Drama

Year 7

Half Term 1

Haunted Mansion

  • Pupils will begin their introduction to Drama the genre of horror, learning key skills, the routine in the studio and building relationships with each other in group work.  

    Pupils will be able to apply key skills such as freeze frame and create tension on stage in their game show to win prize money by staying overnight in the haunted mansion. This topic is engaging and inspires all students to achieve. 

    Pupils will consider the horror and reality TV genres and the contrasting features of both. They will develop a character using the 5 senses to deepen their characterisation.  

    Pupils will draw upon their understanding of ghost stories and punctuation such as ellipsis to express their character’s feelings while competing in the game show.

  • Freeze frame, hot seating, soundscape, monologues, the teacher in role, tension. 

    Pupils will be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles, responding appropriately to others in the role. 

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

  • Read ghost stories. Watch clips of reality TV. Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a whole school production.  

Half Term 2

Inside Out

  • Pupils will explore how emotions impact decision-making. 

    Using the characters from the famous film, they will understand how conflicted emotions can feel and how to handle the situation.

    Pupils will adapt vocal and physical skills for entertainment when creating performance work. They will explore both devised and scripted work.

    Pupils will rehearse, perform their own work & evaluate that of others as well as their own.

  • Emotions, fear, anger, joy, disgust, sadness, exaggerate, improvisation, cross cutting.

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

  • Watch the film. Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a whole school production.  

Half Term 3

Hogwarts

  • Pupils will use the concept of magic to explore the characters in Harry Potter. They will analyse what starting a new school feels like and what extra ordinary events attending the school might entail.  

    Pupils will be able to work individually and in groups to develop performances using the format of Harry Potter.  

    Pupils will enact receiving the invite to the new school, being sorting into an appropriate house which matches their character’s personality, react to the dementors on the train, portray the Triwizard maze, participate in a quidditch match and demonstrate the duel between Harry and Voldemort to explore good verses bad.  

    Pupils will employ their understanding of the safe use of the studio. They will engage their imaginations in response to the stimulus from Harry Potter to create group work. 

    Rehearse, perform their own work & & evaluate that of others as well as their own.

  • Traverse, physicality, spell, thought tracking, dementor, facial expression, duel 

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

  • Watch/ read Harry Potter. Visit the film studio. Watch the stage productions online. Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a Musical Theatre club and whole school production.

Half Term 4

Spy School

  • Pupils will use the theme of spies to explore the practitioner Stanislavski’s method of Naturalism.  

    Pupils will be able to perform in a naturalistic style.  

    They will apply given circumstances, emotional memory, magic if and super objectives in rehearsal & performance while developing their spy character and considering the concept of a double agent. 

    New practitioner-continue to follow usual lesson structure: rehearse, perform, evaluate to explore style and form.  

    Rehearse, perform their own work & evaluate that of others as well as their own. 

  • Given circumstances, emotional memory, magic if, super objectives, interview, mannerisms, role on the wall, hot seating,  

    verbal evaluation, using drama terminology when creating or evaluating work, audience awareness 

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

    Read Storm Breaker series by Anthony Horowitz. 

  • Info on Stanislavski: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxn4mp3/revision/1 

    Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a Musical Theatre club and whole school production.

Half Term 5

War Horse

  • Pupils will use the style of Musical Theatre over the half term. They will apply skills from the disciplines of Acting, Dance and Singing.   

    Pupils will be able to work as an ensemble to perform repertoire from famous musicals.  

    Pupils will explore a range of musicals: The Lion King, The Greatest Showman, Matilda, Shrek, Aladdin, Wicked, Pupils will Apply verbal/ physical chorusing to communicate the theme of the musical to an audience.  

    Pupils will continue working safely in the studio. They will apply skills learnt across the year. They will implement a more advanced range of skills in their performances and be able to justify their choices in detail.  

    Rehearse, perform their own work & evaluate that of others as well as their own.  

    This topic is rich, engaging and inspires all students to achieve. 

  • Costume, chorusing, exaggeration, timing, freeze frame, thought tracking, lyrics, levels, body language, narration, cue.

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

    Watch clips of the shows on YouTube. Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a Musical Theatre club and whole school production. 

  • Info on the style of Musical Theatre: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/search?q=musical+theatre&page=1

Half Term 6

Musical Theatre

  • Pupils will explore the Morpurgo play to develop understanding of context and characters. They will examine how war impacts society as well as soldiers. Pupils will go on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France. They will see Albert embark on a treacherous mission to find his horse Joey and bring him home.

    Pupils will rehearse, perform their own work & evaluate that of others as well as their own.

  • Still image, physical theatre, unison, mirroring, shadowing, mime, monologue.

  • Visit the theatre, watch live performances online, read fiction, and keep abreast of current affairs.

  • War Horse Teaching Resources - Michael Morpurgo

    War Horse - National Theatre (warhorseonstage.com)

    Extra-curricular opportunities are integral to our curriculum, we will be offering a Musical Theatre club and whole school production.