Grade 9

The Grade 9 syllabus consists of 4 major units - Storytelling, Displacement, Metamorphosis, and Monologue.

Storytelling will be the Grade 9s' very first drama devising project in High School. This unit allows the students to go back to the basics and draw upon all of their previous learning. Through exploration and experimentation, individuals are able to expand their awareness of the skills, techniques, and processes available to them in the creation of drama. The aim of this unit is to allow students to understand that a fundamental element of theatre is the storytelling and communication aspect of the art. The students are tasked to devise a short 4-7 minutes drama narrative based on a children’s story, and perform it to a group of Grade 2 students as their audience. Primary school kids are known to be very honest, so, this pushes the students to further understand how to engage an audience when adapting and retelling a story, thus preparing them for the next 2 years of IGCSE drama.

In this unit known as Displacement, the students explore the issue of Displacement through a series of workshops which introduce new concepts - e.g rituals and approaches - to devising. The goal is to get the students to devise and perform a role which contributes to a piece of drama based on the issue of displacement. The students begin by researching the theme/topic/issue surrounding displacement that they are drawn to. In this process, they will also do in-depth research on their characters' stories and testimonies. They then begin exploring and experimenting with key ideas by using still imagery, marking the moments, and noting movement sequences. The overall intentions, structure, and content of the piece must be decided and devised by the ensemble. The piece is later presented to an audience as a fully-realised production.

In order to introduce the students to how devising scripted pieces is like, this unit pushes them to interpret and perform a character in a section of the play by Steven Berkoff, titled Metamorphosis, selected by the group. Metamorphosis has a lot of physical and acting potential which pushes the students to develop their skills in multiple aspects of theatre. They first read and research the play to further understand Berkoff and his theatre style. This is followed by characterisation work that helps guide them into the devising of the piece, experimenting with marking the moment, using still images and more in their blocking of the piece. In the revising process, the students work on their own choices of voice, movement, gestures, pace, and use of space for their character. The piece is then cleaned up and performed to the class.

The last task students do in Grade 9 is a Monologue. This unit is challenging for all of the students in many different ways. Whether it be the confidence aspect, developing acting skills, memorising lines, developing character, each student is challenged to surpass their limits in drama. Everyone will experience an evident growth through this unit as a theatre student.

The task requires students to first pick a monologue, followed by researching and exploring their characters' character traits and stories. They are taught ways to find their character's objectives and the different methods to develop their characters. They then begin to block, create, and rehearse their pieces. Once the lines are learnt, their monologues are workshopped and further developed with class exercises such as hot seating, waking up, finding beats and breath, and many more. The ultimate goal is for the students to create a 3-5 minute monologue to push them to grow and develop as a drama student.