Drama

‘I take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone is watching him, and that is all that is needed for an act of theatre’ – Peter Brook

GCSE Drama comes on two forms:-

 * A one-year after school course (4 hours per week). This has the advantage of enabling you to take an extra GCSE subject, which will improve your total GCSE score but it will not be examined alongside your curriculum subjects in Year Eleven.

 * A two-year course in the normal school day.

A student of GCSE Drama will be stretched both creatively and critically. They will immerse themselves in the criticism, creation and performance of dramatic experience.

The new specification for GCSE Drama focuses on the following Assessment Objectives:

AO1 - Recall, select and communicate their knowledge and understanding of drama to generate, explore and develop ideas.

AO2 - Apply practical skills to communicate in performance.

AO3 - Analyse and evaluate their own work and that of others using appropriate terminology.

The course is split into two parts:

 

Unit 1 – Written Paper – 40%

(1 hour 30 minutes, 80 marks available)

The written paper comprises three sections:

 A – Practical work completed during the course (written response reflecting and analysing the process involved in creating work for the controlled assessments)

 B – Study and performance of a scripted play (chosen by the teacher, practical work from a scripted play about which students will answer generic questions)

 C – Study of a live theatre production seen (a critical response to performance seen from the point of view of acting, design, directing or audience response)

Candidates must answer Question 1 from Section A and choose one further question from either Section B or Section C. Students will study all three areas in order to provide a breadth of knowledge and experience.

The written paper assesses Assessment Objectives 1 and 3, with relative weightings of 20% and 20% respectively.

The written examination is externally set and marked.

 

Unit 2 - Controlled Assessment – 60%

(Two pieces of practical work worth 120 marks in total)

Drama GCSE students are required to present practical work for two controlled assessment options, each with a weighting of 30% (60 marks each).

 Students can be assessed in two of the following areas:

1. Devised Thematic Work

2. Acting

3. Improvisation

4. Theatre in Education

5. Physical Theatre

6. Set Design

7. Costume

8. Make-up

9. Properties

10. Masks

11. Puppets

12. Lighting

13. Sound

14. Stage Management

Of the 60 marks available, 15 marks are for the preparation and development of the piece in rehearsal. 45 marks are for the final realisation of the selected area (e.g. performance, creation of final costume etc.)

The controlled assessments are internally assessed and externally moderated.

 

Other Information

Pupils must be committed to seeing live theatre and are liable for the costs incurred.

‘The theatre is a search for an expression that is directly concerned with the quality of living’ Peter Brook.

GCSE Drama gives students the opportunity to give articulation to their ideas on life and the world around them, a forum to tackle experience and issues that are relevant to them.

The fundamentally creative nature of the course encourages responsibility, problem solving and effective group work. This ensures the course is good grounding for any career, not simply a career in the arts. The critical aspect of the course also develops a student’s sense of self–evaluation and the critical evaluation of the work of others, such as those in professional theatre.

‘...the purpose of playing...was and is, to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.’ William Shakespeare, ‘Hamlet’ III:II

 

Options Information

* Year 7 Options

* Year 9 Options

* Sixth Form Options

* Sixth Form Admissions