The Contrast Rule: Choosing a Performance from Text
For Component 2 you choose a play to perform, but the choice is not free. Learn the rules for the text and the dual-axis contrast rule that keeps it different from your set text.
Justify the choices, the way you are assessed
Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
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Choose, but not freely
In Component 2 you perform two key extracts from a play you choose. The choice is free in one sense, but it must follow strict rules. This module covers the rules for the performance text and the contrast rule that keeps it different from the set text you study.
Set text words
Four terms run through this topic. Learn them first.
Set text and chosen text
Your Component 2 play is measured against the set text you study for Component 3.
Both must differ
The contrast rule works on TWO axes at once. Your chosen performance text must be by a DIFFERENT playwright AND in a DIFFERENT genre from your set text. It must also be a professional play at least forty-five minutes long. Getting only one axis different is not enough.
Name it from the situation
- Performance from Text
- Key extract
- Set text
- Contrast rule
- The exam where you are marked on stage rather than on paper
- The scene your group rehearses for weeks before the visit
- The play with all the annotations in your revision folder
- The reason you cannot perform another play by the same writer
Contrast with what?
What must your Component 2 performance text contrast with?
- Your Component 3 set text
- Your Component 1 devised piece
- Nothing; the choice is completely free
- The play a classmate chooses
Check it against the rules
- Different playwright
- Different genre
- Full runtime
- Key extracts
- Check the title page: a different name from your set text
- A tragedy will not do if your set text is also a tragedy
- A one-act piece running half an hour is too short
- The two scenes you will actually stage and be marked on
What must differ?
Which TWO things must be DIFFERENT from your set text? Choose all that apply.
- The playwright
- The genre
- The number of extracts
- The language it is written in
Choose a text
Put the steps of choosing your Component 2 text in order.
- Know your Component 3 set text
- Pick a play with a different playwright and genre
- Check it is professional and long enough
- Choose two key extracts to perform
The Component 2 rules
In Component 2 you perform _____ key extracts from a play you choose. The play must be professional and at least _____ minutes long. It must contrast with your Component 3 _____ text by having a different _____ and a different _____.
Count the minutes
A Component 2 performance text must be at least how many minutes long in full?
Spot the differences
Tap the TWO ways your chosen play must differ from your set text.
- It must be by a different playwright.
- It must be a different genre of play.
- It must be the same play as the set text.
- It must be written in a different language.
Does it obey the rule?
For each chosen text, decide whether it obeys the contrast rule or breaks it.
- A play by a different playwright and in a different genre from the set text. Obey or break?
- A play by the same playwright as the set text. Obey or break?
- A play in the same genre as the set text. Obey or break?
Explain the rule
Explain the contrast rule for Component 2 and how to choose a suitable performance text.
- Explain what Component 2 asks you to perform
- Explain the dual-axis contrast rule against the set text
- Explain the other requirements for the chosen text