Drama

Inspiring and cultivating the next generation of creatives within the arts; whilst nurturing a whole community of critical thinkers, empathetic team players, engaging leaders, convincing presenters and innovative individuals through the study of drama.

As a department we aim to develop existing theatrical talent and passion in our students, alongside inspiring a love of Drama for all. We hope to encourage learners to remain curious, resilient and self-reflective in Drama lessons, skills that highly successful people demonstrate in the performing arts and beyond.

Key Stage 3

Our Key Stage 3 Drama programme is designed to build upon prior knowledge and experience of Drama that students may have gained from KS2 experiences. We focus on developing specific creative, performative and reflective skills which will reinforce and ignite passions for further study at GCSE, A Level and beyond. Alongside this we aim to foster an environment where students can enhance many other skills, making them more well-rounded learners and thinkers across the curriculum and into their future.

Foundation – In Year 7 we look at Drama as a new distinct and vitally important subject whilst recognising that our students will be coming into the school with varying degrees of knowledge, confidence and experience of the world of theatre. We begin by building confidence and gauging the dynamics of classes to ensure there is a positive learning environment. The first term continues to centre around learning through drama games with a specific focus on skills such as teamwork, confidence, focus and an introduction to key Drama techniques. Once the dynamics of the group are established, we progress through the year to explore topics such as ‘The Evacuees’, dissect and perform a scripted play like ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’ and delve into the world of theatre design. Students will end the year with a good foundation in creating, performing and reflecting in Drama alongside other essential skills.

Implementation – We start Year 8 by enhancing performing skills through explorations of ‘Characters and Roles’. This year students explore more challenging themes such as bullying and relationships, which allow students to gain more knowledge of drama whilst building confidence and exploring a variety of issues in a safe and supportive environment. The sequence of lessons chosen generally follow a rule of developing skills, exploring scripts, devising etc. so that students gain variety in their learning experiences in drama. Homework and classwork at this level are a beneficial mix of practical and written tasks to ensure that students value Drama as an academic subject.

Preparation – Preparation – Throughout Year 9 we focus on providing students with a taste of higher level GCSE Drama skills. We achieve this by learning the principles of renowned key theatre practitioners including, Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht and Frantic Assembly. By allowing students to learn the key methodology of each practitioner, it gives them the tools to develop work that is both considered and poignant. Following this, students will study a play script in depth considering style, acting and design in a mock component 2 performance. Students will then get a taster for the written exam through watching a piece of engaging and professional quality recorded live theatre which they will analyse and evaluate. In the final half term students will look at refining their transferable skills in mock interviews and business pitches, before going on to their chosen GCSE subjects. Students undergo an assessment containing elements of GCSE level drama, so that they can make a fully informed decision with regards to whether Drama is an option that they would like to consider as part of a successful KS4 mix of subjects for them.

Homework

Homework set at Key Stage 3 is purposeful and supports the learning inside the classroom. The homework is differentiated by outcome and task. The homework that is set ranges from scriptwriting, line learning, research tasks and mock portfolios.

Key Stage 4

GCSE students at The Grange follow the EDEXCEL exam specification that will engage students with a broad and diverse study of drama and theatre, thus, giving them both higher level acting, devising and designing skills, as well as supporting progression to further study of Drama and a wide range of other subjects. Students will study a combination of components tailored to the group’s individual needs and aspirations in drama and chosen to maximise access to their full potential in the final exams.

Component 1 (Devising): The devising component is an immersive, personal and exciting component where students are presented with a stimulus that they devise from with the intention of creating an original piece of theatre. The stimulus is carefully selected each year depending on the dynamics and interest of the group being taught. The stimuli are resented in a variety of different ways, including, videos, images, key words or phrases, songs/lyrics, poems etc. The intention of this component is to develop students practical knowledge and application of key techniques to a performance completely created by students. As part of this component students are expected to create a 2000-word portfolio where they answer six questions based on their process and final performance. Students write about themselves as devisors working in a group using mainly analytical, subject specific and evaluative language throughout.

Component 2 (Performance from Text): This component enables students to express their true potential in drama, as they make deeply personal decisions to prepare a performance, within a framework of ambitious and engaging texts from the exam board. Students are presented with suggested scripts but ultimately have a choice of which plays they want to explore further. As part of this topic students are encouraged to create a group extract which comprises of 3-6 students and also a monologue or duologue for their second extract. The intention of this component is to encourage students to adopt the role of a performer or designer to create a final piece to perform to a visiting examiner. This also encourages them to be more resilient and independent when handling with mastery the inevitable and necessary pressure that a performance entails.

Component 3 (Theatre Makers in Practice): We have chosen to study the legendary and highly engaging play An Inspector Calls by J.B.Priestley . It is a great advantage that this text is studies by all students already as part of their GCSE English course, and this gives a boost to drama students to showcase their deep understanding of drama concepts, whilst they take further understanding gained in Drama into their English studies. When studying and writing about An Inspector Calls students are required to write about decisions made and display their knowledge of theatre as a performer, designer, director and informed audience member. The second part of the exam is where students write about a live performance that they have seen, we tend to take students to see modern and hard-hitting performances that will evoke an emotional response because we feel that they will be able to write about it in the exam more passionately and confidently. We aim to take our students to the theatre at least twice during the two-year course, and we appreciate the engagement and support from parents to ensure that they participate in these vitally important trips, as they are linked to the academic outcomes for drama directly. Drama exposes students to the social, political, historical and cultural elements that inspire and enlighten most.

We study these components alongside each other so that students can see the full progression of skills and knowledge required in each component. Each of them demand different things from the students and the course has been created to accommodate for these progressive skills.

‘Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art.’
Konstantin Stanislavski

‘Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life.’
Bertolt Brecht

Key Stage 5

Drama students at The Grange can progress on to the EDEXCEL A Level exam specification which continues to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills from KS4. Our A Level class will study 3 component areas: Devising, Performance from Text and Theatre Makers in Practice. These areas follow the same assessment structure as the GCSE but are a significant step up in the challenge they pose, providing A Level Drama scholars with opportunities to delve into more complex, thrillingly engaging and highly innovative practitioners, more varied/hard hitting play texts and to expand their performance skills in new engaging styles.

Component 1 (Devising): In this component students will develop their creative and exploratory skills to devise an original performance. The starting point for this devising process will be an extract from a performance text and an influential theatre practitioner. In their creative explorations, students will learn how text can be manipulated to communicate meaning to audiences and they will begin the process of interpretation. They will gain an understanding of how a new performance could be developed through the practical exploration of the theatrical style and use of conventions of the chosen practitioner. We change the scripts we explore as our stimulus each year, to keep ideas fresh and to cater to our specific students. As part of this component students are expected to create a 3000-word portfolio, where they write under six titles, about their research, process and final contributions. Students write about themselves as devisors working in a group, commenting on how they drew on research, explored the methods and ideas of practitioners in scope, and their extract to create their own piece. This piece of writing requires strong subject knowledge in drama reflected in their use of subject specific terminology, analytical and evaluative writing.

Component 2 (Performance from Text): Students will develop and demonstrate theatre-making skills, appropriate to their role as a performer or designer. They will explore how they realise artistic intentions in performance whilst appreciating the significance and influence of social, historical and cultural contexts on chosen texts and extracts. The knowledge and understanding acquired though the study of one key extract from a performance text in Component 1 can be applied to assist in the interpretation, development and realisation of the two key extracts from performance texts in this component. With guidance from teachers, students will have a range of plays to choose from for their group piece and for their monologues. Students are able to undertake this component as either a performer or a designer. This is presented to an external examiner to be marked in a final performance.

Component 3 (Theatre Makers in Practice):

Theatre is a collaborative art form, and it is important that students have a clear understanding of how different creative ideas are put into practice. This component requires students to consider, analyse and evaluate how different theatre makers create impact. Throughout this component, students will consider how production ideas and dramatic elements are communicated to an audience from the perspective of a director, a performer and a designer. Students will critically analyse and evaluate their experience of live performance. As an informed member of the audience, they will deconstruct theatrical elements which will help inform their own production choices and develop their own ideas as potential theatre makers. As in KS4, we aim to take students to a minimum to 2 live productions over the two-year course – with the aim of taking them into London to see some fresh highly regarded and exciting performances. Students will practically explore texts in order to demonstrate how ideas for performance and production might be realised from page to stage. Currently we are studying the modern play That Face by Polly Stenham and the Greek classic Antigone by Sophocles as our two set texts. Both scripts are engaging and exciting, offering countless opportunities for creative interpretations. We can adapt these choices depending on the interests of the specific cohorts to tailor the course to their interests. They will consider the methodologies of practitioners and interpret these texts in order to justify their own ideas for a production concept. Students will research the original performance conditions and gain an understanding of how social, historical and cultural contexts have informed their decisions as theatre makers.

‘To break through language in order to touch life is to create or recreate the theatre.’

Antonin Artaud

‘To keep theatre alive, we need to constantly re-examine why we do what we do, and how we do it, so we don’t fall out of synch with people’s needs …’

Katie Mitchell