This book is a superb all-in-one guide to success GCSE English Language and English Literature - GCSE English 2003

Warm-up Questions
Section Three — Drama

When writing about a play, you have to do more than just write about the story and the characters. You have to show that you've understood the main issues and the message the author is trying to present. You also have to remember that the play was written to be performed and be able to write about the effects of the dramatic methods and language used. Here are some warm-up questions to see if you have remembered all the terms used in this section. Make sure you know the answers to all these, and then you'll be able to move on and have a stab at the practice essay questions.

Warm-up Questions

1) What should you do in your essays to prove to the examiner that you know the play? Write down all the 'true' options:

a) get the facts straight about the story

b) only write about the main characters

c) quote whole scenes off by heart

d) quote relevant snippets to prove each point you make.

2) How would writing about minor characters improve your marks?

3) Write down the names of all the plays you're doing for GCSE.

For each one write down whether it's about:

a) social issues

b) moral issues

c) philosophical issues

d) some other type of issues — try and define what they are.

4) Which of these sentences would show the examiner that you're thinking about the play being performed, not just read? Explain why.

a) In this scene the language fills the audience with tension.

b) In this scene the language is very tense.

5) Write a definition for each of the following words:

a) stagecraft

b) tragedy

c) comedy

d) dialogue e) soliloquy

f) imagery

6) What kind of imagery is being used here?

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time..." (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5)

7) Why do playwrights put in stage directions?

8) In a Shakespeare play, what's the difference between poetic verse and blank verse?

9) Match the following different types of writing to the situations where they're usually used in Shakespeare plays. (There's more than one answer to some of these.)

poetic

when it's a funny bit

blank 

when a posh character's talking

prose 

at the beginning of a scene

when it's not a very important bit

at the end of a scene

most of the time