DNA: The Five-Part Exam Question, Perspective by Perspective
One question, five parts, 45 marks, three theatre-maker perspectives. You will not know the extract in advance, so learn the shape of the question instead.
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One question, five parts 🎭
Section A gives you an extract from DNA that **you will not have seen before**, and one question about it in five parts, worth 45 marks in total. You already know the plot, the characters, the themes and the original staging. This module is about the **question**, because that is the part you can prepare completely: a different exam series sets a different extract and different prompts, but the shape below does not change.
What each part wants 🗂️
The parts escalate through three theatre-maker perspectives. Knowing which hat you are wearing is half of the answer:
Match each part to what it asks for
- Parts (a)(i) and (a)(ii)
- Part (b)(i)
- Part (b)(ii)
- Part (c)
- Vocal and physical choices for playing a character
- A staging choice plus a reference to the original performance context
- Characterisation drawing on the extract AND the whole play
- A design element choice and its effect on the audience
Where does context earn marks? 🏛️
Which part of the Section A question specifically requires you to refer to the play's original performance context?
- Part (b)(i)
- Parts (a)(i) and (a)(ii)
- Part (b)(ii)
- Part (c)
Two rules that decide the top band ⚠️
Both of these are stated in the question itself, and both are routinely missed: **Part (b)(i) needs the context.** DNA was written for the National Theatre's Connections project and first performed at the Cottesloe in 2008, staged end-on with video projection and a minimal set. A staging choice that ignores all of that leaves marks on the table. **Part (b)(ii) needs the whole play.** An answer that never leaves the printed extract caps itself, however detailed it is. You have to show that you know where this moment sits in the story.
A strong (b)(ii) answer ✅
Select the TWO things a top-band answer to part (b)(ii) must contain.
- Evidence from the printed extract itself
- A reference to something elsewhere in the complete play
- A full plot summary of all four sections of the play
- Your personal opinion of whether the play is any good
Which hat are you wearing? 🎬
Marks are lost by answering as the wrong theatre maker: writing about lighting in a performer part, or about facial expression in a designer part. Keep the two toolkits separate.
Build one answer 🧱
An interactive activity.
In the exam 🧭
An interactive activity.
What is this answer missing? 🔍
A student answers part (b)(i) with a detailed, well-justified lighting choice and its effect on the audience, and nothing else. What has it cost them?
- The context reference the part requires, so the answer cannot reach the top band however good the lighting idea is
- Nothing: a strong choice with a clear effect is a full answer
- They should have written about vocal choices instead
- The answer is simply too short
The summary 📝
Section A is one question in _____ parts, worth 45 marks, on an extract you have _____ seen. Parts (a) answer as a _____. Part (b)(i) needs a staging choice plus a reference to the _____. Part (b)(ii) needs the extract AND the _____. Part (c) answers as a designer.
Answer as a director ✍️
An interactive activity.