Exam Board: Edexcel
BTEC Award level 1/2
BTEC Performing Arts is a very exciting and practical course. You will get to try out different performance styles, be creative and develop your acting or design skills so you can put on a show. You’ll learn about different roles within the theatre and how all of these work together to create performances.
What will I do?
Learn about the roles of an actor, director, choreographer, costume designer, lighting designer and more.
Develop your acting and performance skills, looking at vocal & physical skills, characterisation, and techniques to create comedic, naturalistic and physical theatre performances.
Put on a performance of a script and create your own play based on a theme. You’ll perform both to an invited audience.
Watch theatre performances and write about your experience as an audience member
Create a portfolio of how you created theatre and the skills you developed.
The great thing about this course is that there is no written exam! You are given marks on your practical work, performances and coursework (which is done in computer rooms). As well as all of this, there are opportunities to go on trips to the theatre. If you prefer the technical side of theatre, we can offer the ‘Production Skill’ route through the BTEC which means that you will learn and be assessed on your lighting designs, sound skills and other technical roles.
This is a really fantastic Drama course that we can tailor make to suit each individual class, altering the scripts, styles and focus to match the needs and interests of the students.
Assessment
Internal Assessment (work marked by the teacher and moderated by the exam board)
30% Component 1 – a coursework portfolio (written and/or spoken) about a particular show and how it was created
30% Component 2 – a scripted performance, videoed rehearsals and a written or spoken evaluation of the show
External Assessment (work marked by the exam board)
40% Component 3 – a devised performance and written evaluation of the show and the process of creating it. Students can take notes into the written part of this assessment and will know what they have to write in advance. The assessment will be split up across different days and will be in a computer room at school.
You will be awarded a level 1 or 2 Pass, Merit, Distinction or Distinction* grade. This is the same level of qualification as the GCSE’s, just a different way of assessing the work.
Where can it lead?
To the creative industries as … an actor, writer, director, musical theatre performer, content creator, costume designer, set designer, lighting designer, theatre technician, producer, dramaturg, digital editor…
Into other career paths…teacher, barrister, marketing, online advertising, human resources, charity worker, social worker, therapist…
You will develop a range of transferable skills including communication, presentation, literacy, teamwork, management, creativity, confidence, perseverance and self-discipline.