Drama

GCSE DRAMA

Drama 1 On Friday evening the 3rd February the year 10 GCSE Drama pupils performed their Drama Showcase of, “My Mother Said I Never Should” by Charlotte Keatley to an audience of their families and teachers.

The Year 10 GCSE Drama pupils have had a range of experiences so far this year including theatre trips, workshops and master classes. Recently, they have been studying the play, “My Mother said I Never Should” by Charlotte Keatley as a part of their Drama GCSE course.

The play is immensely challenging and complicated. It is a naturalistic play, telling the story of four women who are all related to each other. However the time sequence of the play is not in chronological order-so the scenes jump back and forth through times from the 1920s to the 1980s. This non-linear time structure allows the story of each character to be revealed in a more dramatic way. The play travels through the decades in flash backs and time jumps, so each character is revealed to the audience at different points in her life.

The women of the play are: Doris, Margaret, Jackie and Rosie. They believe they are grandmother, mother and two sisters- however there are some very big family secrets which will shatter the illusions of many characters throughout the play.

Each of the Year 10 girls portrayed one of the four main characters at different points in her life. The performances were excellent and the responses from the audience were overwhelmingly positive. The girls performed with exceptional focus and control. The highly emotional scenes had a very strong impact on the audience, including lots of laughter and even quite a few tears!

All of the Year 10 girls worked extremely hard and performed some exceptional theatre. Their teacher, Mrs Armitage, is very proud of every one of them!

The GCSE Drama Year 10s

CAST

Jess Abrey, Taraneh Azimi, Charlie Hogben, Emma Lockard, Rachel Lorant, Tamara Sidwell, Zoe Smith, Lucy Turner, Laura Antalffy, Catherine Bartley, Priya Bhuller, Millie Green, Annabel Pilecka, Rowan Souray, Isabel Stewart, Sinead McGrath, Matilda Memaripour, Sam Jac-During and Daniella Everitt.

Introduction

Drama is taught throughout the school and offered as a GCSE subject in years 10 and 11. The subject develops pupils’ ability to present and perform work of an imaginative nature and reflect and analyse their roles within a group structure. This subject encourages pupils to become successful at people management, team work, building confidence and learning patience.

Staff

Mrs V Penrose

Syllabus

The GCSE course is run using the AQA specification, which consists of 60% course work and 40% written examination. Pupils will be assessed internally for course work and assessed externally for the written examination paper. Year 10 is spent working towards the completion of course work (practical), with ample opportunity provided to develop performance skills. Exam practice is provided as Year 10s now have the opportunity to sit the written paper in Year 10 and Year 11, with the highest mark taken for the examination mark. Year 11 begins with the completion of coursework and the focus then moves to preparing for the written examination paper. Beginning in September 2010, AQA have adjusted the Drama specification and the written exam in particular. The changes will mean that both pupils and teacher have a greater choice of plays to study and further opportunities to write about their understanding of the dramatic process in relation to their own work.

Previous Results

2006 100% A* - C
2007 100% A* - C
2008 100% A* - B
2009 100% A* - C
2010 100% A* - C
2011 100% A* - C

Outings

The Drama Department organises as many visits to theatre productions as possible, ranging from trips to London theatres to workshop productions staged by local theatre companies.

GCSE Drama pupils will see a minimum of four productions during each year. Wherever possible, post-show discussions and/or workshops are arranged, as well as performance platforms.

Drama Club

Drama Club is run every Thursday during term time (events permitting) for one hour. It is intended to act as a supplement to Drama classes, particularly for those pupils in Key Stage 3 who have Drama for one 90 minute lesson each fortnight.

Productions

The Department will mount a minimum of one production in each academic year. In 2008/2009, we participated in the ‘Shell: New Connections’, performing A Handbag in the Spring Term. In 2009/2010, we staged a musical adaptation of ‘St Trinian’s’ in the Spring Term.

In December 2010, we staged a GCSE Showcase of ‘Shakers re-stirred’ and ‘The Crucible’ in the new Drama Studio.

In the Spring Term 2011, we staged a Year 7 - 9 production of ‘Princess Alexandra Isn’t Very Happy’. We will be applying to perform one of the National Theatre New Connections plays in 2012-13.