Evaluating

Real student work · grade 7 · 2026

See it in real work

This is the 2026 exemplar’s Criterion D: the evaluation of the performance and the reflection on growth as an artist. The gold notes in the margin are the examiner lens: what each move does and why it earned the marks. Read it for how it is written, not to borrow the content.

Evaluating the performance + development as an artist Task 4, Evaluating (Criterion D)

D.1Opening, intention restated

Although our performance was initially 10 minutes long, I decided to present only 5 minutes of my most powerful individual performance that contained the best display of my acting ability according to the epic theater criterion while also demonstrating our artistic intention: beauty standards negatively adjust the relationships between women and their bodies. Our performance links to the statement of inquiry, beauty and uniqueness are found in our differences, as it explored the theme of imposed societal beauty standards forcing the audience to question if women erasing the differences truly makes them beautiful.

D.2PEEL, alienation effect via multirolling (advertiser scene)

One of the key performance techniques I employed was the alienation effect via multirolling. This can be seen at 0:03. In this moment I make use of an over exaggerated physicality with outstretched arms, legs wide apart, sharp movements and the illusion of me holding some form of bottle. Additionally, the use of overdone and dramatised facial expressions highlighted by the widened eyes to convey horror regarding the princess’s skin, was an attempt to alter Snow White’s perception of herself negatively. Between my over exaggerated physicality and the Princess’s passive body language, a clear contradiction in power dynamic is shown between the power of companies, who spend millions of dollars researching ways to undermine girls’ confidences to sell them products, and the consumers also known as the girls themselves.

Another clear contradiction in body language is shown at 0:15 when I successfully convince my customer to buy my product. I multiroll from an advertiser to a de individualised figure in a neutral position eliminating the over exaggerated physicality while also removing all aspects of identity. The sharp transition of this moment is a use of the alienation effect which highlights the performative, artificial and programmed nature of companies and advertisers who exploit young girls by manufacturing an insecurity for them. By exposing the robotic, repetitive nature of advertisements, the audience is advised to contemplate how companies frame interactions between themselves and consumers as a personal exchange.

D.3PEEL, direct address in Hindi (what could be stronger)

A second performance technique I utilised to demonstrate the damaging effects of beauty standards was direct address as seen at 4:57. In this moment you can see me at the down stage center on the floor as I begin to speak in Hindi. The translation of my dialogue in the scene is “this is my tradition; this is my identity”. This is spoken in a distressed manner as a plea directly to the audience; the use of Hindi in this moment means that many of them will not understand, forcing them to disengage to think of the possible translation. Meanwhile, besides me, another actor grabs a placecard which contains a mistranslated version of my dialogue and presents it to the audience. The contradiction between my Hindi and the placecard exposes how detrimental miscommunication can be especially against individuals from marginalized communities who are often spoken over, mistreated and hidden behind harmful stereotypes.

However, I believe the direct address could have been further emphasized by me actually going up to the audience, one person at a time, and begging, in Hindi, for them to help me or at least understand me. This would have placed audience members in an extremely uncomfortable position. It requires them to recognise they too are part of the problem because they are simply sitting down and letting the other actors disrespect me, this will encourage them to further think about their own biases.

D.4PEEL, projections (production element)

A production element that I made use of was projections as seen at 1:10. Behind us actors is a large projection with a pink cake, a happy birthday title, sprinkles and colour. I chose to make this projection pink, specifically because pink is a colour that stereotypically is considered to represent femininity. It is known to represent love, affection, beauty and care but by also integrating it as a representation of lust, it frames the fetishization and objectification of femininity.

This scene specifically talks about weight insecurities which the projection aims to emphasize as seen at 2:21, when the actor faints. At this moment the projection changes with hazard tape covering it. In the center there is a pulsing danger sign that states “calories exceeded”. The alienation effect was used here as the soft, celebratory tone is immediately interrupted by a jarring warning sign. The emotional moment between the actor and the audience is interrupted as they are forced to take a step back and acknowledge the change. When we first used it in front of an audience, we observed their eyes widening and their body stiffening; later they informed us that the projection was unexpected and alarming which we counted as a success.

D.5Development, creative risk taking

A key skill I developed during the creation of my performance was creative risk taking. A fundamental part of epic theater is the exaggerated physicality but throughout rehearsals this was something my group really struggled on. Personally, I believed I was doing a reasonable job with my over the top physicality but I was informed by my classmates that was not the case; I was apparently too one dimensional. This feedback was initially discouraging, especially since every time I thought I was really putting effort into my body language, the audience clearly did not feel the same way.

After taking some time to look back on rehearsal videos I noticed that there were key moments where I seemed to slack off and almost forget about my body language because I was too focused on a separate part of the production. After experimenting with my body language, I discovered that the easiest ways to use angular movement were through my arms, upper body and neck while also keeping my legs far apart. In my next rehearsal with my group, I made a conscious effort to focus on my exaggerated physical language and really step out of my comfort zone. I got a lot more positive feedback which was motivating, however I was also informed that my audience was unable to detect any physical contrasts between myself and other characters, especially when I multirolled. Consequently, I specifically zeroed in on the slight difference in my physicality that would help audience members distinguish between the advertiser, photographer, princess or the passive member of society.

D.6Development, challenge: making the audience think

A significant challenge our group faced was finding ways to make the audience think. During our practices we often got so hung up on trying to make our body language fit the epic theater criterion while also including as many epic theater production techniques as possible that our performance got too overwhelming too quickly. According to our peers, we simply were not giving the audience enough time to really think about what we were trying to convey, meaning we did not convey our statement of inquiry successfully.

So after taking some time to deliberate as a group, we pinpointed key moments in our performance where we would slow down or add alienation. A key moment where we chose to add 3:10, after the princess states that she has flaws. We felt this moment was ideal to add a pause because it makes the audience reflect on their personal flaws while simultaneously making them question why having flaws and being different is seen as such a taboo topic that can remove beauty. Moreover, with further research, we discovered that one of the most successful forms of direct address was through facts or statistics as it reinforced the reality our performance is based on real world issues which is why we also decided to include some statistics as seen at 3:26.

Overall, using epic theater techniques to convey our statement of inquiry, I unearthed the value of theater as not just entertainment but a form of social commentary that requires content that challenges an audience member’s perception of their reality and perhaps inspires them to make a change.