This introductory unit consists of a variety of games and warm up activities to get students used to the drama space. Students will learn to balance their space, practise listening and communicating skills and experiment with their voices and bodies to have intended effects on the audience. A group mime develops non verbal communication skills. A group piece develops storytelling including still images, thought tracking and narration. A duologue called ‘My Fault’ consolidates skills learnt to showcase talent and extend script writing skills for alternative endings.
Ongoing formative assessment.
Mime
The theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression, and movement.
Verbal Communication
Use of words to convey a thought.
Non Verbal Communication
Use of body language and facial expression to convey a mood or message.
Still Image
Still images and freeze frames are both a form of tableau. With freeze-frame, the action in a play or scene is frozen, as in a photograph or video frame.
Thought Tracking
Thought-tracking helps inform an audience about a character. You see it in action when: a character speaks out loud about his/her inner thoughts at a particular moment in the drama.
Soliloquy
An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
Monologue
A long speech by one actor in a play or film, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast programme.
Focus
The centre of interest or activity; to ensure attention is on specific thing.
Concentration
The action or power of focusing all one's attention.
Improvisation
Something that is improvised, in particular a piece of music, drama, etc. created spontaneously or without preparation.
Devising
Plan or invent (a complex procedure, system, or mechanism) by careful thought.
Script
the dialogue the actors speak, including stage directions
Ensemble
A group of actors working together ( from the French for 'together' )
Develop the individual:
Develops communication skills, considers views of others, explores issues.
Create a supportive community:
Working together, sharing and celebrating creative achievements.
Students will learn a variety of techniques to have dramatic impact in role play – hot seating, thought tracking, back story, slow motion, mark the moment, still image, cross cutting and narration. They will learn to empathise with different character types that find themselves in the following situations: Surprise party, the Olympics, a pirate, on holiday and moving house. Students are required to put themselves in the place of characters or real people and speak from their point of view. Students will explore emotions, feelings and motivations in detail and depth and demonstrate their ability to understand actions.
Students choose one of the topic lessons to base a performance on.
Split Screen
Two things happening on the stage at the same time, but one side is frozen
Thought track
Saying out loud how the character might be feeling at a particular moment
Flashforward
A scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story
Devising
Creating a piece of drama
Improvising
Making it up on the spot
Role-play
Playing a part; being in role; pretending to be someone other than yourself
Narration
A person tells the story as it is performed
Flashback
A scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point of the story
Develop the individual:
Develops communication skills, considers views of others, explores issues.
Create a supportive community:
Collaborating and working together to share creativity.
Students will explore and improvise the mystery of the Manor House. They will create characters using role-play and develop their physical theatre skills to communicate a story.
Ongoing formative assessment.
Explore
Look at different aspects of something.
Tension
Where the audience's emotions and senses are raised as a result of events or dialogue in a performance.
Physical theatre
using movement and physicality to communicate meaning to an audience
facial expression
Using your face to communicate emotions
gesture
using an action to communicate a meaning eg a wave, pointing
space/spatial
an area or expanse/use of that area
ensemble
working together as a group
Develop the individual:
Collaboration. Creativity.
Create a supportive community:
Working together, sharing and celebrating creative achievements.
Students will be taught about the two differing styles of acting and their forms and conventions through various stimuli and role plays. They will discuss the impact of the differing styles and give constructive comments and the relative strengths and weaknesses about each method and intended effects on the audience.
They will evaluate contrasting performances, as well as creating one each of their own for assessment, in groups.
Exaggeration
Placing emphasis on movement, gesture or facial expressions
Practitioner
A person actively engaged in an Art Discipline who has created a Theory to be applied
Berkoff
Steven Berkoff, an English actor, author and playwright
exaggerate
to make bigger than is normal
stylised
in a particular style, often unusual
comedy/comedic
a funny story/in the style of something funny
characterisation
becoming a character both physically and vocally
Develop the individual:
Develops communication skills, considers views of others, explores issues.
Create a supportive community:
Collaborating and sharing work.
Students will learn to explore different characters in a variety of situations. A variety of techniques will be used to help them identify with the character’s motivations and consequences of their actions. They will be required to put themselves in the place of characters and communicate from their point of view. In pairs and groups, students will explore emotions, feelings and motivations in detail and depth and demonstrate their ability to understand actions, seeing that early childhood experiences can have life long effects.
Ongoing formative assessment.
Stereotype
A widely held, but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
Body Language
How movement, gesture and facial expressions add to your character
Empathy
Putting yourself into someone else's shoes
Narration
The voice of the story teller
Skeleton Script
A starting point for performance
Signature Move
A movement that sums up a character's attitudes or personality
Voice
The sound produced in speech or song
vocal
using the voice
physical
using the body
pitch
how high or low someone speaks
pace
how fast or slow someone speaks
tone
the emotional quality of someone's voice eg angry, envious, happy, fearful
projection
speaking with power and clarity so the audience can hear
Develop the individual:
Develops communication skills, empathy, considers views of others, explores issues.
Create a supportive community:
Collaborating, creating and sharing as a joint endeavour.
Students explore the plot, characters and themes of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
A devised piece based on the themes of the play.
theme
an idea that runs through a story eg magic, love, revenge
Shakespearean
relating to Shakespeare
rhyme
when the words sound the same
Develop the individual:
Communication skills, using and understanding scripts and Shakespearean language (how language has changed over time); consideration of right and wrong; explores issues around arranged marriage.
Create a supportive community:
Collaborative work that is shared. Creativity that is celebrated.
New Description
Develop the individual:
Create a supportive community: