Drama

Drama

Drama offers a dynamic, exciting and practical style of study in which students learn through experience and develop the confidence to participate in a range of creative activities. Drama helps build life and future-proof employment skills such as creativity, problem-solving, empathy, compassion, adaptability, emotional intelligence, judgment, and collaboration. Drama also helps improve self-esteem in a safe environment where students are encouraged to innovative, take risks, and strive for excellence.

The aim of all Barker Drama courses is to provide students with performance and production experiences that encourage them to imagine, create and communicate ideas and stories in a variety of theatrical forms, while mastering skills and dispositions that prepare them for life.

Areas studied

Ancient Greek Theatre - Where it all began in the West; the birth of character - physical and vocal storytelling with a modern twist.

Monologue Performance - Building the courage of each student to offer and accept ideas, develop their listening, improve their vocal skills and create engaging work using Australian stories as a base for an Individual Performance.

Comedy - From Shakespearean comedy to the characters of Commedia Dell’Arte; workshopping and exploring a range of comedic styles and skills through voice and physicality as well as clowning and physical slapstick.

Film - Creating, writing, filming, directing, starring in and editing their own films! Students work in groups to learn about the art of visual storytelling through film culminating in the BOSCARS - Barker's own red-carpet event where students and are invited to dress to the nines and watch these wonderful stories.

Assessment Structure

Year 10

Through a combination of practical and theoretical study Year 10 Drama students develop skills in performance, directing and design, learning how to create engaging theatre by making, performing and appreciating. The Year 10 course helps build a solid foundation for students contemplating Drama for the HSC, for those students wanting to enter careers in the performing arts as well as for those who want to foster and improve their confidence and presentation skills.

Students may study Year 10 Drama without having previously taken it in Year 9. It is not a prerequisite for entry into the 2 Unit HSC Drama course. However, it is regarded as invaluable preparation for senior Drama.

Course Outline:

Production and Design: Students become fully functioning theatre companies operating in a real-life experience where they take on a production role and work collaboratively to create a performance that will be a part of Barker’s Immersive Children’s Theatre Festival.  This is an annual event which Barker students from Years 1 and 2 are the audience. Each Year 10 Drama theatre company transform a children’s book into a theatrical world that can be experienced by their audiences. The production process includes students developing a pitch of their theatrical ideas to a panel of “producers” (Drama teachers). They must have complete and effective lighting, set, costume, sound and marketing designs.

They must also demonstrate robust stage and production management skills, paying strict attention to budgets, control of resources (space, equipment, time), scheduling, and risk assessments. Each student will also submit a design render of their own choosing (set, costume, lighting, marketing mimicking HSC Drama design projects).

Once the panel has approved the companies’ ideas, they then go into production, turning their designs into a reality, creating performances for the festival from scratch. During the festival, audiences move from one immersive children’s theatre space to the next, participating in an exciting, sensorial, engaging experience. On the day of the festival, Year 10 Drama act as performers, crew, tour guides and, audience members themselves.

Script Analysis: Students learn to deconstruct text to perform a convincing duologue through a scene or song. Theatrical styles in focus are Elizabethan (Shakespeare), and Musicals. Students explore scripts as the source for all action, interpreting and responding to the various styles accordingly. They practise taking it from the page to the stage under their own direction and choreography.

Political Theatre: Students will explore different styles of political theatre including the work of Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal, in order to devise their own group performance based on Australian political and social issues. The assessment for this is a showcase evening where families and friends are invited to be an audience.

Film (Mockumentary): In groups, students create, script, film, act and edit their own mockumentary style short film. A hilarious and fun filled unit where students develop their story telling and technical film skills.

Assessment Structure

Year 11 Drama is a practical and theoretical opportunity for students to build on their theatrical skills including playbuilding, performance, directing and collaboration. Students study a range of styles learning to analyse and interpret text, perform in depth characters confidently and create their own engaging, original and entertaining group performances.

It is not a prerequisite for entry into the 2 Unit HSC Drama course to have taken Year 9 or 10 Drama. However, it is regarded as invaluable preparation for Senior Drama.

Because of the group performance element in Senior Drama, it is essential students are able to demonstrate they can work collaboratively with others. Students who have difficulty working in a team, performing or sharing ideas with others should consider their choice of this subject very carefully.

Content areas studied:

Realism - Students explore the style of Realism, specifically the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and his system for creating truthful and in-depth characters on stage. We study the work of Henrik Ibsen and Ayad Akhtar with students ultimately creating and performing an individual performance and folio of directorial choices.

Non-Realism/Expressionism - Through the practical study of Absurdism, Expressionism and Physical Theatre (Clowning) students develop a deeper understanding of how Non-Realistic theatre can transport an audience into their sub-conscious as well as make them think about world issues.

This unit culminates in a group performance showcase evening where family and friends are invited to attend and see the student’s challenging, thought-provoking and entertaining work.

Assessment