Entry Requirements

GCSE English Grade 6 is essential. Students may also have GCSE Drama Grade 6 .
Under exceptional circumstances, students with high levels of extra-curricular drama performance experience will be considered for this course without formal drama qualifications. You should also have practical experience of live performance.

Exam Board: Edexcel / Pearsons

Why Study Drama and Theatre Studies?

Theatre is an ever evolving collaborative art.  It can not exist as one person’s work.

Playwrights, designers and directors shape the work together. Throughout the development of the art form key practitioners have challenged and developed the creative process and its accepted conventions and methodologies. Theatre and drama can not exist without an audience. Drama students are story makers and communicators. 

The theatre of today has a classical history but has also changed and developed throughout time. It blends creative thinking, social commentary and artistic interpretation with a profound concern for what makes us human.

Universities tell us that students who study Drama and Theatre Studies at A Level cover a whole range of academic disciplines, such as analysis, philosophy, critical thinking, as well as employability skills such as team working, presentation skills, public speaking, leadership, communication, motivation and initiative, independence and resilience.

What Topics Will I Study?

At A Level, you will devise an original performance, developing your explorative and creative skills, with a focus on communicating meaning, theatrical style and the use of conventions of a chosen practitioner. You will develop theatre making skills and realise artistic intentions in performance. You will study at least three plays in depth from different historical periods and base this on practical exploration, research and methodologies. This will support your own performance concept and interpretations for production, developing your skills to become informed drama practitioners. 

How Will I Be Assessed?

At A Level, you will complete three components:
1) Devise a play, perform or design in the final production. You will then  complete a written portfolio on the devising process and performance experience. 
2) Perform or design a set text for an audience and examiner then perform or design for a monologue/duologue. 
3) At the end of your practical course you will sit a written exam in which you will write a theatre review of a play you have seen, and answer questions on two plays you have studied.
Group working skills are essential to success in all three elements. 

What Careers or Higher Education Follow from this Subject?

The creative arts industry, theatre, television, teaching, journalism, business, psychology, media, law, theology, or the world of academia. The study of drama and theatre will add an extra layer of context to many arts and humanities subjects.  

A study by Cambridge University Press  identified that creative skills are now essential to be successful in our ever-changing job market. As the creative industries move into first place as the fastest growing economic sector in the UK. Young Adults with creative and collaborative mindsets are more successful in their chosen careers because they can show adaptability, vision, collaboration and problem solving skills at a higher level than their peers.   Top talent management agency, The Curve Group specialising in financial and business services, says “Employees with an arts degree have developed more quickly in their roles from the start. They have discipline, confidence and can accept criticism.”

 “A theatre is the most important sort of house in the world, because that’s where people are shown what they could be if they wanted, and what they’d like to be if they dared and what they really are.” Tove Jansson

Other Opportunities Available Whilst Studying this Course

Leadership opportunities such as running Year 7 Drama club or becoming an assistant director of a school production.

Excellent performance opportunities such as taking part in the National Theatre Connections Project or Kings College Community Production.

Well established partnerships with RADA and LAMDA.

Regular opportunities to attend workshops at the National Theatre or at school with world renowned theatre companies such as Frantic Assembly.