Head of Drama, Mrs Emma Farrell talks about this year's Year 11 drama performances where, despite the disruption to performing together during the various lockdowns, the pupils have remained dedicated and focused throughout. The result has been some fantastic drama performances ranging from courtroom dramas to brilliantly timed comedy.
This year we have had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented and hardworking Year 11 students we have ever had the privilege of teaching.
As well as their excellent written mock exams and coursework, this group have created some of the most excellent practical pieces we have seen in many years.
Two main components of the GCSE course are practical. Firstly the students have to write, rehearse and perform an original play based on a stimulus given by the exam board. The pieces can go in any direction but must be performed in the style of the group’s chosen theatre practitioner.
We allow absolute creative freedom to the students and they choose the practitioner based on their own preferred style. To create the pieces they start with a quote or picture and note any ideas that it might invoke, from there a thread of an idea will begin to form and an avenue of research comes from that and so the piece grows.
This year we had a wonderfully diverse range of pieces, from courtroom dramas, to a sinister piece set in Chernobyl and a very abstract Artaud piece about the ethics of drug testing.
The second performance they worked on was an extract from a published play and we choose this based on their strengths, preferred performance style and what will challenge them as actors. This year we had a larger than usual range of comedy pieces. Comedy is hard, timing can be challenging but with such a strong group finishing off the course, and a tough couple of years, generating as many laughs as possible was important to us and they did not disappoint.
What was really special about working with this group was the fact that they recognised from day one in Year 10 how important extra rehearsals and independent preparation is in the success of their performance.
We were in the Tithe Barn with one group or another every evening for weeks in the lead up to the performances. It was just a joy to see the commitment and passion every boy demonstrated and it totally paid off in the final performances.
