CURRICULUM
DRAMA
DrAma Curriculum Intent
Drama is the collaborative exploration and analysis of meaning through the enactment of events. Our curriculum develops students’ emotional literacy and analytical awareness, by allowing them to see the world, imaginatively, from a variety of perspectives. It promotes individual self-confidence, encourages social co-operation and enhances creativity, while developing the skills of speaking, listening, reading, writing and analysis.
Key Strands
Developing
Students will learn the correct etiquette of being both a professional performer and a respectful audience member. They will learn how to utilise their bodies and voices for maximum effect when performing and how to create an engaging character and plot through the application of specialised techniques. They will tackle different styles and genres when performing, and also develop their confidence skills when working in front of others.
Performing
Evaluating
Students will use the PIE structure of writing (Point, Information, Evaluate) to analyse key features of their own work and that of professional productions. They will come to understand the roles and responsibilities involved in performances and their impact and contribution to an overall piece. They will learn to use key Drama terminology in their language fluently. Target setting will be recognised as an integral part of an actor’s progress, as well as regularly auditing their own skill development.
Curriculum Structure
Year 7
Storybook Theatre
In this project you will learn:
How to devise your own plays using a range of different published storybooks as your stimulus.
How to creatively use the Dramatic Conventions Tableau, Mime and Thought-Tracking to tell your story:
How to interpret a scene from a published script using vocal and physical acting techniques. How to evaluate your Drama work, identifying strengths and targets for future development.
Skills -
Tableau,
Mime,
Thought-Tracking,
Script Work,
Vocal Technique,
Physical Technique,
Evaluation
Year 8
Tales from Shakespeare
In this project you will learn:
About the world’s most influential playwright, William Shakespeare and his style of Elizabethan theatre.
About some of the amazing plays he created, including: Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.
How to devise your own Shakespeare stories using the Dramatic Conventions: Tableau, Mime, Thought-Tracking, Action Narration and Soundcsape.
How to interpret a scene from a Shakespeare script using vocal and physical acting techniques. How to evaluate your Drama work, identifying strengths and targets for future development.
Skills -
Action Narration,
Soundscape,
Melodrama,
Shakespearean Script Work,
Vocal Technique,
Physical Technique,
Evaluation
Year 9
Devising From Stimulus & Spontaneous Improvisation
In this project you will learn:
How to devise your own plays using a given stimulus.
How to spontaneously improvise using titles, chairs, objects and words.
How to ensure you are ACCEPTING ideas and not BLOCKING your group.
How to structure a storyline with a key moment of conflict. How to evaluate your Drama work, identifying strengths and targets for future development.
Skills -
Devising from Stimulus,
Spontaneous Improvisation,
Blocking & Accepting,
Evaluation
Performing a Script: Teechers by John Godber
In this project you will learn:
How to use a script and interpret the work of a professional playwright.
About the comedy play Teechers and the local writer, John Godber.
About the German theatre practitioner Bertolt Brecht, and the style of performance he invented called EPIC Theatre.
How to apply a range of appropriate vocal and physical acting techniques to your character.
How to consider professional dynamics to your performance work, including spatial awareness, status and proxemics.
How to evaluate your Drama work, including consideration of how your drama skills can help you in your future studies in school, college and work.
Skills
Script Work,
Vocal Technique,
Physical Technique,
Spatial Awareness, Status,
Proxemics,
Evaluation
Year 10
Exploring The Performing Arts
Students will use the many genres of the theatres in the West End of London to springboard them into studying three contrasting professional works: Blood Brothers by Willy Russell, War Horse by Nick Stafford, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens.
Skills -
Listening
Assessing the stylistic qualities of practitioners’ work using considered examples to show how roles, responsibilities and skills contribute to creative intentions and purpose across three performance styles. Explaining the interrelationships between processes, skills and approaches used by practitioners, with considered reference to examples of repertoire used to demonstrate how they contribute effectively to performance work. Demonstrating disciplined and organised development of skills and techniques for performance during workshops and rehearsal. Demonstrating considered selection, application and assured use of technical, stylistic and interpretative skills during rehearsal and performance of existing repertoire. Analysing own development and application of skills and techniques, using considered examples to identify strengths and set targets for improvement.
Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts
Students will rehearse and perform an extract from the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. They will show development as an actor throughout by setting targes and tracking their progress through a diary log book.
Skills
Assessing the stylistic qualities of practitioners’ work using considered examples to show how roles, responsibilities and skills contribute to creative intentions and purpose across three performance styles. Explaining the interrelationships between processes, skills and approaches used by practitioners, with considered reference to examples of repertoire used to demonstrate how they contribute effectively to performance work. Demonstrating disciplined and organised development of skills and techniques for performance during workshops and rehearsal. Demonstrating considered selection, application and assured use of technical, stylistic and interpretative skills during rehearsal and performance of existing repertoire. Analysing own development and application of skills and techniques, using considered examples to identify strengths and set targets for improvement.
Year 11
Responding To A Brief
Students will respond to a title and scenario set by the BTEC exam board. They have 10 hours to create a performance piece based on their given stimulus. In addition to this students will prepare for and sit three one hour written exams where they will explain their process.
Skills -
Responding creatively and originally to a set brief.
Utilising all of the skills acquired throughout the course so far in the previous two components.
Analysing the process and evaluating the outcomes.
