AQA A Level Drama Set Text Workshop
A Servant to Two Masters
Bring Goldoni's comedy to life through practical exploration of Commedia dell'Arte characters and comic techniques.
Students experience the characters, understand the stock types, learn how to perform and explain comic devices. They consider staging choices and grasp performance conventions that underpin the text. Through practical participation they develop the analytical understanding and theatrical vocabulary needed for success at A Level.
Led by a specialist in Commedia dell'Arte who has been delivering this highly popular workshop in schools for over a decade, with proven success in raising exam grades through performance-based workshops that make the play leap from the page.
This workshop helps students:
✓ Understand and apply the conventions, practices and techniques of Commedia dell'Arte in performance
✓ Analyse how social, cultural and historical context influenced Goldoni’s dramatic intentions and dramaturgy
✓ Explore and analyse characterisation, status and comic structure within the play
✓ Evaluate the performer-audience relationship and analyse how performance choices communicate meaning
✓ Apply practical experience to written analysis in examination responses, using dramatic terminology
✓ Gain confidence discussing style, genre and theatrical convention
✓ Make stronger connections between text, performance and interpretation
“Excellent workshop, actively exciting our students who are now able to refer to stock characters with ease showing meaningful understanding of their character traits.”
Duration:
Half day / Full day
Suitable for Year 12 and Year 13 Drama students. Available in-school or online.
Online workshops can be delivered as 1 hour / 2 hours / 5 x 1 hour workshop series, tailored to your timetable. Joint school workshops are a popular, affordable option.
See prices and booking for guide costs.
Why study Goldoni practically?
Students often struggle to fully understand and analyse where the comic potential lies within Servant to Two Masters, sometimes missing the visual comedy dimension, particularly linked to the Commedia character types. This workshop bridges the gap form page to stage bringing the commedia world vividly to life.
Ideal For:
AQA A Level Drama and Theatre students
Year 12 introductory study
Year 13 revision and examination preparation
Drama study days and enrichment programmes
Why Teachers Book This Workshop
Many students find it difficult to fully appreciate the theatrical style of A Servant to Two Masters through classroom study alone.
This workshop brings the comedy to life, enabling students to experience the physicality, improvisation, character dynamics and comic energy of Commedia dell'Arte first-hand. By actively participating in the work, students gain a much clearer understanding of how comedy can be created and the performance conventions that can be employed, embedding the knowledge and the language they need to analyse in examinations.
The workshop is designed to complement classroom teaching and reinforce key specification requirements through practical exploration.
What Students Will Explore
Social, cultural and historical context of Commedia dell'Arte
How Goldoni influenced and innovated on the Commedia tradition
The origins and key conventions of Commedia dell'Arte
Stock characters, their origins, relationships, comic potential and function within the play
Physical characterisation and movement particular to each character
Key comic conventions and devices, including lazzi and other key vocabulary, learning how to apply these within scenes
Use of performance space: dynamics, stage positioning, configuration and spatial relationships on stage
Actor-audience relationship
Key sequences and scenes in a practical way, allowing the characters to leap from the page so that the comedy can be seen, heard and experienced.
Mask work (optional)
Activities are tailored to the experience level of each group and can be adapted for Year 12, Year 13 or mixed cohorts
“An absolutely fantastic way of giving students expert knowledge on Commedia dell’Arte. Cheryl is... incredibly knowledgable. We have had her visit our school three times over the past five years ... I genuinely believe that her sessions have laid strong foundations for students achieving higher marks in their exams”
Teacher Feedback
“Super! Amazing value for money! How wonderful it would be to meet in person to do this in the future! Superbly led by Cheryl who is an expert and really clearly communicates and shares both her knowledge and passion.”
“An AMAZING online workshop from Cheryl Stapleton - teaching my students about all the characters from Servant, demonstrating their voices, physicality and giving contextual details. I can 100% recommend booking her for a group Zoom session with your students”
“The practical aspects linked to the context was exactly what they need to be able to do when writing about the text. If you are doing anything Commedia related, book this workshop. It was fun, insightful and packed full of amazing ideas and context.”
Workshop Leader
These workshops are led by Cheryl Stapleton, a qualified Drama teacher, performer and theatre practitioner with over 20 years’ teaching experience and more than 13 years delivering specialist A Level workshops in schools across the UK and internationally.
She has worked with over 500 schools worldwide and delivered training for organisations including RADA, Fourth Monkey, UCL, University of Birmingham and Circomedia, and is an ISTA Global Artist specialising in Commedia dell’Arte, physical theatre and performance training.
With over 30 years’ experience in theatre practice and education, Cheryl helps students experience performance traditions in action, bridging the gap between practical exploration and the analytical demands of A Level Drama specifications.