Rationale:

Drama is an artform with a discrete body of knowledge including conventions, history, skills and methods of working. It is an integral aspect of our society and is taught in school curricula worldwide. Drama fosters an understanding of continuity and change, and of the connections between different times and cultures. It provides opportunities to explore social, cultural, ethical and spiritual beliefs, including the diverse values of Australian culture.

Drama encourages a cooperative approach to exploring the world through enactment. The collaborative nature of this artform engages students in a creative process of sharing, developing and expressing emotions and ideas. It is a form of action in which students take on a role as a means of exploring both familiar and unfamiliar aspects of their world. They portray aspects of human experience while exploring the ways people react and respond to different situations, issues and ideas.

In Drama, students can communicate in complex and powerful ways how they perceive the world. They can investigate, shape and symbolically represent ideas, interests, concerns, feelings, attitudes, beliefs and their consequences. Drama can reflect the external world and the inner world of thoughts and feelings through fictional contexts. Learning experiences in Drama are provided which involve the intellect, emotions, imagination and body, and engage the whole person. Self-confidence, motivation and self-esteem are developed through the devising, workshopping, rehearsing and performing of individual and collaborative works.

This syllabus draws on the contemporary drama and theatre practices of making, performing and appreciating drama. These practices are active, experiential, critical and reflective.

While students develop knowledge, understanding and skills that pertain to each of these practices, it is vital to integrate experiences in these areas in order to effectively realise the outcomes. In their appreciation of drama and theatre, students are aware of the collaborative contribution of actors, directors, playwrights, designers and technicians to productions. Manipulation of a wide range of technologies including traditional, electronic and digital applications helps students achieve particular dramatic intentions.

In the Drama Years 7–10 Syllabus, both the processes and performances of drama are valued equally. Participants in drama processes create meaning by interacting actively, creatively and imaginatively through improvised, spontaneous and structured responses. Participants in drama performance create meaning through their relationship with the audience and experience of this engagement is essential in dramatic presentations.

Drama is a dynamic learning experience that caters for a diverse range of students and prepares them for effective and responsible participation in society, taking account of moral, ethical and spiritual considerations. The study of drama engages and challenges students to maximise their individual abilities through imaginative, dramatic experiences created in cooperation with others.

Aim:

The aim of the Drama Years 7–10 Syllabus is to engage and challenge students to maximise their dramatic abilities and enjoyment of drama and theatre through making, performing and appreciating dramatic and theatrical works.

Objectives:

Knowledge, Understanding and Skills

Students will develop knowledge, understanding and skills, individually and collaboratively, through:

• making drama that explores a range of imagined and created situations in a collaborative drama and theatre environment

• performing devised and scripted drama using a variety of performance techniques, dramatic forms and theatrical conventions to engage an audience

• appreciating the meaning and function of drama and theatre in reflecting the personal, social, cultural, aesthetic and political aspects of the human experience.

Values and Attitudes

Students will value and appreciate:

• the collaborative and diverse nature of drama and theatre

• the contribution of drama and theatre to enriching and sustaining cultures and societies.

Content:

Practices

• Making refers to participating in the creation of drama and theatre process work. Students develop and explore imagining and creating fictional situations in both dramatic and theatrical environments. Improvisation and playbuilding are key methods of making which involve a group of students collaborating to devise their own work

• Performing refers to students actively engaging in acting and performing drama and theatre for different audiences.

• Appreciating refers to students responding to, inquiring into, investigating and critically studying a range of drama and theatre experiences.

Elements of Drama

The elements of drama are the features that give drama unique shape and form. They are interrelated and interdependent but distinct and distinguishable. They can be expressed in the following way:

• Role and character are directed by focus driven by tension, made explicit in time, place and situation through the use of space, structure, language, sound, movement, rhythm and moment to evoke atmosphere and symbol, which together create dramatic meaning and audience engagement.

Contexts

The contexts of dramatic forms, performance styles and theatrical conventions in Drama Years 7–10 refer to ways in which we engage in and shape dramatic action. The context is the dramatic situation and framework constructed for studying the elements of drama and engaging in the practices of making, performing and appreciating.

• Dramatic forms are an established set of structural principles by which drama and/or theatre is produced and/or appreciated. A dramatic form is shaped by the framework through which it exists. As such, a particular dramatic form is recognisable by its structure, techniques and conventions which allow it to stand as an identifiable dramatic entity.

• Performance styles are the distinguishing aesthetic features of any part of the process of making and performing a drama work. It is the style in which a drama work is performed. Thus, one text may be performed in a number of different performance styles.

• Dramatic techniques and theatrical conventions are the common principles of dramatic forms and/or performance styles shared by performers and audiences. They are the defining features, customs and practices which are associated with a particular dramatic form or performance style. They are usually defined by tradition but sometimes they are negotiated within the performance.