Academic/Subject Departments
Drama & Theatre Studies
Pygmalion - our most recent major production
Curriculum
The emphasis in our lessons is on acting skills and effective communication, but design and technical skills are also addressed and at GCSE and AS/A-level pupils can choose to be examined in costume design, make-up, mask making, sound or lighting.Lessons often begin with a short physical warm-up or concentration exercise followed by the girls working in small groups either devising their own dramas, or rehearsing extracts from published plays which are then performed before the rest of the class and evaluated by the “audience”.
Polished performances take place in the drama studio which is fully equipped with sound and lighting and the girls can also make use of a digital projector if they wish to include back-projections or moving image in their performances.
Girls are also taught how to evaluate live theatre and many trips run throughout the year, including visits to local productions and ones further afield such as to RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and performances of popular plays and musicals in London’s West End. Girls have even seen Broadway productions as part of an extra-curricular drama tour to New York.
Drama workshop during our Study Visit to New York
Written homework includes assignments such as writing-in-role, drawing and justifying ideas for theatre costumes, writing plays and essays.
Drama Clubs and Competitions
In addition to curriculum drama, there are lunch time drama clubs where the girls have the chance to relax and meet new friends, learn about theatre skills and they can even put on productions of plays in the drama studio. There is also an annual Lower School Acting Competition open to any girl in Years 7 to 9 and certificates and prizes are awarded for the best performances.School Play and Other Performances
The school play is an exciting event in the school calendar; last year’s was Pygmalion performed in the school hall, and past productions have included the glorious Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, performed at the Montgomery Theatre in Sheffield City Centre, and Alan Bennett’s adaptation of Wind in the Willows performed at the Merlin Theatre in Nether Edge. Auditions are open to all years and for all productions there are always plenty of backstage jobs that need to be filled. Girls can therefore also take responsibility for various production elements and even take on the role of the stage manager if they have excellent organisational skills.
Getting ready for 'Grimm Up North', written by our own Mr Thomas
Smaller school productions also take place every other year in the Drama Studio; for example, recently Year 10 and 12 students presented It’s Grimm up North, a play written by our own Mr Thomas in the Drama Department and, two years ago, a Year 7 and 8 production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was directed by the Year 13 A-level Theatre Studies students; this year, pupils in Years 8 and 9 will be involved in a summer production. There are also drama evenings which provide girls with the opportunity to perform monologues or duologues before an invited audience of friends and family and each year the Department teams up with the English Department to present an evening of rehearsed readings of poems and prose written by members of the school’s Creative Writing Club.
A scene from Pygmalion
Sixth form students are currently involved in an exciting partnership with the Sheffield branch of the Royal Society for the Blind, providing features for the Society’s live radio broadcasts for which they also write and perform jingles.