Year 9 Drama

Term 

What are we learning 

1 

Practitioners

Students will be introduced to 3 giants of the performing arts world. This taster will allow them to experiment with some famous styles and techniques and put these into practice with their own performance. The unit will finish with the creation of their own script and performance to peers.  

2 

Improvisation 

Students learn to work spontaneously and co-operatively in a variety of group sizes. They will spontaneously improvise in a variety of ways including learning improvisations ‘dos and don’ts’. Students will also develop and apply the technique of spontaneous improvisation to a variety of stimuli. Students will then create, develop and perform polished improvisations as well as reflect and evaluate their own work and that of others. 

3 

Page to Stage- Noughts and Crosses

Students will combine the works of Stanislavski, Brecht and Frantic Assembly, to explore the play “Noughts and Crosses” They will explore different themes, including segregation, racism, love, hate and family dynamics. They will use this to then create in class performances, as well as an ending performance, using a script.   

4 and 5

Verbatim- Missing Dan Nolan

 This Scheme of work will cover two terms and introduce students to the Verbatim style of theatre using the text Missing Dan Nolan. ‘Missing Dan Nolan, written by Mark Wheeler is based on the true story of a teenager named Dan Nolan, who went missing on 1 January 2002. Over the course of the unit, students will learn and understand the Social, Cultural and Historical context of the play and how this can impact the interpretation and staging of the play. Students will also learn about the style of Verbatim theatre and how it is performed word for word from real life accounts, challenging the skills they have learned when creating a character.  

6 

Drama Festival

Using all the skills studied in previous units, students will be given a stimulus to create drama from and will be going up against all other Yr 8 classes, as well as all of Yr 7 and Yr 9.  

They will have several devising workshops and will then be given an opportunity to create their own interpretation of a stimulus.  This unit will be an introduction to students who wish to take GCSE Drama at Swindon Academy. Students’ knowledge and understanding of DEVISING drama will be introduced and this will enhance their practical performance skills. 

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