Year 7 Drama

Going to the theatre is one of the best things to do to support your child in Drama. The experience of live performance is hard to be replicated in any other way, including on television and at the cinema. Seeing a range of performances will help students in all 3 strands of assessment in Drama:

  • Creating: seeing different styles of performance, creative use of design elements, and interesting characters and plot lines will give students a bank of ideas to draw on when creating their own Drama
  • Performing: seeing professional actors live is the best possible example of performance skills
  • Evaluating: reflecting on what they have seen and analysing what it meant as an audience member is a key skill required in Drama

Take a trip to the theatre to see a live performance. Try to pick something that isn’t a pantomime or musical if you can.

There are some great local theatres including The Belgrade, The Birmingham Rep, The Alexandra, The Birmingham Hippodrome, and of course The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford.

After the performance have a discussion about what you saw – below are some things to think about:

  • Which character stood out to you and why?
  • What type of voice did the actor use?
  • How did they move, what body language and facial expressions did they show? What did this tell us about the character?
  • How would you describe the style of the performance? Was it like real life and naturalistic? Was it a bit weird (abstract or surreal)?
  • Describe the set – what was on the stage? Did this show where the play was taking place? Did it have a more symbolic meaning?
  • Was lighting used to suggest the setting or atmosphere?
  • Music and sound effects can have a great effect on an audience – what was used in the production you saw? How did it make you feel?
  • Was the costume really naturalistic or was it minimalistic and symbolic? Why do you think the designer chose to do that?
  • Did you notice any conventions in the performance such as still images, thought-tracking, cross-cutting, marking the moment?

If you do go to the theatre please let your Drama teacher know and share your experiences with the rest of your class – you’ll have some great ideas to share with everyone and hopefully you’ll be inspired too!