The Board of Studies requires of students within the English Advanced course when critically studying drama texts to:

…explore and evaluate a specific text and its reception in a range of contexts. It develops students’ understanding of questions of textual integrity. (Board of Studies, 1999: 42)

Not only do students need to analyse the set text but they must also examine how the text has been read, performed and valued in range of contexts that should also include the original context of production. For example a study of King Lear will not only cover the social and political context of Shakespeare’s time but also how the play would have been produced by Shakespeare and his contemporaries as well as subsequent and modern productions. Textual integ

The stage is a visual sign that communicates meaning that is culturally significant to the society that built the fixed performance space. King Lear would have been written with either or both a public open air amphitheatre such as The Globe or a private indoor theatre such as Blackfriars in mind. The structures for both these theatre spaces not only reflect the class based society that built them but also the society’s socio-economic status.

Some topics in this essay:
King Lear, Sassure Semiology, School Certificate, Tragedy Audiences, Board Studies, Roland Barthes, Lear Cordelia, Verbal Michaels, English Advanced, Richard Burbage, king lear, drama text, drama texts, dramatic meaning, aston et al, aston et, board studies, context production, textual integrity, et al, studying drama, et al 1991, studies 1999 42, social political context, original context production,