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Year 8 · English · Modern drama · Lesson 3

Dramatic devices

Dramatic devices in modern drama: dramatic irony, asides, monologues and soliloquies, cliffhangers and staging, using an original scene.

Whiteboard video lesson: Dramatic devices

20-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Define dramatic irony
  • Identify asides, monologues and soliloquies
  • Explain how devices create comedy and sympathy
  • Use lighting and sound for effect
  • Write an aside and a soliloquy

The method

  1. Name the device.
  2. Quote the line or direction.
  3. Say what the audience knows or feels.
  4. Explain the effect.

Key words: dramatic irony, aside, monologue, soliloquy, tension, cliffhanger, blackout.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Is dramatic irony when a character knows more, or the audience?

  1. Step 1: The audience knows more

Answer: The audience

Question 2

Why does the audience know about the party?

  1. Step 1: We saw Nia and Dev hide the cake earlier

Answer: We watched them hide the cake earlier

Question 3

What does Dev's ‘A long one?’ show?

  1. Step 1: He's desperate to get Mo away
  2. Step 2: Comedy: obvious to us, not to Mo

Answer: He's desperately stalling Mo, which is funny