Drama & Theatre Studies

EdExcel

Paston has a long tradition of excellence in drama and the performing arts and many students go on to study Drama, Theatre and Performance at universities including Kent, Exeter, Hull, Middlesex, Lancaster, Leicester, Warwick and Winchester.

Students have also been successful in gaining places at top Drama Schools such as East 15, LAMDA, Rose Bruford and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

You will be taught by Drama specialists who have worked in the professional theatre and you will work in the College’s 150 seat theatre with a full lighting and sound rigs.
You will also have the opportunity to be a member of Paston’s student theatre company ‘Far East’ which puts on two or more productions every year and tours one of these.

Drama and Theatre fits well alongside a broad range of other AS subjects including English. It is well thought of by many employers and as a good A-level for careers in professions including the police, social work, teaching, journalism, TV, radio and any work which involves contact with people.

AS Drama & Theatre Studies

This course is an exciting way for you to explore and perform plays and relate your work to theoretical ideas. It is a practical way of helping you analyse texts and interpret them in performance. You will develop confidence as well as your ability to communicate effectively with others.

You will have the opportunity to:
• Explore two contrasting plays in workshops such as ‘Metamorphosis’ by Berkoff and ‘Blood Wedding’ by Lorca.
• Produce an acting performance from a play of your choice.
• Make a mask or puppet.
• Design a set, lighting or sound plot for a play of your choice.
• Work in small groups of 6 to produce a final production of a scripted play.
• Develop your analytical and evaluative skills of the rehearsal process and live performance.

Entry requirements

A minimum of BBCCC at GCSE including English/English Language and Mathematics or a science.

Assessment

A practical and a written examination.

A2 Drama & Theatre Studies

This course gives you the fantastic opportunity to continue to develop and extend your creativity.

You have the chance to combine the activities of exploring plays, devising theatre and performing. If you are successful on this course you will have a thorough understanding of drama and theatre, highly developed analytical skills and an ability to communicate effectively with others.

You will have the opportunity to:
• Further develop your practical and analytical skills of the rehearsal process and live professional theatre.
• Work in groups co-operatively to produce a devised, unique and original piece to perform to an audience.
• Develop your own ideas as a director for your own interpretation of a production of a classic play such as ‘Lysistrata’ by Aristophanes.
• Apply theoretical ideas to your own creative solutions.
• Review a live professional performance such as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Globe Theatre London and study how this play might have been performed when first written and at another period in history as well as our own.

Assessment

Practical examination and a written examination.