Drama

Course Description

Drama enables young people to develop knowledge, understanding and skills individually and collaboratively to make, perform and appreciate dramatic and theatrical works. Students take on roles as a means of exploring both familiar and unfamiliar aspects of their world while exploring the ways people react and respond to different situations, issues and ideas.

Students Learn to:

All students undertake a unit of playbuilding in every 100 hours of the course. Playbuilding refers to a group of students collaborating to make their own piece of drama from a variety of stimuli. At least one other dramatic form or performance style must also be studied in the first 100 hours. Examples of these include improvisation, mime, script, puppetry, small screen drama, physical theatre, street theatre, mask, comedy and Shakespeare. Students also learn about the elements of drama, various roles in the theatre, the visual impact of design, production elements and the importance of the audience in any performance.

Students learn to make, perform and appreciate dramatic and theatrical works. They devise and enact dramas using scripted and unscripted material and use acting and performance techniques to convey meaning to an audience. They learn to respond to, reflect on and analyse their own work and the work of others and evaluate the contribution of drama and theatre to enriching society.

The Drama syllabus is divided into three compulsory areas for study.  Each of these areas develop knowledge, understanding and skills through:

Making Drama:  participating in the creation of dramatic pieces such as unscripted improvisations in which you will take on real or imaginary roles.  This often involves participation in Theatre sports activities.  You will also have the opportunity to write your own scripts for performance.

Performing:  being actively engaged in acting out your scripted and unscripted creations, reading, rehearsing and acting out scripted plays.

Appreciating:  Studying dramatic forms, including mime, dance and various forms of theatre, becoming familiar with the concept of stagecraft, as well as investigating and critically studying a range of drama and theatre experiences.

If you feel that you have a flair for imaginative thinking, want to learn about yourself and others, develop your confidence, enjoy working with others and would enjoy learning new ways to communicate ideas…. Drama is a subject that you should consider doing.

We make, appreciate and perform drama by

• Playbuilding

• Studying dramatic texts, contexts, history and styles

Year 9

• The Elements of Drama and Improvisation

• Playbuilding and Children's Theatre - Performance for Junior School

• A 'taste' of Dramatic Styles - Exploring theatrical styles from around the world

• Playstudy and performance - 'As You Like It' by William Shakespeare

Year 10

• Theatrical Realism 

• Playstudy - 'Pygmalion' by G.B. Shaw  or 'A Doll's House' by I. Ibsen

• Playbuilding - Group Project 

• Theatre of the Absurd - 'The Real Inspector Hound' by Tom Stoppard

Why study drama?

• To experience the world through another person’s eyes

• To build long-lasting connections with fellow actors 

• To entertain and challenge your audience

• To bring worlds into existence

• To explore the past

• To discover new ideas

• To build skills and confidence

Read this fantastic article to learn how Drama helps prepare students for the workplace:

What’s the point of drama class? It teaches the workplace skills employers want, for a start