Beyond the prescribed conventions of symbol and transformation, each VCAA prescribed structure may require or invite the application of additional conventions — drawn from the specified performance style(s) or from the student’s own dramaturgical choices. This KK addresses how to identify, select and apply these “other conventions” effectively.
Other conventions include:
- Conventions specific to the performance style required by the prescribed structure (e.g., direct address for Brechtian structures; movement scores for physical theatre structures).
- Conventions that the student chooses to apply because they serve the performance’s intended meaning (within the parameters of the prescribed structure).
- Ensemble conventions adapted for solo use (e.g., choral speaking via recorded or layered voice; montage through transformation sequences).
Step 1: Read the prescribed structure carefully.
The structure will often signal which conventions are required or strongly implied by:
- The performance style specified.
- The character description (a political figure suggests Brechtian conventions; an unreliable narrator suggests metatheatrical conventions; a traumatised figure might suggest expressionist conventions).
- The performance focus statement (a focus on fragmented memory suggests non-linear time conventions; a focus on public/private duality might suggest direct address).
Step 2: Research the relevant style’s conventions.
Match the style to its convention vocabulary. (See KK3 for a detailed reference.)
Step 3: Test the conventions against the material.
Through physical exploration, determine which conventions generate the most dramatically rich material for this specific character, focus and structure.
Not every convention of a style needs to be applied. Select the three to five conventions that:
- Are most central to the prescribed style’s identity.
- Best serve the character and the performance focus.
- Create the most theatrically potent moments in the devising process.
- Can be executed with genuine skill and intention, not just mechanically applied.
Many conventions are associated with ensemble performance but can be adapted for solo:
| Ensemble Convention | Solo Adaptation |
|---|---|
| Choral speaking | Pre-recorded voice layered over live performance; the solo performer joins a recorded version of themselves |
| Unison movement | The performer’s relationship with their own shadow or reflection; a second “self” suggested by spatial doubling |
| Direct audience address | Unchanged — the solo performer addresses the audience directly |
| Narration | The performer steps in and out of character to narrate their own story |
| Montage | Rapid transformation sequences create the collision of images that montage achieves in ensemble |
Conventions applied superficially are worse than conventions not applied at all — they draw attention to themselves without earning their place. Apply each convention with:
- Specificity: exactly when, where, and how is this convention deployed?
- Intentionality: what does this convention achieve that could not be achieved another way?
- Consistency: once a convention is established, it should be used consistently enough for the audience to read it as a language, not an accident.
- Development: the most sophisticated convention use develops across the performance — the same convention means something different the second and third time it appears.
EXAM TIP: In the written statement of intentions and in the analytical folio, identify each convention you have applied (not just the prescribed ones), explain why it was chosen (its fit with the style, the character, and the performance’s intended meaning), and evaluate its effectiveness in the finished performance. Conventions that are named, justified and evaluated demonstrate the analytical depth that VCAA rewards.
Conventions are not limitations on the performance — they are its vocabulary. Just as a poet works within formal constraints (metre, rhyme, line length) and finds that those constraints generate rather than restrict creativity, the VCE Drama student who understands conventions deeply will find them generative rather than prescriptive.
The question is not “which conventions do I have to use?” but “which conventions offer the richest creative possibilities for this character, this story, this stimulus?”
Before working with a prescribed structure, students should ensure they have a sufficient repertoire of conventions to draw on. This means:
- Being familiar with the conventions of at least three or four performance styles.
- Having explored each convention physically, not just intellectually.
- Being able to execute each convention with genuine skill and intention.
If a convention appears in the prescribed structure’s requirements but is unfamiliar, research and practice it before beginning to devise. Attempting to apply a convention you have never explored is one of the most common sources of weak performance outcomes.
Contemporary performance practice increasingly draws on conventions from non-Western theatrical traditions:
- Japanese Butoh (white body paint, extreme slowness, confrontation with death and decay).
- Indian Kathakali (codified hand gestures, elaborate facial make-up, formalised narrative).
- Chinese opera (stylised movement, percussive music, symbolically specific costume).
- First Nations ceremonial performance traditions (though these carry specific cultural protocols and must be approached with care and respect).
Where a prescribed structure’s requirements or themes connect to non-Western performance traditions, students may draw on those traditions’ conventions — with appropriate research, cultural sensitivity, and acknowledgment.
VCAA FOCUS: VCAA does not prescribe which specific conventions (beyond the prescribed ones of symbol and transformation) must be used. This means the choices are yours — and the examiner will evaluate them in terms of their fit with the prescribed structure’s requirements and their effectiveness in serving the performance’s meaning. Make deliberate choices and be prepared to justify them.
