Grade 9 Drama: Dramatised Prose and African Storytelling

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering theatre roles, staging techniques, vocal attributes, performance requirements, African storytelling traditions, and narrative character archetypes for Grade 9 Dramatised Prose.

What are the core responsibilities of the Director in a dramatised prose performance?

Directing actors to create the best onstage movement for their characters and ensuring blocking flows smoothly once performers know their lines.

What duties must the Stage Manager fulfill during rehearsals and on performance day?

Keeping an up-to-date online attendance register, keeping the group on schedule, and alerting the teacher to consistent absenteeism; on performance day, assisting with setup, checking costume kits and colours, and confirming online task submission on Google Classroom.

What costume requirements must the Costumier enforce for the dramatised prose assessment?

Ensuring every performer wears a black shirt and pants with an easily identifiable specific colour (fabric piece or ribbon) sewn onto the top or pants, and ensuring costumes are brought to all rehearsals and the final performance.

What staging details must the Set Manager specify for the group's performance?

The exact number of levels and specific blocks used, specifying whether they are using a long black box, medium black box, small black box, or black staircase.

What must the Scriptwriter prepare when presenting their prose selection to the teacher?

The original extract with the full chapter, an edited version with clear shape (exposition, development, climax, and resolution) from a sci-fi or fantasy book, and a second option available on the same day.

What tasks must the Scriptwriter complete after the teacher approves their extract?

Ensuring each cast member has a printed copy pasted in their workbook, ensuring character assignments are notated, and keeping speech attributes notated.

What is the primary function of the Acting Coach in preparing the cast?

Helping actors learn lines, develop suitable gestures, vocal qualities, and physicalization to build believable characters, maintain character throughout, and prevent corpsing.

What are the project milestone due dates for Finding Focus, Selection, and Final Editing?

Finding Focus (group roles and rehearsal schedule) is due 23 January 2026; Selection is due 30 January 2026; Final Editing must be completed and approved by 6 February 2026.

What three types of speech must be included in an edited dramatised prose extract?

Narration, direct speech (dialogue), and indirect speech.

What mandatory requirements govern group member participation and roles during a dramatised prose performance?

All group members must have equal speaking lines, and every single member must play a character as well as act as a narrator.

What does the vocal attributes acronym $P^3 E T V$ stand for?

Pitch ($P^1$), Pause ($P^2$), Pace ($P^3$), Emphasis ($E$), Tone ($T$), and Volume ($V$).

Why are group shapes and levels utilized during a dramatised prose performance?

To provide visual variety and visually suggest character, activity, locality, and mood while telling the story.

How are the terms "dramatise" and "prose" individually defined?

"Dramatise" means to transform or create something in a format suitable to be presented on stage; "prose" is ordinary non-metrical written text or spoken language.

What is the formal definition of Dramatised Prose?

A piece of text/prose performed by a group of people using a variety of vocal and physical techniques.

According to choral verse principles, what vocal effect does dividing narration produce in dramatised prose?

Dividing narration between several speakers produces a fragmented, frenetic effect, whereas having an increasing number of voices speak together builds climaxes.

How does dramatised prose differ from a regular theatrical performance?

It incorporates choral verse techniques to build climaxes and mood; narration is acted out like stage directions; multiple actors can portray the same character for atmosphere and emphasis; and all performers must both act and narrate.

What is storytelling as defined in the lecture notes?

The social and cultural activity of sharing stories, uniquely expressed across different cultural groups to stimulate the imagination, and existing as an ancient oral tradition in Africa long before written language.

What traditional call-and-response phrase begins a Zulu storytelling performance?

The storyteller begins by saying "kwasuka sukela", and the audience responds with "cosi".

According to African tradition, why were stories told only in the evening?

Work needed to be done during the daylight hours, so grandmothers told stories in the evening using call-and-response to ensure the audience remained awake and listening.

What is a Griot in West African culture?

An oral historian who preserves and recites family histories over hundreds of years, narrates tales of war, leadership, riches, and poverty, and performs at major annual celebrations.

What are the key characteristics of an Intsomi in Xhosa culture?

Interactive storytelling used for children's spiritual and social education that features songs, rhymes, sound effects, clear moral lessons, and stock characters like the flesh-eating monster "Izim zim".

What is the role of an Imbongi in the Nguni oral tradition?

A poet and keeper of ancestral clan histories whose role is to celebrate, praise, criticise, and announce the lineage of clans, kings, families, and leaders.

What are Izinganekwane stories, and what types of characters do they typically feature?

Entertaining, animated, loosely constructed episodic tales driven by the storyteller's enthusiasm, typically featuring personified animal characters.

What observation did Walt Disney make regarding language in storytelling through animation?

"In learning the art of storytelling by animation, I have discovered that language has an anatomy."

How are fables distinguished from fairy tales?

Fables are short, moralistic stories usually featuring animal characters, whereas fairy tales are written works of fiction featuring highly improbable plots with fairies or mythical figures.

How do folktales differ from myths?

Folktales are tales or legends passed down through oral tradition amongst ordinary people, whereas myths are imagined stories about supernatural beings or events explaining how something came to exist.

What six elements make a story good according to the notes?

Plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), suspense, message (moral or lesson), characters, themes (underlying message like good vs evil), and selective detail.

What are archetypes in storytelling?

Common or typical character types with recognizable behaviors within a narrative, such as the warrior, lover, wise old man, joker, victim, bully, mentor, or leader.

What defines an antihero compared to a traditional hero?

A traditional hero (protagonist) overcomes conflict and hardship on a literal or figurative journey, whereas an antihero lacks traditional virtues like courage and confidence and does the right thing purely out of self-interest.

How are villains and superheroes categorized as character types?

A villain (antagonist) devises diabolical plans to stop the hero from achieving their journey; a superhero is a protagonist who fights crime or aids the innocent following a tragic life event, typically possessing supernatural abilities.

In the classroom analysis of The Hunger Games and Harry Potter, who were identified as the Mentors and Antiheroes?

Mentors: Haymitch (The Hunger Games) and Dumbledore (Harry Potter); Antiheroes: Gale / President Snow (The Hunger Games) and Severus Snape (Harry Potter).