Dramatic techniques

In this section we are assessing two assessment objectives:
AO1
Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and evaluate relevant textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations; and
AO2
Explore how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes, characters and settings.

Guidelines to assessing AO2 in candidates’ responses to Drama (Higher Tier)
Assessment Objective 2 requires candidates to “explore how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes, characters and settings.”
Key terms in the question:
“With reference to the ways the named dramatist presents ...”

• –  division into acts and scenes; even though An Inspector Calls is divided into Acts, notice how there is no break in the action, scene change etc
  
• –  stage directions; use these carefully and ensure that you don't substitute these for dramatic techniques/technical language!
  
• –  use of some technical terms (e.g. exposition- revealing background information about past events through dialogue, AIC uses this technique extensively 
• denouement  the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel/
  the place in the plot at which this occurs/ the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.
•  (In An Inspector Calls, the denouement consists of Mr. Birling receiving a phone call saying that a police inspector is on his way to ask some questions. This comes as a shock to the audience as well as the characters because they had just found out that the police inspector Goole which just left was a fraud. This is considered a denouement because it occurs at the end of the story and serves to tie up any loose ends that might otherwise interfere with the audience's feeling of completion to the story.
• –  cohesive elements e.g. repetition of words or ideas, climax (at the end of acts, especially as Eric is revealed as father), anti-climax (revelation of Goole as a suspected fraud) , sequential ordering (look at how all the exposition has happened chronologically in terms of how they happened in Eva's life, with the exception of Eric's revelation as father of the child in order to heighten Mrs Birling's hypocrisy 
• –  tonal features (e.g. emphasis, exclamation);
  
• –  interaction through dialogue and movement;
  
• –  use of punctuation to indicate delivery of lines (e.g. interruption, hesitation, turn-taking, listening);  
• –  vocabulary choices;
  
• -accent
• –  staging (setting, lighting, use of props, eg furniture etc);
  
• –  costume and music effects. 
  -Sound effects
  -Entrances and exits
  -Imagery (eg. the "fire and blood and anguish" suggesting Hell, two World Wars and the uprising of the peasantry against the aristocracy, such as in the Russian Revolution