A Level Drama & Theatre
This course will allow you to learn and work through creative collaboration, expanding your performance knowledge of drama and theatre by making original work whilst also studying influential playwrights, practitioners and theatre companies that make theatre so exciting and diverse.
TOP COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
- Exceptional facilities
- Excellent tutor support
- Theatre visits and workshops
- Creative collaboration
Dedicated performance spaces
We have an excellent learning environment; our classes take place in a theatre space or a drama rehearsal room. This dedicated space develops your understanding of professional working theatre.
experiment with styles
The opportunity to learn about a subject in a practical and collaborative way. In A Level Drama and Theatre, we are active and explore theory practically, ‘on our feet’, experimenting with styles and theory to develop your performance and production skills.
access performances
To develop your understanding of professional practice, we go on theatre visits and invite productions and practitioners into college to lead workshops. We also have access to Digital Theatre and National Theatre filmed performances that you can watch from home.
WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?
Do you want to develop your creative potential? Work alongside others in a fun and inspiring way? By building performance, directing and design skills we encourage learners to articulate their personal and artistic viewpoints and make exciting, challenging theatre performances. Drama is a collaborative course and will help you to develop important communication skills and confidence, contributing to your personal and social development. Through studying drama, we recognise the important role it plays in helping us to understand social issues, human interaction, and the wider world. You will be inspired by live theatre, experimentation and professional practice and seek to apply these reflections to support your practical and written responses to the plays that we study.
WHAT WILL I LEARN?
If you love drama and theatre and want an outlet for your creativity, this course will provide you with the opportunity to grow as a theatre practitioner. You will study a range of key theatrical practitioners and apply their theories to your own practical work whilst honing your performance skills. You will be encouraged by working to professional standards of collaboration, analysing, and evaluating performances, published texts and your own practice. On this course you will be able to try new areas of drama and theatre such as technical theatre, directing, scriptwriting and choreography.
WHERE WILL IT TAKE ME?
By building transferable skills our students have the option of university to study any degree subject. Popular routes include Drama, English, Media, Education and Humanities or a vocational route such as Drama School to study acting, musical theatre or production. You can progress onto many careers that require creativity, leadership, confidence, and teamwork.
Career examples include a career in acting, directing or technical theatre. This course also develops relevant skills for Film and Media, Teaching, Law, Youth and Social Work.
Drama is a subject that requires commitment and dedication; you will work individually, in pairs, small groups and as a whole group on assessment tasks and classwork. Your achievement in this subject is dependent upon excellent attendance, punctuality, and effort. You will learn in a friendly atmosphere, using a variety of assessment methods:
You will participate in practical sessions developing your performance skills: rehearsing scenes, exploring themes, styles, and characters.
You will be assessed regularly on written work that is conducted either as homework or under timed conditions in class and given feedback on your progress.
You will be encouraged to try a broad range of performance styles and techniques; experimenting will help you to understand what styles of theatre inspire you most.
Discussions and presentations are essential to share ideas, views and develop constructive analytical skills, you will be expected to contribute to these during your lessons.
Independent work is encouraged to build your subject knowledge in drama and theatre. Learners are encouraged to read plays, watch live theatre, and keep a Director’s Notebook with analysis, evaluation, and visual responses to the set texts.
You will be formally examined on each component that you study either by your teacher, a visiting examiner or in a written exam at the end of the second year. You will also review your own performance in 1:1 discussions with your tutor.
Five GCSEs at Grade 5 to include Grade 5 in Drama or Grade 5 in an English or Humanities subject if you haven’t taken drama at GCSE. An interest in all aspects of drama – performance, directing, studying plays and design is essential.
Independent practice will be supported through PowerPoints, worksheets and other guides available on our Moodle course. We also use Digital Theatre and National Theatre online to provide free access to performances and professional practice. College trips to see theatre productions will be offered.
