Drama returns in 2016!

For years 7 and 8 students this term in Drama has seen the work begin with a unit based on the study of characterisation and the physical demands of characterisation. Classes worked with playwrights from William Shakespeare to Frank McGuinness and Kellie Powell, as well as studying the work of Laban and the use of his theories on movement analysis to create physical portraits of each other and people observed in the outside world.

Assessment this term has been about building a process of understanding about how the body communicates emotion and that it can be used to add another level of storytelling to the words on the page. Simple exercises such as those used by Sanford Meisner's work on repetition, take on an incredible complexity when a subtext is added. An example of this from class would a character that can only say the words 'go away' to another character but has to play these words with the internal subtext of 'please don't leave.'

Students have really embraced the intensity of the work, finding ways to make sense of their journey into drama and the discovery of what performance really means. This has been a great foundation for the work ahead in term 2, when they start writing their own character speeches and performing them. Hopefully this means that we'll be showing ensemble pieces to a studio audience sometime in second semester.