Paper 2 – Drama flashcards

Topic 2: Paper 2 – Drama

How is 0475 Paper 2 Drama set out?

1 hour 30 minutes, 50 marks, 50% of the qualification. Two questions on two set plays, 25 marks each. Closed book: extracts for passage-based questions are printed on the paper.

What is the one-of-each rule on Paper 2?

For each play you choose a passage-based (a) or an essay (b) question, but across the paper you must answer one passage-based and one essay question.

Passage-based or essay question: what does each require?

Passage-based: close reading of the printed extract's language and stagecraft. Essay: a planned argument of three or four developing points across the whole play, directed at the named character, relationship or theme.

Why does a closed-book drama paper need a quotation bank?

No texts are allowed, so quotations must come from memory. About 10–15 flexible lines per play, covering several characters and themes, will serve most essay titles.

What should a drama answer say that a novel answer would not?

How the play works on stage and on an audience: entrances and exits, stage directions, staging, what the audience sees and hears, and dramatic irony.

What is dramatic irony, and what is its effect?

The audience knows something a character does not. It creates tension or suspense and makes the character's words carry an extra, often painful, meaning.

What is a soliloquy, and why does it matter?

A speech in which a character alone on stage voices their thoughts. It reveals motives and inner conflict directly to the audience, building intimacy or complicity.

What is an aside?

A short remark to the audience (or one character) that others on stage are not meant to hear, often creating dramatic irony or comedy.

How should time be split on Paper 2?

45 minutes per question. Two balanced 25-mark answers nearly always outscore one long answer and one rushed one.