Drama at Key Stage 3

Every boy in Years 7, 8 and 9 has one Drama lesson per fortnight. These lessons are nearly all practical in nature, and tend to be taught in the Performing Arts Studio or our other dedicated Drama space rather than in a traditional classroom setting.

Year 7

In Year 7 we aim to develop the boys' basic performance, plus their interpersonal skills as most of the work is based in groups. In doing this we cover basic improvisation skills, Greek and Elizabethan theatre (a quick History of Drama), and projects on storytelling and devised skills.

Year 8

In Year 8 we focus more on developing performance skills to suit specific genres and styles. A project on developing simple characters leads to further, extended projects in which groups devise and perform their own slapstick comedy routines. Students then study a scripted comedy to consider how to develop their comedic performances from being focused on characterisation, to introducing text to support.  There is then a movement onto the genre of Tragedy so that the juxtaposition of genres can be further developed in both performance and theory.

Year 9

In Year 9 the work is more geared towards preparation for those who wish to take on the subject at GCSE level. The lessons tend to be much more fast-paced, with tasks being set and completed within a double lesson. We carry out a study of influential dramatic Practitioner’s (Stanislavski, Brecht and Berkoff) both practically and theoretically to develop student’s understanding of more in depth and challenging approaches to creating theatre. Students then move on to create their own Theatre in Education performance that is performed to lower school students.

Live Theatre Evaluation

This is a key skill which is required at both GCSE and A level study for Drama and so across each Key Stage 3 year, students will study a live performance and evaluate either a semiotic or acting element of performance to help build and develop their dramatic vocabulary. Structured approaches to writing their evaluations are developed in detail across the years to ensure students possess an effective level of written evaluation by the time they end Year 9.