How to write the IB Theatre Director's Notebook

The Director's Notebook asks you to imagine yourself as the director of a play you have never seen on stage. You read a published text, decide what you want a production of it to do to an audience, and then prove your thinking by staging particular moments in concrete detail. Most students lose marks not because they lack ideas, but because they describe a production without a unifying concept, or make staging choices without ever justifying why. This guide walks you through what the notebook is, what it rewards, exactly how to develop each part, and what separates a top-band notebook from an average one.

The Director's Notebook at a glance

The task explores a published play you have not seen or staged. You research its context, develop a directorial concept with an intended impact on an audience, and show how key moments would be realised through space, set, light, sound, costume and performance. The notebook is a working document: sketches, ground plans and annotated images carry as much of your thinking as the prose, and the strongest notebooks make their concept visible on every page.

What the Director's Notebook rewards

The notebook is judged on how well it does four connected things. Develop it with each in mind and check what each one is really asking for:

How to write the Director's Notebook, step by step

1. Choose a published play you've not staged. Pick a text you have never seen in production, so your response is genuinely your own.
2. Research its context and a theatre tradition. Read about the playwright, the play's world, and a tradition or theorist that can shape your direction.
3. Develop a directorial concept and intended audience impact. Decide on a single guiding idea and the effect you want the production to have on its audience.
4. Select key moments. Choose moments that let you put the concept to work and demonstrate your intentions.
5. Design specific, justified staging for each. Work out space, set, light, sound, costume and performance for each moment, and justify how each choice serves the concept.
6. Present the notebook with images and diagrams. Communicate your staging with sketches, ground plans and annotated images in a clear, well-organised notebook.

Director's Notebook structure: what goes in each part

There is no single mandated layout, but the clearest structure that serves all four expectations is:

• The play & why you chose it — the published, unstaged text and your reasons.
• Context & research — the playwright, the play's world, and a theatre tradition.
• Directorial concept — your guiding idea and the intended impact on the audience.
• Theory underpinning — the theorist or tradition that grounds your approach.
• Key moment 1 — staging choices with space, design and performance, justified.
• Key moment 2 — a contrasting moment that extends the concept.
• Visuals — ground plans, sketches and annotated images throughout.
• References — a consistent citation style for the text and your sources.

What a strong vs weak notebook looks like

The fastest way to lift your marks is to see the difference. Here is the same work done two ways.

The play choice

The directorial concept

Staging a key moment

Common mistakes that cost marks

• A play you've already staged. The notebook must be a fresh response to an unstaged text.
• No contextual research. Without the playwright and a tradition, your choices have nothing to stand on.
• No overarching concept. Staging choices that don't share a guiding idea never cohere.
• Vague staging. "Dramatic lighting" with no justification stays in the lower band.
• No intended audience impact. A concept that never says what the audience should feel is incomplete.
• No theory. Choices ungrounded in any theorist or tradition look arbitrary.
• Messy presentation. Disorganised notebooks hide good thinking — use clear diagrams and images.

Director's Notebook — frequently asked questions

Guidance written by experienced IB examiners and aligned to the current Theatre guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Organization.