Drama

At Bangor Grammar School, Drama & Theatre Studies is a popular and well-established subject. It is a demanding subject in the fields of creative, practical and communication skills. Drama links well with all the arts subjects, but particularly with English. It is valuable for entry to all types of career where good communication skills are important. It is not, therefore, just for aspiring actors and actresses.

Department Staff

Subject Curriculum

Key Stage 3

All pupils in the first two years at Bangor Grammar School have two weekly Drama lessons, taught by Mrs K Payne, Mr D Cunningham and Ms D Cannon.

In Year 8 an important element of Drama is to bind the class together to create a secure, safe atmosphere. This is essential for the production of imaginative and creative work. The pupils devise stories and plays using mime, movement and improvisation. Through working "in role" they develop the confidence to discuss, solve problems and evaluate their solutions.

In Year 9 and Year 10 there is a further emphasis on pupils investigating ideas using drama strategies and methods and becoming involved in aspects of performance, improvisation, script reading and writing.

Examination courses

GCSE Drama

GCSE Drama is a very popular option. We currently have four groups in Year 11 and Year 12. Pupils study three workshop-based modules:

• Blood Brothers
• Devising Theatre
• Lord of the Flies

A-Level Drama

In the Sixth Form, as well as developing performance skills, students look at the History of Theatre from The Greeks, Mask & Mime, Elizabethan theatre right up to the 20th Century practitioners – Stanislavski, Brecht, Artaud, Berkoff, Brook & Boal.

course comprises of 3 units (AS) and 6 units for a complete Advanced GCE (A2).

Unit 1: Exploration of Drama & Theatre 15%
Students study 2 plays of differing genre, style or playwright through practical workshops and written coursework.

Unit 2: Text in Performance I 20%
Students perform a piece of scripted performance (15-30mins) in groups of 3-9. These will be observed and marked by an outside examiner.

Unit 3: Written Exam 15%
Students sit a written exam to review a piece of live theatre viewed outside the class from the perspective of an Actor/ Director or Designer. They answer questions on the process of their group rehearsals and performance of Unit 2.

Unit 4: Devising 20%
Students work in groups of between 3-9 to devise an original piece of performance for presentation to an audience.

Unit 5 : Text in Performance II 15%
An in-depth study of a play from the point of view of a director, designer or performer.

Unit 6 : Text in Context II 15%
In section A you will study “The Trojan Woman” by Euripides from the point of view of a director. In section B the student is required to compare 2 productions of a Shakespeare text from different angles

Extra-curricular activities

The school plays are a particularly outstanding feature of Bangor Grammar School. During the school year there are a number of productions where pupils from every year group have an opportunity to take part. Recent productions have included Our Day Out, The Merchant of Venice and Mack (a gangster version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth). This year’s production was an adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s modern classic, Our Town.

In December a party of 40 sixth form Politics and Drama students visited London for a four day educatrional visit. During our time there we visted Parliament and had a guided tour of 10 Downing Street. We also saw Cabaret and Frost Nixon in the West End and visited the Globe Theatre and the Tate Gallery.

While in Parliament we had a question and answer session with Lembit Opik, Kate Hoey and the inimitable Boris Johnson.

In what was a packed schedule some of us also took in the West Ham v Blackburn Premier League football match. This was an extremely enjoyable and worthwhile trip and our thanks go to Lady Sylvia Hermon our local M.P. for all her kind assistance in the organisation of the visits.