Drama Curriculum Intent

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.”
Oscar Wilde

Performance is something so powerful, personal and visceral that we want all of our students to have the chance to experience it. We want our students to be inspired, challenged and moved by stories about what it means to be human.

Creativity, empathy and cooperation are the foundation to our Drama curriculum, providing the starting point for students to explore theatre. We use devising and students’ natural curiosity and creativity to encourage them to explore the world around them; what has gone before, what the future may bring and what is happening right now. We study the influential styles of Frantic Assembly, Stanislavski and Brecht to offer a rich and diverse curriculum which develops students’ performance skills and theatrical literacy. The Toot Hill Drama team provide students with further cultural capital through meaningful text choices, some with thought-provoking themes and others exploring the delights of making an audience laugh. We offer students the opportunity to be collectively creative, to explore ideas and attitudes and to feel the wonder of performing.

Through the Drama curriculum, we choose to teach our students:

The impact theatre has had on culture and how it can be used to both entertain and provoke.
The visceral power of performance on the actor and audience.
How to harness their creativity and express themselves through performance and design.
How to express and understand emotions in both themselves and others.
To critically analyse and evaluate performance and design; skills crucial to the understanding of our multi-media world.
Skills for life, such as vocal and body language skills for public speaking, confidence, dedication and teamwork which will underpin their futures.