Drama 

Term One kicked off to a strong start for Year Two and Three students in Drama over the past two weeks. Students began by forming essential agreements which included fundamental principles of entering a Performing Arts space. One of the most important points that we agreed upon is the motivation to simply ‘Have a go!’. 

Student participation is essential to Drama. This is not only based on the practise of getting up and performing in front of an audience; it is based on the ability to share and express what we think and how we feel simply but eloquently. The ability to effectively express our thoughts and feelings is important to all industries, not just limited to the dramatic arts, but it is an ability that can be directly strengthened in Drama classes. 

The students were excited to learn that they will be working towards creating their own short films. After conceptualising a story and forming a script, students will shoot footage on their own devices and edit the footage on iMovie. These films will go towards an end-of-term showcase for each class which parents and families can enjoy online. 

However, the starting point for making these short films is creating characters. Students were led through an exercise where they invent and visualise a character and completely flesh out this character with all the qualities of a real person or creature. This process draws elements of the students’ playtime into the classroom, but it is also a fantastic way to strengthen a sense of empathy by putting oneself into the perspective of someone else. 

After forming small groups, the students then improvised to determine what relationship their characters might have to one another and then the detailed setting in which they might find themselves. Once these factors were decided upon as a group, elements of plot begin to write themselves! The students’ work was phenomenal and the level of speed, detail and enthusiasm that they brought to this first session was hopefully a positive indicator of an exciting term ahead.