Drama

In this course students will focus on exploring the use of movement and voice to develop a range of characters, create and perform characters in a range of roles and build and perform plays through improvisation and storytelling.

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA: Semester One
In this course the key elements of Drama are explored with an emphasis on applying the elements of time and place to make dramatic meaning in performance, developing the use of tension and focus to make drama works more exciting and exploring the use of ritual and symbol to create dramatic impact.

IMPROVISATION SKILLS: Semester Two
In this course students are encouraged to work with the bare bones of theatre. Students are required to improvise performances, extending ideas into full length presentations. They will explore a range of comic forms of drama and perform in a scripted melodrama.

COLLABORATIVE THEATRE: Semester One
In this course the study of theatre forms allows students to work with formal theatre structures. Students explore the trends and developments of theatre in a range of periods and styles. The end goal of the course is the presentation of a traditional theatre performance.

THEATRE FORMS: Semester Two
In this course students explore the methods used to devise original theatre in a collaborative context. This requires students to take on roles as performers and in the production team. The students work with both scripted and devised texts, selecting the material with which they want to work.

DRAMA ATAR Units 1 and 2

The Drama ATAR course focuses on drama in practice and aesthetic understandings as students integrate their knowledge and skills. They engage in drama processes such as improvisation, play building, text interpretation, playwriting and dramaturgy. This allows them to create original drama and interpret a range of texts written or devised by others. Students’ work in this course also includes production and design aspects involving scenography, costumes, sound and lighting. Unit 1 focuses on representational, realist drama. Unit 2 focuses on presentational, non-realist drama.

DRAMA GENERAL Units 1 and 2
The Drama General course focuses on drama in practice and aesthetic understandings as students integrate their knowledge and skills. They engage in drama processes such as improvisation, play building, text interpretation, playwriting and dramaturgy. This allows them to create original drama and interpret a range of texts written or devised by others. Students’ work in this course also includes production and design aspects involving scenography, costumes, sound and lighting. Unit 1 focuses on dramatic storytelling. Unit 2 focuses on drama performance events.

DRAMA ATAR Units 3 and 4

Unit 3 – Reinterpretation of drama for contemporary audiences
The focus for this unit is to reinterpret dramatic text, context, forms and styles for contemporary audiences through applying theoretical practitioner approaches. This includes physical theatres approaches, such as Jacque Lecoq, Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki and text based approaches, such as Theatre of the Absurd, Asian theatre and Poor theatre. In this unit students work on the reinterpretation of text, subtext, context and form and style through in-depth study.

Unit 4 – Contemporary and devised drama
The focus for this unit is interpreting, manipulating and synthesising a range of practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary and devised drama. This includes contemporary theatre approaches, such as Barrie Kosky and Robert Lepage and experimental approaches, such as Robert Wilson and VE Meyerhold. In this unit, students show their understanding of how a range of practical and theoretical approaches manipulate the elements of drama to devise and perform original work.