Drama & Theatre Studies

• Throughout Year 7, students will engage in a range of topics in order to increase their confidence and communication skills through Drama, whilst introducing them to basic Drama skills. These topics include: Mime and Silent Movie, Physical Theatre, Frankenstein and Matilda.

• The Y8 Drama curriculum builds on the basic skills introduced in Year 7 to make students more skilled in devising and evaluating as well as performance. The topics covered include pantomime, melodrama and storytelling through movement.

• In Year 9, students are introduced to some of the seminal practitioners who greatly influenced the development of performance on stage and screen. Along with the study of Stansilavski, Artaud and Brecht, students will use Blood Brothers and The Woman in Black as stimulus texts to develop their Drama skills.

Year 10 and 11: OCR GCSE Drama

• 3 Components; Devised Drama, Presenting and Performing Texts and Performance and Response (written exam)
• Devised Drama involves students creating an original piece of Drama from a stimulus, collaborating in groups working as either performers or designers. Portfolio development is encouraged alongside practical work.
• Presenting and Performing Play-texts involves students performing two extracts from a published play, either a monologue or a duologue, as well as writing a supporting Concept pro forma. Performed to a Visiting Examiner.
• Performance and Response requires students to analyse and evaluate play-texts; students will practically study a set text and a live performance – streamed or in the theatre. This area of the course makes up the written exam at the end of Year 11.
• Texts may include: ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell, ‘Hard to Swallow’ by Mark Wheeler and ‘Too Much Punch for Judy’ by Mark Wheeler, ‘Gut Girls’ by Sarah Daniels amongst others.

Years 7 – 9:

Students will be assessed on their creating, developing and evaluating skills three times a year (students have fortnightly lessons)

Years 10 and 11:

Devised Drama (30% of final qualification)

• Portfolio of devising process marked in three sections (Research and Developing Ideas, Creating and Developing Drama and Analysis and Evaluation)
• Devised Performance marked separately by teacher/examiner, then moderated externally
• Design route available

Presenting and Performing Texts (30% of final qualification)

• Externally examined by Visiting Examiner
• Concept Pro Forma in support of performance
• Two performances (one monologue, one duologue or one group piece)
• Design route available

Performance and Response (40% of final qualification)

• Written exam 1 hour 30 minutes, externally marked
• Section A is analysing Play-text in performance
• Section B is evaluating live theatre

Years 12 and 13:

Devised Drama (30% of final qualification)

• Portfolio of devising process (75%)
• Performance of devised piece/ realisation of design (25%)
• Internally assessed, externally moderated

Text in Performance (30% of final qualification)

• Live performance of group piece and monologue or duologue
• Design route available
• Externally marked by visiting examiner

Theatre makers in Practice (40% of final qualification) -Written exam at the end of Year 13

Section A: Live Theatre Evaluation (20 marks)

• Students answer one extended response question from a choice of two requiring them to analyse and evaluate a live theatre performance they have seen in light of a given statement.

Section B: Page to Stage: Realising a Performance Text (36 marks)

• Students answer two extended response questions based on an unseen extract from the performance text they have studied.
• Students will demonstrate how they, as theatre makers, intend to realise the extract in performance. Students answer from the perspective of a performer and a designer.

Section C: Interpreting a Performance Text (24 marks)

• Students will answer one extended response question from a choice of two based on an unseen named section from their chosen performance text.
• Students will demonstrate how their re-imagined production concept will communicate ideas to a contemporary audience.

• Students will also need to outline how the work of their chosen theatre practitioner has influenced their overall production concept and demonstrate an awareness of the performance text in its original performance conditions.

There are many employment pathways associated with Drama, both directly and indirectly. In fact, most jobs require some level of Acting Skill, some more than others! Here are some of the careers you may consider, there may well be some you have never considered before now…

• Actress
• Director
• Teacher
• Lecturer
• Lawyer
• Drama Therapist
• Television Presenter
• Theatre manager
• Theatre company administrator
• Youth theatre group leader
• Costume/lighting or sound designer/ engineer
• Theatrical make-up designer