflection (AO4) that reaches the top of the notebook's marks.

A notebook page reads: 'We wanted the piece to be powerful. We used lots of Brechtian techniques. Everyone worked well together and the performance went well.' How do you raise it toward the criteria?

1. 01Diagnose against the criteria

   The page is vague, descriptive, undifferentiated and unevaluated - 'powerful', 'lots of techniques', 'went well' name nothing specific and analyse nothing, so it sits at the bottom of the range.

2. 02Make it specific

   Replace generalities with concrete detail: name the intended effect (to make the audience judge a specific injustice), the exact Brechtian technique used (a particular gestus, a specific direct-address moment), and the actual audience response.

3. 03Add analysis and evaluation

   Explain how the chosen technique created the intended effect and judge how well it worked, with evidence - including anything that fell short and why.

4. 04Show the individual

   Distinguish your own contribution: what you specifically proposed or performed, how effective it was, and how it fit the group's work - so the assessor can credit you.

Result: The vague page becomes specific, analytical, evaluative and individual - exactly the transformation the assessment criteria reward, showing how conscious writing toward the criteria lifts a notebook's marks.