IB literature and performance first assessment 2024; English focus; SL only
School chooses at least five literary works and appropriate dramatic/non-dramatic material. Comparative essay uses two studied works; assignment examines a performed dramatic extract; transformation begins with non-dramatic literature.
Comparative essay Paper 1 30%, written assignment 30%, transformative performance and individual oral 40%. Actual live transformative performance ten minutes; oral fifteen minutes; written assignment at most 2000 words.
Literary analysis; comparative essay · Reading literature for performance possibilities
Literary analysis examines how choices create meaning; performance later translates some effects into embodied and spatial choices.
The comparative essay remains an argument about two studied literary works, not a review of your performance.
Checked example
For an original line the clock sounded louder after the door closed, analyse sound, absence and perception.
Compare a similar concern in the school's actual texts using precise evidence and a question-led thesis.
Limits and practice
The original line is practice, not one of the five studied works.
Do not treat every literary feature as a stage instruction or replace textual analysis with performance description.
What is a literary inference from the original line?
Answer: The character's perception of sound is sharpened by the new absence.
Dramatic text; written assignment · Individual performance choices and analysis
Explore voice, gesture, pace and space in relation to the dramatic text.
Analyse a specific choice, its reason and its observed effect, connecting text and practical experience.
Checked example
Rehearse two versions of an approved extract with one spatial choice changed. Record the trials with consent and evaluate how the relation between characters changes.
Use the stronger version as evidence for a focused analytical paragraph.
Limits and practice
The assignment concerns a dramatic work explored through performance, not a purely literary essay.
School supervises actual rehearsal and authorship; commentary on an imagined performance is insufficient.
What is the strongest assignment evidence?
Answer: A specific personal performance choice linked to the text and evaluated through actual rehearsal.
Transformation; individual oral · From non-dramatic literature to live theatre
Transformation creates theatre from non-dramatic literature, integrating literary understanding with performance craft.
Explain what is retained, changed or omitted and how those decisions affect meaning for an audience.
Checked example
Take an approved non-dramatic extract and map a recurring image to a repeated spatial pattern. Test whether viewers can perceive the intended relation.
After live performance, use the oral to explain your choices, evidence and limitations.
Limits and practice
A script or recording without the required live performance and oral is not equivalent.
Teacher verifies ten-minute performance and fifteen-minute oral procedures and the current text-selection rules.
What best explains a transformation choice?
Answer: A link between the source's meaning, a practical theatre choice and the resulting audience experience.