Drama Curriculum 

Intent

Purpose of our study

Drama at St Clement’s is driven by a passion for theatre and an appreciation of the power it has to amaze, inspire, question, bring about change and challenge our identity. Our curriculum is designed to allow students of drama the opportunity to experience a broad spectrum of theatre practice and explore the techniques of some of the past and present trail blazers of Theatre; from

Stanislavski, Brecht, Grotowski, Bausch and Artaud to their modern counterparts such as Boal, Berkoff, Katie Mitchell, Gecko, Complicite and Frantic Assembly. Drama will encourage our students to think creatively and critically about themselves, the world around them and how they communicate this knowledge through performance.

Aims

We want our students to explore drama though a broad range of theatre styles such as Realism, Surrealism, Total Theatre, Physical Theatre and Political Theatre. Our students will undertake work that is directly mirrored by their elders at A Level, University and

Drama School and develop work that will encourage them to demonstrate this knowledge through both performance and the written response. Ultimately, we want our students to have an education in drama that is relevant to theatre today, a potential for tomorrow and one which instils a passion for theatre itself.

The drama curriculum aims to ensure that our students:

• Learn and develop the ability to create character, form & structure
• Devise, perform and evaluate with a critical mind, using gained drama terminology
• Have an understanding and appreciation for theatre practitioners, designers, directors and performers and consider the relevant social and historical context
• Produce original and informed performance work that fully demonstrates their applied knowledge

Subject content

Students will develop their independent and collaborative ability to create both devised and scripted performance pieces.

These skills will be refined, detailed and reflect their applied knowledge of both theatre practice and practitioner technique.

Students in drama are taught:

• To use performance skills, stagecraft and practitioner technique to communicate meaning, character and context
• To use elements of performance such as voice, movement, gesture, semiotics and proxemics
• To confidently demonstrate various theatre styles such as realism, physical theatre, epic theatre & surrealism
• To critically analyse and evaluate their own work and the work of others, in order to strengthen and progress the dramatic impact of their/others performances
• How theatre is/has been a vital aspect of our society and the world beyond it and the impact of contemporary practitioners upon theatre today.