Drama and Theatre Studies

Course summary

Drama in the Sixth Form at Manchester High School for Girls is exciting and rigorous. All students are encouraged and challenged to create, perform and respond to high-quality practical work. The students work cooperatively and collaboratively in a creative environment, producing daring and precise practical end products. Performing in front of a live audience requires courage and discipline. Teachers support students in year Junior and Senior Sixth, making this a natural part of their lessons. In addition to this, students learn to evaluate their work and that of their peers in a sensitive, honest and specific way. By developing a specialist dramatic vocabulary, they have the correct language to move practical work forward. Students explore theory through practice and are continuously challenged and supported to look beyond their everyday spheres to more international practices, more marginalised playwrights and more exciting theatrical processes. We aim to instil in our students a lifelong appreciation of the dramatic arts. We will extend their knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the subject through stimulating, energetic and well-planned lessons. We want them to see that ‘process’ Drama sits comfortably alongside ‘product,’ allowing them to grow as people and develop their self-esteem through the actual doing, as well as producing high-quality products fit for an audience. The A-level course incorporates practical and theoretical work. The theory components incorporate the study of set plays and the evaluation of the work of live theatre makers. The practical components incorporate the creation and performance of devised drama as well as the performance and interpretation of several extracts. In each of the practical components, students may contribute as performers, designers or producers.