Welcome to Top Class Theatre Studies, part of the VCE Season of Excellence 2020, presented by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
Top Class Theatre Studies Concerts were scheduled to be presented at Arts Centre Melbourne on 16 and 17 March, featuring the work of 25 actors/directors or designers, who received outstanding scores in the 2019 examinations. Unfortunately, due to the public health recommendations the difficult decision was made to cancel these concerts.
Nineteen performers participated in Top Class Theatre Studies Online – a series of self-taped videos of outstanding solos, along with discussion forums exploring the process with these high-achieving actors/directors and designers. Top Class Online gives current performing arts students valuable insight into what is required to achieve excellence in their study.
We thank the performers involved in Top Class Theatre Studies Online for their incredible commitment and generosity in presenting their work in this different and challenging circumstance. We also acknowledge those performers who were selected for Top Class Theatre Studies but were unable to participate in the online program. The full list of Top Class Theatre Studies performers is below.
Download the
Top Class Theatre Studies 2020 Performer List.
About VCE Theatre Studies
Students in VCE Theatre Studies select a monologue from an annual list prescribed by the VCAA. Students may choose to apply either acting and direction or two areas of design to interpret the monologue. Their interpretation is informed by dramaturgical research into a prescribed play script and its contextual background. As part of the examination, students deliver an oral interpretation statement to explain and justify decisions demonstrated in their monologue interpretation.
A summary of VCE Theatre Studies monologues represented in these solos can be found below.
Download the
VCE Theatre Studies 2019 Monologue Characters.
How to enjoy Top Class Theatre Studies Online
Top Class Theatre Studies Online has been divided into four virtual ‘concerts’, each comprising videos of four or five diverse monologue interpretations along with an audio-recorded discussion forum with performers, presented by Chief Assessor for Theatre Studies Richard Sallis.
We recommend watching all the solos in each ‘concert’ in the order listed, then listening to the conversation about the process students went through in developing their solo.
We appreciate your understanding of the context in which these resources were developed, and your forgiveness for occasions of low sound and visual quality.
If you would like to see more examples of excellent Theatre Studies design from 2019, a selection of works is on display at the
virtual Top Designs exhibition.