Theatre Studies

This course focuses on drama and theatre studies as a practical, intellectual and artistic subject. You will engage in plenty of practical exercises, acting training and performances, but you will also learn how to write and think about drama and theatre as an art form and as a crucial component of our cultural life.

Acting is part of our everyday life; we all behave in different ways with different people and in order to achieve different ends. The AS and A2 theatre studies course does not simply investigate ‘the theatre’ and ‘plays’, but also offers each student a chance to explore different kinds of roles; how to be assertive or confident; what kinds of behaviour or movement, tones of voice, body language and so forth make a person influential and what makes them less successful. All of this traditionally untaught knowledge becomes available when studying and performing the great variety of dramatic characters in literary history – and a few that you’ll make up as well.

As drama is a live art form some of the ‘texts’ for study will be live performances. You will learn how to engage in performance analysis and will attend at least six performances a year. Due to the ephemeral nature of such performances it is essential that you are able to attend each of these events; dates will be clarified in advance.  Above all, drama and theatre studies is tremendous fun as well as being intellectually and creatively challenging.

For the A Level curriculum please visit www.edexcel.org.uk