Drama

Staff Contact Details
Mrs E Callender (Head of Department)
ecallender@herschel.slough.sch.uk

Mrs A Turley (Teacher of Drama)
atu@herschel.slough.sch.uk

The Drama Studio
Available for rehearsals to all.
Please make all bookings with Mrs Callender.
Priority will be given to GCSE & A-Level students and school productions.

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Welcome to Year 7 Drama

This year you will be looking at a variety of topics including:

Term 1: 
DEVISED: Moving Into Drama
DEVISED: Pantomime

Term 2: 
DEVISED: Gloom Manor
DEVISED: Kabuki Theatre

KABUKI “I think this topic was interesting as well as fun” – Anthea Cheung

“This was AWESOME. It is the best thing we have done this year and I want to do it again!!!!!!!!!!” – Krishi Wali

GLOOM MANOR
“I learned how the facial expressions can tell a lot on how you are feeling it also tells to the audience too. It helps the audience what going on.” – Nadia Hamid

“I would just like to say that I really enjoyed this half term doing Gloom Manor. I really hope we could do something like Gloom Manor in the future. I have had the best Half Term ever!” - Aaliyah Murtza

Term 3: 
DEVISED: Elizabethan Theatre
SCRIPT: linked to a school theatre trip/school production. Previous scripts have included "Bugsy Malone" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."

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Welcome to Year 8 Drama

This year you will be looking at a variety of topics including:

Term 1: 
DEVISED: Commedia Dell Arte
DEVISED: Mask
“I had fun learning about the mask in this term and it was interesting to explore and experiment with the different types of masks.” – Mehak Chandel

“I liked using masks to perform because when we did this, we had to use our body and exaggerate more which was fun. I also like that we were able to forget who we were and pretend to be someone/something totally different and new.” – Kripa Shah 

Term 2:
DEVISED/SCRIPTED: Ancient Greek Theatre (Extended project including the opportunity to be assessed as a designer)

Term 3: 
DEVISED: Titanic
SCRIPT: linked to a school theatre trip/school production. Previous scripts have included "Bugsy Malone" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

Useful Commedia videos
Click HERE to see a short film demonstrating the Commedia characters 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqlfTG40RUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0TAXWt8hY&list=PLFB7C0BBCDCE9B8A9 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJEwuurzDe4&index=2&list=PLFB7C0BBCDCE9B8A9 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gTs9xWJcgg&index=4&list=PLFB7C0BBCDCE9B8A9 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIFR6c7NZc&list=PLFB7C0BBCDCE9B8A9&index=5 

Click here Ancient Greek theatre exemplar video

Ancient Greek Theatre videos through The National Theatre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRLK7SogvE&index=2&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs59hmAjlAsX_vh0vGYv_3Jm 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSr6mP-zxUc&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs59hmAjlAsX_vh0vGYv_3Jm&index=3 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-BvMbfkxcc&list=PLJgBmjHpqgs59hmAjlAsX_vh0vGYv_3Jm&index=4 

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/an-introduction-to-greek-theatre-0 

 

 

 

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Welcome to Year 9 Drama

This year you will be looking at a variety of topics including:
 
Term 1: 
DEVISED: Physical Theatre (extended project linking to GCSE Drama Component 1 and Black History Month)

Term 2: 
SCRIPTED: “The Woman in Black” (extended project linking to GCSE Drama Component 2. Student also have the opportunity to be assessed as a Designer)

Term 3: 
SCRIPTED: Babyfather, exploring Stanislavskian naturalistic strategies
DEVISED: Sweeney Todd, exploring Brechtian non-naturalistic strategies 

The Woman in Black exemplar video:

  

Term 3: DEVISED: Sweeney Todd

DEVISED: Media Mayhem 

“It was very enjoying and helpful as I understood everything. I understand the strategies and a lot of dramatic forms which I wasn't quite sure of before. The tasks were challenging but fun at the same time. The lesson ideas were very good and the homework wasn't too little or too much as the time we had was depending on how much we got which I thought was very good and helpful” – Neha Mukhtar 

How to be excellent in Drama

Working with other people in a group

  • Listen to other people
  • Put forward your ideas
  • Cooperate with others
  • Help to make the Drama work well

Creating a role

  • Think about the way the character would move
  • Consider how she/he might be feeling
  • Choose the words she/he says carefully
  • Decide how she/he responds to other characters

Using Space and Movement

  • Make your movements appropriate to the task
  • Think about how you use the area you are in
  • Remember to use levels where necessary
  • Create the message through the movement

Finding solutions

  • Solve problems by using a different technique
  • Talk positively in your group about any difficulty
  • Use various Drama forms
  • Work as a team

Presenting your work to others

  • Be dynamic and energetic in performance
  • Concentrate throughout the presentation
  • Use your voice and the space effectively
  • Be aware of your audience

Discussing the Drama Work

  • Make positive and constructive comments
  • Observe the use of Drama Forms
  • Consider how the meaning is made clear
  • Comment on how effectively the piece worked

Writing and responding to Drama work

  • Present your work well
  • Illustrate where appropriate
  • Reflect on the issues
  • In role writing should be true to the character

Key Stage 3 Skills - Year 7

By the end of Year 7 students should:

Group Work: Be able to

  • Work in mixed sex and mixed ability groups
  • Work co-operatively with others
  • Listen attentively

Improvisation: Recognise and respond to

  • Spontaneous
  • Prepared
  • Whole class
  • T.I.R

Role-play: Create and sustain appropriate roles using

  • Language
  • Movement
  • Gesture

Response and Reflection: Be able to reflect on

  • A variety of stimuli
  • The process, through discussion
  • The product, through evaluation

Performance: Perform and spectate with concentration

  • Individually
  • In a pair
  • As part of a group
  • As a member of an audience

Key words and techniques

  • Freeze frames
  • Role play
  • Scene
  • Blocking
  • Sound collage
  • Thought-tracking
  • Sculpting
  • Narrator
  • Flash-back
  • Hot-seating
  • Split-stage
  • In-role writing

Key Stage 3 Skills - Year 8

By the end of Year 8 students should:

Group Work: Be able to

  • Work spontaneously in whole class improvisation
  • Shape and develop the Drama with autonomy

Improvisation: Be able to

  • Operate in improvisations with dramatic awareness

Role-play: Be able to

  • Create and sustain a variety of roles
  • Select and control movement and space

Response and Reflections: Be able to

  • perform and spectate with sustained concentration consolidating Year 7 performance skills

Key words and techniques:

  • Monologue
  • Concept of stereotype
  • Mood
  • Atmosphere
  • Focus
  • Tension
  • Mime/Mask/Movement
  • Realism
  • Movement collage

Key Stage 3 Skills - Year 9

By the end of Year 9 students should:

Group Work: Be able to

  • Show awareness of equal opportunities within the group
  • Demonstrate tolerance to others

Improvisation: Be able to

  • Select and apply skills effectively and with autonomy

Role-play: Be able to

  • Stimuli
  • Process
  • Performance
  • Issues

Response and Reflection: Be able to reflect creatively and thoughtfully on

  • Stimuli
  • Process
  • Performance
  • issues

Performance: Be able to approach performance with dramatic understanding of

  • Form
  • Skills
  • Style and genre

Key words and techniques:

  • Reportage
  • Stylised and symbolic movement
  • Non-realistic form
  • Dream sequence
  • Walk in freeze
  • Word collage
  • Forum theatre
  • Physical theatre
  • Stanislavskian Explorative Strategies
  • Brechtian Explorative Strategies

Year 10 Drama

Term 1: UNIT 3/1: Baseline Assessment: DEVISED: Stanislavski: Growing up

Term 2a: UNIT 2: Live Performance Review 2b: UNIT 1: DEVISED: The Hillsborough Disaster

Term 3a: UNIT 2: SCRIPT: Brecht: Fear & Miseries 3b: UNIT 2 completed/UNIT 1 Mock

Year 11 Drama

Term 1a: UNIT 2: SCRIPTED: Blood Brothers 1b: UNIT 1: DEVISED: Hidden Britain

Term 2a: UNIT 2: Live Performance Review 2b: UNIT 3: Practical Assessment

Term 3: Practical Assessment 

New content coming soon...

The Wizard of Oz - coming February 2023!

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KS3 Film & TV Workshop

By Yuvraj Dave (Year 7)

On Tuesday 7th June 2022 we were treated to a Film and TV workshop. Everybody had loads of fun whilst also learning many skills in the industry of acting for film. The workshop included students from Years 7, 8 & 9 and was run by a Film Director called Sophie from MN Academy who are based in central London. MN Academy teaches children how to be in front of the camera as well as the operations required behind camera and their talent is showcased in the form of short films made by the company. Sophie was very experienced and taught us how to perform to the camera in a believable way through the use of a script where two characters discussed a bank robbery in a cafe. We also explored how to ‘ad lib’ or “riff” our lines in order to help with character relationships and believability as well as how to perform as an “Extra” in order to make the scene appear real. All of the participants left having enjoyed themselves. I would like to thank Mrs Callender and Sophie from MN Academy for the exciting opportunity to participate.

Frantic Assembly Theatre Company visit GCSE drama students

By Devanshu Goel

Over time, the main forms of media people consume have evolved. Nowadays people opt for TV Shows or Movies – where every frame is puppeteered by the Director to rot in a DVD or Blu-Ray over years and decades. They mostly consist of a naturalistic style, where everything is meant to be a mirror to reality. In many ways, movies are a lot easier to create than plays or pieces of theatre as they do not pose the challenge of the audience being able to see everything on “screen” and they do seem to have more visually appealing elements, but after a while, these engineered perfections can get quite boring.  

That’s where Frantic Assembly comes in. 

Frantic Assembly (Frantic for short) is a UK-based theatre company that specializes in Physical Theatre. They have done a variety of different shows acrosss the UK, one of those being The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time, a play that close to 100 pupils across Year 7 and 8 went to go attend in June 2022. “The Frantic Method” differs from the traditional Stalinist director-actor dynamic and instead utilizes the creation of particular sequences or scenes to be done as an ensemble effort, with everyone having a role in the development. Year 10 GCSE Drama Students and next year’s Year 9 GCSE Drama Students experienced this first hand when a practitioner from Frantic, Michelle Edwards, came in to conduct a 4 – hour long workshop.  

Michelle wasted no time getting us up on our feet and had us do a thorough warm-up to both get our muscles working and get us out of our heads and allow us to be freer. We paired up and got started with a sort of trust-building exercise where our partner would lead us around the room with their hand whilst we were blind - this introduced us to one of the key principles: Consistency of pressure. We did not waste much time at all and got onto some lifts where we applied the first principle along with the second – Give all your weight. It took some time for most people to allow themselves to do this but once they did things got rolling very quickly. We learned many different lifts such as pocket lifts, clamp lifts, wrap lifts, and even had a go at making our own. If you take a glance at the Herschel Twitter, you will see me (a 6 foot 2 individual) being spun around like a lightsaber during a lift specially designed for tall people. The energy in the room was non-stop, everyone was having fun and was focused on the task. I imagine this must’ve been a nice experience for the Year 9s as this was their first taste of what GCSE Drama had to offer and a nice change of pace from their Core Drama lessons, where lots of people don’t particularly want to be there. People who did want to be there, however, certainly were Ms Wood and Mrs Forrest-Smith.  

 We combined natural movement with lifts in with these things called “Squeeze Duets”. This is where it was all coming together, this Is what Frantic Assembly was all about – combining basic movement ideas and developing them to make something much more meaningful. We choreographed these pieces and then chose moments or movements that naturally exuded meaning and developed them to change the focus – creating raw, visceral emotion with nothing but ourselves and music. The whole workshop really opened my eyes to forms of devising drama and gave me a lot of ideas to include in my final GCSE component 1 performance (which will be performed at the end of June). In our performances, we only have about 15 minutes of time to work with, and to develop character and emotion purely through dialogue as you see in Movies and Television is boring and ineffective. I think the ideas behind squeeze duets and lifts could be used a lot more instead of showing abstract emotions and such. Transitioning is also something I think Frantic Assembly could help with as (in the words of both Michelle and Mrs. Callender) “Blackouts, chair shuffling is boring!!!”. 

All in all, it was a very positive experience. If anyone ever has a chance to go watch a Frantic show I would highly recommend it as I have been and it was BRILLIANT.  The workshop has certainly taught me valuable lessons as well as provided me with a very enjoyable experience as it has for everyone else. Thanks! 

 

Young Leadership Scheme

Click here to see this page (with links) on the Norden Farm website

 Work Experience

Click here to see this page (with links) on the Norden Farm website

Years 10-13 (age 15+)

Do you like Films/Theatre shows?

Or are you looking to complete your Skill or Volunteering section of the Duke of Edinburgh Award?

If you are aged 15-25 and interested in learning exciting new skills about organising, programming and screening film or working part-time in a professional theatre (age 16+) then please go to The Curve website for more information:

https://thelink.slough.gov.uk/news/young-film-programmers-launch-curve

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The creative industries are growing three times faster than the rest of the UK economy. 1 in 11 jobs in the UK is in the creative industries and 87% of those jobs are at low or no risk of automation according to the UK Office for National Statistics alongside the medical practitioners and educational teaching professionals. The government predicts that hundreds of thousands of jobs within the creative industry will be created within the next five years

There are some brilliant opportunities to find about more about a creative career in theatre of film over the next few weeks. Please do consider attending these festivals if this kind of career is of interest where you will have the chance to meet professionals such as presenters, performers, TV & film producers, production managers, sound engineers, technicians, architects, radio journalists, graphic designers, digital marketeers, playwrights, games developers, photographers and set builders.

This week’s #careeroftheweek is an Production Manager and the video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AoMpN3VVyM

Katrina Gilroy describes the theatre production process and how and why the role of production manager has changed. You can also watch the video and read the transcript here: http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/ind... Get more information, advice and resources to help you develop a creative career at http://www.creative-choices.co.uk

 

 Another job is Technical Director https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSRoUN4Drus

Technical Director Mike Cristaldi supervises the installation and engineering of the physical production of a show. At Philadelphia Theatre Company, he coordinates all the technical elements, such as scenery, lighting, sound, wardrobe, props, and video, between each of PTC's departments and a show's designers. He talks about how the new Suzanne ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pGVlGTXNWc

How does an Assistant Technical Director “turn art into engineering”? What education can help a person make a door look right…from 20 feet away? Learn how Lee O’Reilly combines skills, art, and craft to translate designers’ visions into scenery onstage at Center Theatre Group in this Working in Theatre video.


COMMON MISCONCEPTION - If I want to go into the medical profession, I cannot take Drama at A-Level

WRONG!

Actually, someone could select 2 sciences PLUS Drama and still go into the medical profession (RUSSELL GROUP - informedchoices.ac.uk) This is an outstanding way of showing that you can demonstrate a variety of skills and have a clear understanding of communication and human behaviour! 

 

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