GRADE 12 IEB DRAMATIC ARTS · PRELIM 2026
The Complete
Study Guide
Postmodernism · Angels in America · Sophiatown · Born Naked ·
Essay Skills
01 Postmodernism — the theory & conventions
02 Angels in America (Millennium Approaches)
03 Sophiatown
04 Born Naked
05 How to Write the Essay (SAGs 2026)
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
, SECTION 01 · THE THEORY
Postmodernism
"There is no such thing as a grand narrative or universal
truth."
Origins · Core Premise · Conventions · Key Terms · Practitioners & Space
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
,Postmodernism — The Theory the lens for every play in this guide
The Core Premise
There is no such thing as a grand narrative or universal truth. Postmodernism deconstructs the
idea of universal truth, replacing it with multiple perspectives told through multiple narratives. It
takes reality apart and puts it back together in a different form — presented playfully and
irreverently, celebrating chaos and multiplicity. Postmodernism deconstructs established norms,
takes fragmented pieces and presents them to be viewed from a new perspective — therefore:
no universal, absolute truths.
Origins Truth & meaning
• Emerged in the 1970s–80s Western world • Truth is unverifiable and fallible — truth
from postmodern philosophy (Europe, mid and meaning are relative to different
20th century). understandings and interpretations.
• Developed in part through Samuel Beckett • The world is encountered in fragments;
(Absurdism) and Eugene O'Neill's nihilistic every person has a unique experience of it.
modernist stage dramas. • No answers are given — many questions
• A reaction against modernist theatre — are raised instead.
realism, naturalism, and the 20th century • Meaning is left to the audience; direct
"isms" — and its search for singular, communication with the audience.
rational, universal meaning.
• Attacks and deconstructs the core ideas
presented by modernist theatre.
What does postmodern performance look like?
Pastiche of different sources · simultaneous use of art/media forms · non-linear storytelling
conventions · abandonment of replicating reality · theatrical improvisation over a script · meaning
left to the audience · direct communication with the audience.
What's a "grand narrative"? A dominant, all-encompassing belief system a society treats as absolute
truth — the American Dream, the nuclear family, capitalism, fixed gender roles. Modernist movements
(1900s–1950s) each believed their "-ism" held THE truth. Earlier movements like Dada and Surrealism
began detaching grand narratives — laying the groundwork for postmodernism.
EXAM TIP
Pastiche = combining multiple genres/styles and pasting them together to create new, unique narratives
that comment on postmodern society. Intertextuality = borrowing ideas/concepts from other texts —
"nothing is new."
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
, Conventions & Characteristics your PoMo checklist
PRAMP DDISO
Parody · Rejects grand narrative · Anti-genre · Metatheatre · Pastiche · Death of the author · Defies
high/low art · Intertextual · Self-referential · Open to interpretation
Self-referential Intertextual Category-defying
The play is about itself and Art that is about, or makes Blends elements (tragedy, comedy)
acknowledges it's a play — not a reference to, some other work. to defy expectations and explore
window to a reality beyond itself. Shapes meaning through other complex themes.
texts.
Pastiche Defies "high" and "low" art Rejects the grand narrative
Mixing different styles and genres Art is art: art is subjective. Blurs the No single/fixed meaning; no
into one work — a "supermarket of boundary between elite and universal or overarching truths —
styles". popular culture. only mini-narratives.
Death of the author Metatheatre Parody
The audience gives meaning to the Theatre aware of being theatre; a Work made to mock an original
play — the author holds no single tone of irreverence breaking the work — makes a mockery of it.
absolute truth. high/low boundary.
Anti-genre Non-linear narrative Dissolution of the individual
No fixed conventions; breaks down Discontinued structure; Identity is weakened — characters
old structures; recognises the fragmentation; the audience have uncertain, fluid, or multiple
fragmentation of reality and constructs a whole from fragments. identities.
reflects it.
Rhizome Gestalt Playfulness & juxtaposition
Non-hierarchical network of ideas A unique spectacle with no intent of Irreverent tone; deconstruction
with no single root — multiple methodically repeating the same presented playfully; celebrates
perspectives, no one "trunk" of performance each time. chaos.
meaning.
APPLYING POMO IN THE EXAM
Don't just define the term — always link it to a specific technique in the play (fragmented scenes, multi-
roling, direct address, mixing of genres) and explain why it rejects a single "truth" or grand narrative.
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
The Complete
Study Guide
Postmodernism · Angels in America · Sophiatown · Born Naked ·
Essay Skills
01 Postmodernism — the theory & conventions
02 Angels in America (Millennium Approaches)
03 Sophiatown
04 Born Naked
05 How to Write the Essay (SAGs 2026)
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
, SECTION 01 · THE THEORY
Postmodernism
"There is no such thing as a grand narrative or universal
truth."
Origins · Core Premise · Conventions · Key Terms · Practitioners & Space
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
,Postmodernism — The Theory the lens for every play in this guide
The Core Premise
There is no such thing as a grand narrative or universal truth. Postmodernism deconstructs the
idea of universal truth, replacing it with multiple perspectives told through multiple narratives. It
takes reality apart and puts it back together in a different form — presented playfully and
irreverently, celebrating chaos and multiplicity. Postmodernism deconstructs established norms,
takes fragmented pieces and presents them to be viewed from a new perspective — therefore:
no universal, absolute truths.
Origins Truth & meaning
• Emerged in the 1970s–80s Western world • Truth is unverifiable and fallible — truth
from postmodern philosophy (Europe, mid and meaning are relative to different
20th century). understandings and interpretations.
• Developed in part through Samuel Beckett • The world is encountered in fragments;
(Absurdism) and Eugene O'Neill's nihilistic every person has a unique experience of it.
modernist stage dramas. • No answers are given — many questions
• A reaction against modernist theatre — are raised instead.
realism, naturalism, and the 20th century • Meaning is left to the audience; direct
"isms" — and its search for singular, communication with the audience.
rational, universal meaning.
• Attacks and deconstructs the core ideas
presented by modernist theatre.
What does postmodern performance look like?
Pastiche of different sources · simultaneous use of art/media forms · non-linear storytelling
conventions · abandonment of replicating reality · theatrical improvisation over a script · meaning
left to the audience · direct communication with the audience.
What's a "grand narrative"? A dominant, all-encompassing belief system a society treats as absolute
truth — the American Dream, the nuclear family, capitalism, fixed gender roles. Modernist movements
(1900s–1950s) each believed their "-ism" held THE truth. Earlier movements like Dada and Surrealism
began detaching grand narratives — laying the groundwork for postmodernism.
EXAM TIP
Pastiche = combining multiple genres/styles and pasting them together to create new, unique narratives
that comment on postmodern society. Intertextuality = borrowing ideas/concepts from other texts —
"nothing is new."
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
, Conventions & Characteristics your PoMo checklist
PRAMP DDISO
Parody · Rejects grand narrative · Anti-genre · Metatheatre · Pastiche · Death of the author · Defies
high/low art · Intertextual · Self-referential · Open to interpretation
Self-referential Intertextual Category-defying
The play is about itself and Art that is about, or makes Blends elements (tragedy, comedy)
acknowledges it's a play — not a reference to, some other work. to defy expectations and explore
window to a reality beyond itself. Shapes meaning through other complex themes.
texts.
Pastiche Defies "high" and "low" art Rejects the grand narrative
Mixing different styles and genres Art is art: art is subjective. Blurs the No single/fixed meaning; no
into one work — a "supermarket of boundary between elite and universal or overarching truths —
styles". popular culture. only mini-narratives.
Death of the author Metatheatre Parody
The audience gives meaning to the Theatre aware of being theatre; a Work made to mock an original
play — the author holds no single tone of irreverence breaking the work — makes a mockery of it.
absolute truth. high/low boundary.
Anti-genre Non-linear narrative Dissolution of the individual
No fixed conventions; breaks down Discontinued structure; Identity is weakened — characters
old structures; recognises the fragmentation; the audience have uncertain, fluid, or multiple
fragmentation of reality and constructs a whole from fragments. identities.
reflects it.
Rhizome Gestalt Playfulness & juxtaposition
Non-hierarchical network of ideas A unique spectacle with no intent of Irreverent tone; deconstruction
with no single root — multiple methodically repeating the same presented playfully; celebrates
perspectives, no one "trunk" of performance each time. chaos.
meaning.
APPLYING POMO IN THE EXAM
Don't just define the term — always link it to a specific technique in the play (fragmented scenes, multi-
roling, direct address, mixing of genres) and explain why it rejects a single "truth" or grand narrative.
Dramatic Arts Prelim Study Guide 2026
