Drama and Theatre

Drama

The Threepenny Opera

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Drama

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Drama

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Drama

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Drama

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Drama

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Subject leader:

At Robert Clack, drama students are encouraged to develop their communication and collaboration skills, working proactively towards outcomes where individual efforts come together to form a collective whole. Students learn that through strong focus and careful negotiation, they can become part of a much greater achievement in which the final outcomes are bigger than what they would have achieved alone. This emphasis on shared responsibility and teamwork are defining factors of our success and what makes studying drama at Robert Clack so special.

Studying Drama encourages students to:

Acquire a personal interest in drama, theatre and live performance.
Develop essential communication skills, encourage teamwork and negotiation.
Gain a better understanding of human behaviour and empathy with situations that might seem distant from their own lives.
Work imaginatively and creatively, generating, developing and communicating ideas
Reflect on and evaluate their own work and the work of others
Develop and demonstrate competence in a range of practical, creative and performance skills
Celebrate in shared successes whereby individual efforts are pooled to form collective achievements

As well as offering the options of studying GCSE Drama and A Level Drama and Theatre, students at Robert Clack are also able to participate in numerous drama opportunities outside of lessons. Here, there is a strong focus on developing key drama and communication skills through exciting, rigorous yet highly rewarding projects throughout the year.

Drama Performances

The Robert Clack Drama department produces a whole school production each year involving students from across all year groups. Past productions include Coram Boy, The Threepenny Opera and Our Country's Good. We take pride in creating quality drama productions in which students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their emerging performance skills, placing a strong emphasis on self-discipline, concentration and collaboration.

Students rehearse intensively over a fixed period of 10 weeks with performances either taking place in the school hall or in our brand new Drama studio which offers an intimate and immersive performance experience. Students in the past have commented on the rigorous and demanding experience but also of the hugely rewarding sense of achievement once having performed.

Students are currently rehearsing their next performance, a big, exciting family production of Ella Hickson's Wendy and Peter Pan based on the story by JM Barrie. Performances will be between 13th-15th December on the Gosfield Road site, and tickets are now available from the school offices!

You can view images of our past productions in our gallery at the bottom of this page.
Robert Clack Theatre Club, theatre trips and partnernships
As part of Robert Clack Theatre Club, students have the opportunity to see multiple professional productions throughout the school year. We visit theatres across London and often take part in workshops with theatre professionals to explore the content and gain a better understanding of the performances from different perspectives.. Students engage with a diverse range of productions, including Shakespeare, classical, contemporary plays, as well as musicals and more challenging experimental work.

Once again, we are very excited to be getting back to theatres to see live performances this academic year. Our 2022-2023 Theatre Club programme includes:
- The Crucible, National Theatre
- Eureka Day, Old Vic Theatre
- The Band's Visit, Donmar Warehouse
- A Christmas Carol, Old Vic Theatre
- Sylvia, Old Vic Theatre
...with further productions to be announced!

We are delighted to continue working in partnership with the Old Vic Theatre's Schools' Club, the National Theatre Schools' Team and the Donmar Warehouse's Performance Programme Team to offer our students first class experiences which feed directly into curriculum work. We are very proud of the links we have built with many major theatre organisations across London. Our recent partnerships with Shakespeare's Globe, Queens Theatre Hornchurch and Jamie Lloyd Theatre Company have given our students invaluable opportunities and allowed them to develop deeper insights as to how theatre is produced and make links to their own work.

In March 2022, we were very proud to once again welcome back the National Theatre Schools' Tour to Robert Clack. Over two performances, 400 students were able to watch a reimagined version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale Jekyll & Hyde by playwright Evan Placey.

Be First London and Valence House film project: When Wilberforce Came to Tea (2021)
In a recent project with Be First London, our Year 13 Drama students created a feature length film about the history of Dagenham's Valence House and its historical links to the abolitionist movement. They worked closely with local heritage educator Simone Panayi as well as a full film production team to write, rehearse and finally shoot the film on location at the manor. This has subsequently been made into a film When Wilberforce Came to Tea that will be used as an education tool for schools across the borough in learning about local history. The film had its premier screening in October 2021 as part of Black History Month and it is now available to watch via the museum website. The project was covered by local press which you can read here.
Key Stage 4 Resources

GCSE Specification

GCSE information

GCSE Curriculum Map
Key Stage 5 Resources

A-Level Specification

A Level Drama and Theatre Information

A Level Drama and Theatre Induction

A Level Curriculum Map

Recommended Reading