Welcome to our Drama department.

Who We Are
Mr A Malyan - Curriculum Leader
Miss M Meanwell 

Key Stage 3

Year 7

Autumn Term
Basic Drama Skills

Students will learn:

• Basic staging and character skills
• How to work effectively in teams
• To communicate clearly
• How to create simple performances

Mime

Students will learn:

• Specific rules of Mime performance
• Specific mime skills
• Use of a reduced performance space
• Exaggeration of physical action for comedy and clarity in performance.

Spring Term

Melodrama

Students will learn:

• The conventions of Melodrama
• How to create an effective melodrama character
• How to create a performance following the conventions of Melodrama

‘The Black Hearted Villain’
Students will learn:

• How to apply their Melodrama skills to a script
• How to interpret a script to create character
• How to communicate character and narrative through script work
• How to effectively stage a scripted performance
• Learning lines

Summer Term

Mask
Students will learn:

• Specific rules of Mask performance
• How to create character
• How to communicate meaning non-verbally

Semiotics

Students will learn:

• What the term ‘Semiotics’ means
• How to analyse a script to find the semiotics
• How to communicate semiotics to an audience
• How to show status on stage
• How to communicate character relationships
• Different types of staging

Year 8 

Autumn Term

Improvisation
Students will learn:

• How to improvise effectively
• Different types of improvisation
• How to use improvisation to help develop characterisation

Stage fighting 

Students will learn:

• How to safely and effectively perform a variety of stage fighting moves
• How to create hostile and volatile moods and atmospheres building to well executed fight sequences
• How to develop context and character to communicate a story

Spring Term

Non-Naturalism
Students will learn:

• What non-naturalism is
• To develop specific non-naturalistic performance skills
• To create a variety of performance using non-naturalistic methods

Half-Mask

Students will learn:

• To develop the skills learnt in Mask last year and apply them to half-mask work
• To develop the use of dialogue within performance
• To create specific characters within set restraints

Summer Term

Epic Theatre
Students will learn:

• How to create performances in the style of Epic Theatre
• The key elements of Epic Theatre and how to apply this to a script
• How to convey a message in a performance

Devising

Students will learn:

• What a stimulus is
• How to devise from a stimulus
• How to use a variety of different stimuli to create material

Year 9 - Autumn Term

Devising from a Stimulus
Students will learn:

• How to use different stimuli to create a performance
• How to create work with specific restrictions
• How to use different techniques to generate dialogue

‘Godber’ 

Students will:

• Look at the work of the playwright John Godber
• Learn how to perform in a ‘Godber’ style
• Learn how to develop character and multi-role skills

Spring Term

Theatre in Education
Students will:

• Create a Theatre in Education performance for a specific target audience
• Use their knowledge of Godber to create an original performance in a Godber style
• Develop their ability to work to a brief and create appropriate performances

Summer Term

Blood Brothers
Students will learn:

• How to interpret characters from a script
• How to use Stanislavski’s methods to develop naturalistic performances
• How to learn lines and develop performances

DNA

Students will:

• Read the play ‘DNA’ by Dennis Kelly
• Explore the design and technical elements of theatre in relation to the play
• Stage sections of the play with full design and technical elements

Key Stage 4

Examination Board: AQA www.aqa.org.uk
Drama is a popular and exciting subject within the school. The GCSE course offers students the opportunity to develop their performance skills and experiment with new styles of theatre. We try to keep most of the course in the practical form. Lessons are taken in a studio and you will be asked to work in pairs, small groups and large groups to create a variety of pieces of drama. You will research theatre companies, directors and practitioners and will learn to apply these to your work. You will have two performance exams, a Devised Performance Exam in Year 10 and a Scripted Performance Exam in Year 11. You will also be expected to complete some written work. You will write about your own work as well as the professional productions we will take you to see.

This is a course which is aimed at raising your performance skills and experiences of theatre, but also increases interpersonal and empathetic skills.

Assessment: Drama is 60% controlled assessment task (practical) and 40% written element. There is one written examination at the end of Year 11.

Progression: Drama at Emmbrook is a perfect route into A-level Theatre Studies that we offer in the sixth form. Both our GCSE and A-Level courses are the AQA exam board and so go very well together. However, Drama is a highly sought-after subject in both college and the workplace if A-Levels are not for you.

 

September 2022