Drama

Years 7 and 8

Drama and Theatre Studies is a very successful subject in Gordonstoun and has some very well established roots in Aberlour. The experience gained here is designed to support the confidence of all students and contribute to their team-building skills later on in school life, whether applied in a performance context, or, more likely, on a day to day basis.

Years 7 & 8 have one session of Drama per week, which lasts approximately one and a half hours. The overall structure of these sessions is as follows:

Register and introduction to the plan (a calm and focused 5 minutes)
Warm-up games
One or two exercises, using drama skills which link with...
Drama tasks with a specific focus, theme or issue for the session which may (but not always) lead to
A show and share section, with review
Wind-down game

The work of both year groups explores facial expression, body language, and vocal quality. It aims to build awareness of all these elements, then experiment with detail, leading to different styles of characterisation.

Some specific details on Year 7

Taught for approximately half of the school year, starting mid-November and ending at the Easter Break, Drama is delivered to the whole year group, by two specialist teachers.

Focus is on communication and control.

Sessions include:

Mime
Freeze-frames
Mask
Spot-light

Areas of exploration include:

Trapped!
The Elevator
In The Hospital

Some specific details on Year 8

Half of the year group are taught Drama by two specialist teachers, whilst the other half has Dance lessons for the Autumn term. They then swap for Spring Term. In the Summer Term, the skills learnt are combined into a cross-creative experience!

Focus is on group-skills, concentration, and imagination.

Sessions include: