Drama
“Love art in yourself, and not yourself in art”
Constantin Stanislavski, My Life in Art.
As a faculty we aim for students to develop their sense of resilience and empathy by exploring different situations through drama. Drama develops the student’s ability to work with various groups of people in various situations. We encourage students to work with new people each unit in order to develop an understanding of others and how to interact with others to achieve a positive outcome. Beyond drama, these are essential life skills.
Year 7
In year 7 students are given a thorough grounding in various drama skills and theory. Students explore different drama styles through scripted work as well as devised drama based on stimuli. Students will have the opportunity to explore ‘Backstage’ aspects of the performing arts, looking at costume and set design. Live performances are integral to the development of these skills in order to build confidence in drama throughout the year.
Year 8
In year 8 students understanding of drama skills is further developed with the exploration of drama through the ages. Students will look at Greek Theatre, Commedia Dell’ Arte and silent movies to understand how drama has developed and changed over time. Students are encourages to explore ‘outside the box’ in devised performances, as well as scripted works like Bugsy Malone and Dr Faustus. Live performances are integral to the development of these skills in order to build confidence in drama throughout the year.
Assessment
We believe it is important to assess students’ understanding of skills and knowledge from each unit of work. Students will be expected to take part in a performance each half term based on the unit of work explored.
How can Parents/Carers help?
Although there is no set weekly Home Learning in KS3 Drama, students may be required to memorise their dialogue for performances. I encourage you to run these lines with the students to help them prepare for assessments.
Where can Drama take you?
Skills learnt in drama are very applicable to many different career paths, below is a list of occupations where Drama can be helpful!
- Actor
- Arts Administrator
- Barrister
- Broadcast Journalist
- Cinematographer
- Copywriter
- Costume Designer
- Journalist
- Lighting Designer
- Teacher
- Set Designer
- Stage Manager
- Television presenter
- Producer (Film and TV)
- Producer (Theatre)
- Writer
- Youth Worker
Pupils from Years 7-13 are invited to get involved in our annual productions. Pupils can audition for acting/singing roles or a range of off stage roles such as: stage management/stage lighting support/stage make-up or costume design all of which are very popular.
