Drama and Theatre Studies

A Level

Curriculum

As a student of drama and theatre, you will develop your creative, critical and analytical facility allowing you to become a reflective, independent and self-directing practitioner. The curriculum is designed to provide a layering of skills over time so that with each successive project, your expertise as a performer, designer and director will become more sophisticated. You will investigate and experiment with the ideas of a range of practitioners through practical exploration and a broad experience of live theatre. You will dig deeply into the social, historical and political contexts of a range of challenging dramatic works to fully understand the circumstances in which they were created. These ideas will then become part of a bank of knowledge that will inform your own devised work.

You will have high expectations of the quality of your written and practical work and an understanding that creativity requires discipline. With this in mind, you will develop the ability to analyse and evaluate your own work and that of others using technical and academic language. This will enable you to understand how best to communicate ideas on stage and how to develop your own skills as a practitioner. Texts and stimuli will be chosen in negotiation with your teachers to allow you to explore ideas that you are passionate about. You will become a creative ‘magpie,’ using your own experiences, studies and areas of interest to create work that is meaningful to a contemporary audience and of which you will be proud. You will develop the highly-valuable transferable skills that drama provides. These skills are for life: building relationships, a sense of place, effective communication and self-agency.

Progression

BA (Hons) in Drama and Theatre Studies; Drama and English; Performing Arts; Directing.

Careers

Performer/director; public relations; media; presenter; drama therapist; TV; film; theatre assistant or manager; teacher – all careers requiring effective oral communication, analytical skills and teamwork.

Entry Requirements

Students must achieve six GCSE grades or equivalent at 6,6,5,5,4,4 including Grade 4 GCSE English.

Assessment

The Exam Board is EDEXCEL

Component 1: Portfolio and moderated performance Devising (40%)

Component 2: Text in Performance (20%) Performance Exam

Component 3: Theatre Makers in Practice (40%) Written exam

Opportunities for work related activities

Several theatre trips linked to course elements – local visits to The Tobacco Factory and Bristol Old Vic, as well as Bristol Theatre Collection Archive. Participation in National Theatre Connections Festival encouraged. Visiting theatre company workshops.