GCSE Drama specification
GCSE Drama develops students as performers and theatre makers and as informed, critical audience members, combining practical devised and scripted performance with the study of a set play/text and the analysis and evaluation of live theatre. It builds collaboration, interpretation of texts for the stage, knowledge of theatrical styles and practitioners, and use of vocal, physical and design skills.
Assessed through a mix of non-exam assessment (NEA) practical work and a written exam, with the practical/performance work usually making up about 60% of the qualification. Across boards there are three components: (1) Devising - original devised performance plus a written portfolio/log documenting and evaluating the process (NEA, typically 30–40%); (2) Performance/Texts in practice - performance of one or more scripted extracts (NEA, typically 20–30%); and (3) a written exam (~40%, usually 1h30–1h45) covering a studied set play/text and an evaluation of a piece of live theatre the student has seen. NEA weightings vary: AQA Devising 40% + Texts in Practice 20%; Edexcel Devising 40% + Performance from Text 20%; OCR Devising 30% + Presenting and Performing Texts 30%; Eduqas/WJEC Devising 40% + Performing 20%. The written exam is 40% on every board.
High-level topics
The main areas of content and what a student is expected to know and do.
Students create and develop an original performance from a stimulus, working collaboratively and applying theatrical skills and a chosen style/practitioner influence. Assessed as the performance plus an individual written portfolio/log that documents and evaluates the devising process.
Students perform one or more extracts from a published play, interpreting the text and demonstrating vocal, physical and characterisation skills to communicate meaning to an audience. Internally assessed by the centre or by a visiting examiner depending on the board.
Detailed study of a prescribed play from the board's set list, exploring it from the perspectives of performer, designer and director, and analysing how meaning is created and communicated. Assessed in the written exam.
Students see at least one live theatre production and learn to analyse and evaluate the work of theatre makers (acting, direction, design), answering on it in the written exam. Filmed/recorded productions are generally not permitted as the basis for this section.
The acting skills (voice, movement, characterisation, use of space) and design skills (set, costume, lighting, sound) used to realise a role or production, applied across devising, performance and written analysis.
Knowledge of professional theatre-maker roles (actor, director, designer, etc.), stage configurations, genres, styles and specialist vocabulary used to discuss and create drama.
Exploration of dramatic styles and influential practitioners (e.g. naturalism/Stanislavski, epic theatre/Brecht, physical theatre) and how they shape interpretation and creation of drama.
Exam boards
The awarding bodies that offer this qualification, how their papers are structured, and what's distinctive about each - with links to the official specification.
AQA GCSE Drama
Papers & assessment
Three components. Component 1 Understanding Drama: written exam, 1h45, 80 marks, 40% - Section A multiple-choice on theatre roles/terminology, Section B questions on one set play (study from a performer/designer/director perspective), Section C analysis and evaluation of live theatre seen. Component 2 Devising: NEA, 40% - devised performance plus an individual Devising log (log 60 marks, performance 20 marks). Component 3 Texts in Practice: NEA, 20% - performance of two extracts from one play, marked by a visiting examiner.
What's distinctive
Highest written-exam-linked study of a single set play and a structured multiple-choice opener. Devising is weighted heavily (40%) with most of its marks on the written Devising log rather than the performance. Set plays are chosen by the centre from AQA's prescribed list (which includes titles such as Blood Brothers, The Crucible and Things I Know To Be True; the list was refreshed for first teaching from 2020).
Past papers & mark schemes
Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Drama
Papers & assessment
Three components. Component 1 Devising: NEA, 40% - devised piece plus a portfolio (AO1 30 marks + AO4 15 marks) and the devised performance (AO2 15 marks). Component 2 Performance from Text: NEA, 20% - performance of two key extracts from a chosen text, assessed by a visiting examiner. Component 3 Theatre Makers in Practice: written exam, 1h45, 60 marks, 40% - Section A on a studied performance text (interpreting it for performance), Section B evaluation of a live theatre production seen.
What's distinctive
Frames everything around the student as a 'theatre maker'. The exam's performance text in Section A is centre-chosen (any professionally commissioned/produced play, with popular choices including DNA, The Government Inspector, 100, Blue Stockings and 1984) rather than a short fixed list, giving wide repertoire freedom. Live theatre must be seen live (filmed versions not permitted).
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
OCR GCSE (9-1) Drama
Papers & assessment
Three components (total 200 marks). Devising Drama (J316/01 performing or J316/02 design): NEA, 60 marks, 30%. Presenting and Performing Texts (J316/03): NEA, 60 marks, 30% - performance of two extracts from a performance text. Drama: Performance and Response (J316/04): written exam, 1h30, 80 marks, 40% - Section A on a chosen performance text, Section B on live theatre seen.
What's distinctive
Splits the practical work into two equally weighted 30% NEA units, giving the highest combined practical weighting (60%) and allowing a design route for the devising unit. Its Section A performance texts are a defined OCR list (e.g. Blood Brothers, Death of a Salesman, Find Me, Gizmo, Kindertransport, Missing Dan Nolan, Misterman); OCR confirmed these texts remain unchanged.
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
WJEC Eduqas GCSE Drama (England) / WJEC GCSE Drama (Wales)
Papers & assessment
Three components. Component 1 Devising Theatre: NEA, 40% - devised performance plus a portfolio and evaluation, internally assessed and externally moderated. Component 2 Performing Theatre: NEA, 20% - performance of two extracts from a text, assessed by a visiting examiner (final realisation only). Component 3 Interpreting Theatre: written exam, 1h30, 40% - questions on a chosen set text (Section A/B) and analysis/evaluation of live theatre seen.
What's distinctive
Uses a fixed list of set texts for the written exam, refreshed for first examination in Summer 2024: Macbeth (Shakespeare), An Inspector Calls (Priestley), Find Me (Wymark), Noughts & Crosses (Blackman, adapted Mahfouz), Refugee Boy (Zephaniah), 'I Love You, Mum – I Promise I Won't Die' (Wheeller) and The IT (Franzmann). Eduqas (England) and WJEC (Wales) run parallel specifications with the same structure.
Specification
Past papers & mark schemes
All four boards share the same three-part shape - Devising (NEA), scripted Performance (NEA), and a 40% written exam covering a studied text plus live theatre evaluation - and all are untiered and linear with practical work worth roughly 60% overall. The key differences are the NEA split and the set-text approach. AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas/WJEC weight Devising at 40% and the scripted performance at 20%; OCR is the outlier, splitting its practical work into two equal 30% NEA units (Devising 30% + Presenting and Performing Texts 30%) and offering a design route. For set texts: Eduqas/WJEC and OCR use FIXED lists (Eduqas's 2024 list includes Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, Noughts & Crosses, Refugee Boy and others; OCR's list includes Blood Brothers, Death of a Salesman, Kindertransport and others), AQA uses a PRESCRIBED but broader list (Blood Brothers, The Crucible, Things I Know To Be True, etc.), while Edexcel is the most open, letting centres choose almost any professionally produced play for the exam's Section A text. AQA also uniquely opens its written paper with multiple-choice questions and puts most Devising marks on a written log; Edexcel frames the whole course around 'theatre makers'. On every board the live-theatre evaluation must be based on a genuinely live performance.
Original sources
Straight from the awarding bodies - the specifications these summaries are drawn from.
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